• Home
  • ABOUT ME
  • CURRENT READINGS
  • SEND EMAIL
  • Reviews
  • Poet At Play
  • The Classics Club
  • FRIDAY FICTIONEERS
  • HAIKU
  • HAIBUN
  • HAIKU MY HEART
  • TAN RENGA/TANKA
  • SHADORMA
  • SHORT STORIES
  • AFRIKU
  • CARPE DIEM
  • APED PROMPT
  • TROIKU
  • CHOKA
  • MY BOOKS
  • CHERITA
  • QUADRILLE

Reading Pleasure

~ A Blog of Books and Literature

Reading Pleasure

Daily Archives: June 26, 2012

Short Story Tuesday – (Review) The Lovers, by Bessie Head

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Fiction, Short Stories

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Bessie Head, Tales of Tenderness and Power, The Lovers

Today’s short story review is of The Lovers also from the anthology of short stories, Tales of Tenderness and Power, written by Bessie Head, one of Africa’s best known women writers who was born in South Africa in 1937.

The Lovers, a historical tale written in 1977, is Bessie Head’s version of Botswana’s only great love legend about two young people, Keaja and Tselane, who allowed themselves to be carried away by their passions and thus threw their community into chaos. They were expelled from the village and they disappeared altogether. A  terrible fear grew that a hill nearby had opened and swallowed them.

“The love story so haunted me that I could find no peace until I had written my story of it. Sanely, a hill could never open up and swallow people so my story dwells on what happened before the lovers  disappeared so mysteriously.” P 11 (Introduction)

Significantly, in writing about what happened before the disappearance of the two lovers, Bessie Head examines the traditional institution of marriage in Botswana, laying bare the unpleasantness of arranged and forced marriages and ultimately, polygamous marriages. Keaja’s mother is chosen for his father who has no say in the matter and though his parents marriage is fraught with disappointment and resignation, tradition or custom demands that Keaja’s wife is chosen for him. As he tells Tselane on the first day he meets her,

“I don’t think I approve of arranged marriages. My father would never have married my mother had he had his own choice. He was merely presented with her one day by his family and told that they were to be married and there was nothing he could do about it.” P 86

Keaja’s mother also hates her son deeply and bitterly. She vents the frustrations of her loveless marriage on her only son by hitting him at the least provocation, hurling stones at him and scratching him all over his body. Keaja’s response like his father’s is to ignore her and bear this inhuman treatment with stoicism. In contrast, though from a polygamous home, Tselane enjoys a happy relationship with not her mother, but her mother’s rival and the second wife to her father. The two are almost girlish in their affection for each other.

Bessie Head portrays a rigid society that thrives on regulations and taboos applicable to men and women as guidelines on how to live fruitful and productive lives. Initiation rites of passage are performed for both sexes to ensure fruitfulness for the women and productivity for the men. A delicate balance has to be preserved between a woman’s reproductive cycle and the safety of her community. It can therefore be seen that the community has no room for emotions. The dynamics of village life is founded on customs that thrive on logic, order and orderliness even in the sterile relationships between the sexes. Any personal unhappiness is suppressed and smothered, like the unhappiness in the marriage of Keaja’s parents. The same delicate balance that has to be preserved rears its head where Tselane cannot enjoy a normal mother-daughter relationship, but rather finds a listening ear in her mother’s rival who also sees this unique affection as a get-away from a husband whose interest in his wives is limited to his meals.

Against this background Keaja and Tselane’s ‘illicit’ love and the resultant pregnancy challenge the status quo and seeks to destroy all that the people and the customs hold dear. Thus their banishment is greeted by all with a sigh of relief; for now the wrong has been righted.

The Lovers is a short enjoyable read, and serves as an example of Bessie Head’s excellent prowess as a story-teller. I will recommend the anthology to all lovers of African literature, especially celebrating with female writers.

The author died tragically early, in 1986, leaving behind her a fine collection of literary works. Tales of Tenderness and Power was the first of her works to be published in 1989 posthumously.

5.555717 -0.196306

Rate this:

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Join 1,827 other followers

June 2012
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« May   Jul »

Archives

Whispers of Dawn ( A Book of Cherita)

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Haiku My Heart: Midnight Rendezvous
  • Haiku My Heart: Resolution
  • Haiku My Heart: Night Tremour
  • Haiku My Heart: Origami
  • Felicitations!

Recent Comments

readinpleasure on Haiku My Heart: Midnight …
readinpleasure on Haiku My Heart: Midnight …
readinpleasure on Haiku My Heart: Midnight …
readinpleasure on Haiku My Heart: Midnight …
readinpleasure on Haiku My Heart: Midnight …

Blogroll

  • Accra Books and Things
  • bareyournakedtruth
  • BN Poetry Award
  • Commonwealth Writers
  • Dagda Publishing
  • Empi Baryeh's Blog
  • Geosi Reads
  • Ghana Book Trust
  • Golden Baobab
  • ImageNations
  • Kente Publishing
  • Kinna Reads
  • logo-ligi
  • Medium
  • Nana Awere Damoah
  • Poetry FoundationGhana
  • Sarah Reads Too Much
  • The Brunel University African Poetry Prize
  • The Daily Commute: From Bridge to Ridge
  • The Kalahari
  • World Haiku Review

TAGS

Africa Afriku Angels Autumn Basho Beauty betrayal Birthday Celestine Nudanu Cherita Christianity Christmas colours culture Dawn Death desire Dew dreams Drizzle Easter Family Fire Freedom Ghana God Gratitude Haiku Haiku My Heart Haiku Rhapsodies Harmattan heat Heaven Hunger Inspiration Jane Reichhold Life light love marriage Melody Moon Muse Music Nana Prah Nature nautre Passion Peace Pentatonix Poetry Poverty Publication rain Rainbow Rains relationship Relationships Religion romance Shadorma sound of silence South Africa spiritual Spirituality Spring stars summer Sun tradition Valentine Waltz war weather Whispers of Dawn

Blog Stats

  • 297,359 hits

Ce’s Randomiser

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Follow me on Twitter

  • Haiku My Heart: Midnight Rendezvous readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2021/03/26/hai… 3 weeks ago
  • Haiku My Heart: readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2021/03/19/hai… 1 month ago
  • Haiku My Heart: Night Tremour readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2021/03/12/hai… 1 month ago
  • Haiku My Heart: Jingle Bells readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/hai… 2 months ago
  • Felicitations! readinpleasure.wordpress.com/2020/12/24/fel… 3 months ago
Follow @cestone40

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: