Reading the 20th Century discussion
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Nervous Conditions
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Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (April 2021)
Alwynne, thanks for the glossary list!I am listening to the audiobook narrated by Chipo Chung. Listening is somewhat of a challenge given that the names are not easily recognizable. I jot down how they sound to fix them into my head. When you all speak of them here, it is helpful to se how they are written! I do like the narration--you feel as though you are in Africa. Songs are chanted and the women ululate. The narrator does this well.
Tambu's personality comes through loud and clear. Her abrasiveness is a necessity for her survival. I like her determination and toughness, without this she would have been robbed of an education. She is industrious.
I appreciate that dates are given. Tambu's paternal uncle has just returned from England. You know it is 1965 since we were told that he and his family left in 1960 and were gone for five years. Thanks, John, for the historical background and situation at this date.
I am struck by Tambu's language--sometimes it is relaxed and flows easily. At other times the vocabulary used seems too advanced. The contrast is jarring.
I enjoy the family gatherings--they are so unorderly, i.e. full of life.
I have not come far enough to know what I think of the book yet.
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As a quick aside, I'm only about 10% in and am loving the second book even more - the writing feels more sophisticated which might reflect the 15 or so years between them being written.
RC, so you think the prose becomes more sophisticated. Is that necessarily and improvement?
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No, sorry, I didn't mean to imply a criticism of this book. I really like Nervous Conditions and like the way Tambu's voice switches between her perceptions as a child and how as an adult she looks back on how and what she thought in the past.
In The Book of Not, there's a sense of language breaking down under stress that is beautifully done. External politics come to the forefront, too. Could be a 5-star book for me if it continues like this :)
RC, oh, it is so hard avoiding confusion when you don't have the person in front of you! I have noted this so many times. The body and facial expressions say a lot!
Here is something to make a person laugh: Maiguru, listening, I at first thought this was two words--my guru. So who is Tambu's guru? I stupidly wondered! I chuckle now at my original mistake. I have gotten to the part where Tambu first arrives at the mission, her uncle's home! I think the author captures extremely well the otherness that hits her. The dainty, translucent porcelain cups too delicate to use, her reaction to the chained dogs, her intimidation by the dining room table easily sitting eight! She says, "My education had already begun!" Absolutely--and for the first time she realizes why her brother viewed their family life with disdain. She pledges not to do the same; she realizes hw easy it would be to make the same error. She says, "I triumphed; I was not seduced,....Don't forget how others exist. Living was dirty." Her response to her new surroundings was to put on a fasade of aloofness. I am impressed at how well the author captures the clash between the the two different lifestyles.
The narration by Chipo Chung is fantastic. She wonderfully captures Tambu and the respective environments. I am sold on her narration despite that the names do cause some confusion at the start. Every time I hear Maiguru, I cannot help but smile.
I am off for a walk. I wish it would stop snowing. First we are given day of spring, and then it is grabbed from us.
I thought Nervous Conditions was excellent. I loved Tambu's ambition, her energy her insecurities and her striving. I also thought the portrayals of the different worlds of the mission and the traditional village were wonderful.For me The Book of Not and This Mournful Body were far less successful depictions of both the environment and the various characters, and I also felt that Dangarembga's use of language often failed, but I am interested in reading RC's and other comments to see what I may have missed.
Chrissie wrote: "Her response to her new surroundings was to put on a fasade of aloofness. I am impressed at how well the author captures the clash between the the two different lifestyles..."I'm interested in your point about otherness, Chrissie. And Tambu's newly acquired aloofness.
Tambu strikes me as struggling to identify exactly who she is, and what she wants. Her two immediate adult male influencers are from two extremes (albeit in the same family. Jeremiah her father, and Mukoma (Babamukuru) are both lousy role models I thought. One slovenly, lazy and dismissive of women (Jeremiah) ; and Mukoma, full of faux self importance and grandeur.... and dismissive of women.
By contrast, Mainini and Maiguru, while also representing two extremes have their respective heads screwed on, and get it (what is happening, and has happened, to them, to women, to Rhodesia).
Roman Clodia wrote: "In this book she's searching for some kind of independence and selfhood but, so far, she can only conceive of this in western or possibly British terms via English language..."I know exactly what you mean, RC. I think what you are driving at is the very essence of "Nervous Conditions". Such has been the ongoing, and lengthy, and sometimes insidious control of Southern Rhodesia by the "white wizards", that indigenous people no longer know what is the path to true freedom. The supposed aspiration towards a westernised/European (or American) way has created doubts about more 'traditional' African values and traditions. Are African customs backward looking? This is the "Nervous Condition" that Tambu (& Babamukuru) have taken upon themselves.
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Oh yes, as much as I love audiobooks, the perils of names! I had similar problems when listening to that biography of Stalin last year, and struggled to google his henchmen as a result.
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Which isn't surprising given how old she is when the book opens. I think it's interesting how the story gestures towards the bildungsroman, a quintessential western genre (I think? anyone who knows more is welcome to correct me), and then uses it to probe and interrogate the postcolonial condition that disrupts at the same time as it uses that literary tradition.
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Yes, yes, yes - so well put, Jonathan. It's striking how the word 'emancipate' is bandied about - but it's envisaged through learning to speak English and all that follows.
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This is such an interesting point, Ben, because I wasn't overly impressed by the language in This Mournable Body when I read it last year. But that, I think now, is because I was reading it as a standalone as opposed to the third part of the trilogy.
Now, I think the change in language in The Book of Not is craft on Dangarembga's part, not carelessness. It tracks the changes and development of Tambu and her story.
I don't think it's a spoiler but just in case (view spoiler). So, again, language is used cleverly to tell us something important without Dangarembga having to spell it out.
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I respect your interpretation, RC, but for me there were too many weaknesses in the pacing, the characterisation and the clarity of expression in The Book of Not for it to be design rather than a failure of execution.I agree that self-alienation becomes an increasingly powerful theme but I'm not convinced that it is portrayed artfully through the second and third volumes.
Still, I admire Dangarembga's dedication to this project over a thirty year period and the view into Zimbabwe is a valuable one.
Roman Clodia wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Tambu strikes me as struggling to identify exactly who she is, and what she wants."Which isn't surprising given how old she is when the book opens. I think it's interesting how t..."
I agree it does gesture towards it and at the same time undermines it, in that the outcome of a conventional bildungsroman relates to the development of individual character and identity within a society but the central figures here aren't able to achieve that. They're blocked by their liminal status within the colonialist framework which fractures as much as forms them, but also the traditional bildungsroman's very much tied to the coming of age of men, so gender is an issue here too.
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No problem, Ben, we're open to all opinions here :) I'll keep my eye on this question as I shared your thoughts when I first read Mournable Body outside of the trilogy.
And I will keep a close eye on your posts, which always deepen my reading! ;)
Jonathan wrote: "Tambu strikes me as struggling to identify exactly who she is, and what she wants. ." Agree, and it is also the story of Rhodesia as a post-colonial state. Tambu says something along the lines: Progress is following the Whites footsteps, not going back to traditions. She is no sure though. I also liked how she questions being a Christian as a sign of progress.
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https://canvas.umn.edu/courses/110059...
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Do we think that Dangarembga is interrogating that very concept of 'liking' a character? It seems to me that it's so much a part of femininity, where to be liked, to be a people pleaser is important whereas masculinity is built on quite different qualities.
I love reading about Tambu and love that the book makes her such a spiky, awkward protagonist. This feels to me to be part of the feminist ideology that underpins the book.
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That's true and hadn't struck me, RC, thank you! Other similarities that are striking me are the poverty and the expectations of conformity with family and social traditions.
This Guardian interview came out when the thread was still locked. I thought the earlier articles from 2020 also gave some good perspectives.https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
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Definitely. And in the second book, The Book of Not, the 'big brothers' are not dissimilar to the 'enforcers' (is that the euphemism used in Milkman?), as the internal civil war for Zimbabwe comes more into focus and we see the compromised ways in which communities position themselves in relation to those fighting against government forces.
The second book is also a kind of 'death of the heart' type novel, and reminds me also of Antonia White's Frost in May, albeit with the fraught overlay of race politics.
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Roman Clodia wrote: "This is such an interesting point, Ben, because I wasn't overly impressed by the language in This Mournable Body when I read it last year. But that, I think now, is because I was reading it as a standalone as opposed to the third part of the trilogy...."Your observation about your response to the language last year and a newfound enjoyment this year is interesting RC. I can't see why you would respond differently the more you read about Tambu through the ages. I would have thought that it would grind you down. She is consistently arrogant, and mostly oblivious to what is going on around her.
I very much align with Brian on Part Two of the trilogy (in the sense that it is a lesser work than Nervous Conditions). I think the concern for me is that The Book of Not is still very much a view of Rhodesia seen through the eyes of a child, and I don't think it adds so much to Nervous Conditions. Part three, when Tambu is an adult opened it up again for me.
On the subject of trilogies (or longer series of books), I've always felt that a sequel should be able to stand alone for it to be excellent. That's even if the reading of a full series adds an extra dimension. That's another reason The Book of Not fell short for me because I think its a poor novel if/when read in isolation (unlike the other two).
Judy wrote: "the novel's humour: "As for roasting bread before you ate it, as if it had not already been baked, well, yesterday I would have been surprised, but today I was aware that all things were possible." ..."Judy, I think this is a perfect extract to encapsulate Tambu. I found it a very black humour because I thought Dangarembga used the voice of a child (Tambu) to respond to things in such a naïve way that it brought home the point just how scrambled the Rhodesian psyche had become. Babamukuru is rather more ponderous and pompous, but Tambu is a chip off the old block.
Judy wrote: "The way many of the characters call each other by their relationships, rather than given names, is reminding me of Milkman - ..."A very good point and great connection.
Roman Clodia wrote: "I love reading about Tambu and love that the book makes her such a spiky, awkward protagonist. This feels to me to be part of the feminist ideology that underpins the book....""spiky and awkward". Nyasha maybe; but Tambu is pretty compliant for the most part and while the feminist ideology comes through, I felt it was via Maiguri, Mainini and again, Nyasha, rather than Tambu.
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The difference for me is that jumping straight into Mournable Bodies meant that I couldn't distinguish between the author's voice and Tambu's - what might have been sloppy writing by TD, turns out to be telling us something significant, in my view, about the psychological deterioration of Tambu as a result of what has happened to her in the first two books.
I also don't see Tambu as being as simple as arrogant - she's this complicated mix of self-belief and self-loathing. She buys into the belief that she can overcome the in-built inequalities of colonialism by 'British' education and being top of her class; but at the same time she internalises 'rules' like the fact that white skin should never touch Black skin.
I think The Book of Not where that 'not' is a stand in for all kinds of losses, absences, deletions and annihilations, not least of the self, is an absolutely necessary psychological step into the third book (view spoiler)
On trilogies, I don't really believe in literary 'rules': some second books may stand alone, others don't. So some may ask more of their readers in the latter case.
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I don't think Tambu is simply compliant - from the very opening of Nervous Conditions, we see her bucking her family's ideas by coming up with her scheme to sell mealies to fund her own education. Where the book is so complex, is the fact that this act is both a form of self-assertion and also a way of showing us how she's bought into a colonial narrative where to get on, an African has to mimic a European, with the first step being acceptance at an English mission school.
I also don't think she's likeable in either of the books, that's what I mean by describing her as spiky and awkward. We see this in book 2, for example (view spoiler)
I'm not saying that I think Tambu is a feminist but that TD's feminist ideology comes through in creating a character who isn't 'nice', a broad quality which can be very oppressive.
I’ll have to give this some thought RC.I wonder if Tambu would have got on well with Boris?
Putting two of your favourite characters together would be a match made in heaven.
( A good concept? The matching of characters from different novels)?
I like that about her too RC, that and the fact that she's complex and conflicted. Right from the beginning her anger about her brother demonstrates her underlying rebellious streak, as well as a keen awareness of the unfairness of the restrictions imposed on her as a girl growing up in a patriarchal society. I don't think of her as compliant either, she's caught between cultures neither of which are designed to support her in her search for a workable way of life or identity, and she's desperately trying to negotiate within them.
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That's a great description of Tambu's character and her situation. I also don't see her as either arrogant or compliant, but I think she does have a core of self-belief and a determination not to see her life follow the path of her mother's, which is why she is so set on being educated. And also, going back to the beginning, perhaps that determination is one reason why she isn't sad for her brother, because she glimpses a gap that she can squeeze into, by taking his place at school and in her uncle's household.
Realistically, there seem to be no other options that Tambu can see apart from remaining in poverty, becoming a version of her mother and being subservient to the men in her family, or going into the English schools and having to mimic the Europeans, as RC says, and also having to accept their priorities. (I suppose another alternative fate might be to marry a richer man and become a version of her aunt.)
Although they are such different characters, both Tambu and Nyasha reach breaking points during the novel, as it becomes increasingly impossible for them to continue obeying Babamukuru and being restricted by his world view.
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I have also read another interview with the author, which has some interesting thoughts about the parallels between Tambu's life and Zimbabwe's history in Nervous Conditions that RC mentioned. The author says this was not something she originally intended, but something that developed.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/20...
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I wonder if Tambu would have got on well with Boris?"
For a surreal moment there I was thinking Tambu and... Boris Johnson? - yeurch! No girl deserves that 😖
But oh yes, Book Character Love Match sounds fun! I would like Lorelei Lee from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to meet up with one of Graham Greene's uptight Catholics and watch her run rings round him ;))
Judy wrote: "Ben, thank you for the very interesting Guardian article links.I have also read another interview with the author, which has some interesting thoughts about the parallels between Tambu's life and..."
Great interview Judy thanks for the link. One of the things I like about the novel is the realistic approach to Tambu's life and possible futures. Everything's rooted in her society and its history, as the interview points out. There's a prevalent, very Western idea of women's independence and what it is to be a feminist that takes no account of political/social/economic contexts, it's a conservative, individualistic way of interpreting the world and clearly that's not Dangarembga's approach.
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I agree - the ways to escape are very limited for Tambu, as they would be in reality. Alwynne, thank you for the thoughts on feminism in different countries - this is definitely something that I would like to read more about.
These are excellent comments and present a far more nuanced view of Tambu's character and the significance of the portrait than I was willing to give her initially.I do wish I still had access to copies of the last two volumes of the trilogy (library borrows) so that I could recheck my impression particularly in the case of The Book of Not (and give examples) that these characteristics were not well portrayed in the literary sense, but are instead being evoked from the situation Dangarembga has laid out. But I do appreciate better the way Dangarembga makes Tambu's disfunction parallel the sickness in her society.
The interview in Al Jazeera is terrific.
I finally finished the novel. I do not have much to add. I don't think she was compliant either but conflicted. She did what she could within the restrictions of the society. I think I got a lot more from this book reading everyone's comments so thank you all for your input.
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I agree, and having a range of different opinions proves, once again, a great basis for a productive discussion - I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments hugely.
Reading the 20th Century
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In this book she's searching for some kind of independence and selfhood but, so far, she can only conceive of this in western or possibly British terms via English language, degrees from London, the Protestant Mission followed by the Catholic convent school.
We know from the final paragraph that this is just the beginning of a long and troubled journey. (view spoiler)[Is Nyasha's self-harm part of this figuration, too? Alwynne has already mentioned up-thread the idea of colonialism playing out on and through the body. (hide spoiler)]
I'd be very interested in what others think as I head into The Book of Not