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From the ruins of empire: Afrohispanic writings of Equatorial Guinea, the Caribbean and Spain, 1980--2000

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From the ruins of empire: Afrohispanic writings of Equatorial Guinea, the Caribbean and Spain, 1980--2000

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Content FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE: AFROHISPANIC
WRITINGS OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA, THE
CARIBBEAN AND SPAIN, 1980-2000.
by
Joanna Boampong
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(SPANISH)
May 2004
Copyright 2004 Joanna Boampong
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UMI Number: 3140439
Copyright 2004 by
Boampong, Joanna
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DEDICATION
For you—Kwabena and Nana-Kwasi.
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Ill
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The road to completing this dissertation has heen an arduous one hut many
have been the blessings I have received along the way.
I am most grateful to Professor Roberto Ignacio Diaz, my dissertation
director, for his guidance throughout the different stages of writing this dissertation.
His patience, guidance, and support have gone a long way in seeing me through this
project. His informed readings, thought-provoking discussions and suggestions as
well as his immense knowledge have been a source from which I have drawn time
and again. I will also like to thank Professor Maite Zubiaurre for all her helpful
observations, contributions and encouragement. Professor Vincent Farenga, in spite
of being the outside member of my committee, has always shown a keen interest in
my work. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for his generous
recommendations and assistance.
I would also like to thank the USC Del Amo Fund for a Summer Grant and
Dissertation Fellowship Award, which enabled me to undertake most of the research
for this project.
Finally, I am thankful for a most wonderful family and circle of friends who
bore with me through it all and continue to inspire me.
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IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
DEDICATION........................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................ iii
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................v
INTRODUCTION:
Tools of Engagement: Composite Post-colonialism
Within the Hybridized Space of Hispanic Literature...........................................................1
CHAPTER ONE:
Plantains for Communion: Engaging Catholicism
in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra...................................................................................26
CHAPTER TWO:
What is Science Without Voodoo?:
Materiality and Irrationalism in Tu la oscuridad................................................................75
CHAPTER THREE:
Foreign (Ex)changes: Mzungo on Africa..........................................................................120
CONCLUSION:
Accounting for Shifts and Inconsistencies:
The Case for Composite Post-colonialism....................................................................... 161
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................. 171
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ABSTRACT
Most studies that consider the heterogeneous nature of Hispanic cultures outside
of Spain are based on works from Latin America. Nevertheless, the breath of Hispanic
cultures covers not only the Americas but also Europe and Africa as well. My
dissertation undertakes a transatlantic study of writings by authors from these three
continents. These authors are Donato Ndongo (Equatorial Guinea), Mayra Montero
(Cuba and Puerto Rico), and Luis Goytisolo (Spain).
In studying the writings of these authors from Africa, Latin America and Europe,
I review the components of Hispanic cultures, especially the Black and the European and
the interrelationships that are established between them in literature. By this, I expand
the scope of research on the complexity of the characteristically hybrid Hispanic
cultures.
Further, the dissertation underscores the value of the kind of post-colonial
criticism that subverts Eurocentric discourses of power—as manifested in religious,
scientific and economic contexts—not merely by outright rejection but by engagement,
coercion and appropriation. I argue that the encounter between the European and the
African was not a mere overpowering of one culture by another. The process of
engagement, negotiation and signification that invariably arose as a result of the
encounter between the two races produced some very subtle modes of resistance. It is
this very subtle mode of resistance to discourses and practices of power, which I define
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VI
as “composite post-colonialism,” and its effectiveness as a subversive tool that I bring to
the forefront in the texts that I study.
The first chapter addresses itself to the autocratic underpirmings of the discourse
of religion and its subversion in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra (1987) by Donato
Ndongo-Bidyogo. In the second chapter, I study how the discourse of science is
rendered contingent on the “irrational” belief systems by which Africans explain the
world in Mayra Montero’s Tu, la oscuridad (1995). The third chapter focuses on
Mzungo (1996) by Luis Goytisolo, and provides a framework within which the
perceived economic superiority of the European tourist is challenged and ultimately
rendered irrelevant.
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INTRODUCTION
Tools of Engagement: Composite Post-colonialism Within the Hybridized Space of
Hispanic Literature.
Simon Bolivar, the “Liberator” of South America, in his famous speech to the
Congreso de Angostura in 1819, given in the early years of Venezuela’s life as an
independent republic, declares: “Es imposihle asignar con propiedad a que familia
humana pertenecemos” (54). This declaration somehow anticipates what Jose Marti,
decades later, calls “nuestra America mestiza,” and it underscores the complex
interrelationships that undergird race and ethnicity in Hispanic cultures as a whole.'
Through their declarations, Bolivar and Marti, key figures in Spanish America’s pursuit
of political and cultural independence from Spain, privilege the essential ethnic
hybridity of their nations as a result of peoples of African, Amerindian and European
origin coming into contact with each other through the tragically intertwined enterprise
of colonization and slavery. The various relations of power that inevitably arose with
these imperial contacts still resonate in contemporary Hispanic literary production, and
acquire special significance in the corpus of what one may term Afro-hispanic
literature. In this dissertation, specifically, I examine how contemporary Afrohispanic
literary productions by writers from Equatorial Guinea, the Caribbean and Spain
explore, engage and address themselves to the relationships of power that are
established between the Afiican and the European, or their descendants in the New
World, in their variously diverse societies. The texts I study include Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra (1987) by Donato Ndongo; Tu, la oscuridad (1995) by Mayra Montero,
and Mzungo (1996) by Luis Goytisolo.
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As anyone familiar with Hispanic literature can observe, the authors whose
works I examine, do not only originate from once colonized but also colonizing groups
as well. This in part addresses questions that have been raised about the relevance of
the racial background of writers and critics who deal with issues regarding the black
component of Hispanic literatures. Particularly, I speak to the notion that the works of
non-Black or non-African writers may not give an authentic portrayal of the Black
experience.
In his Ethnicitv and Identitv in Contemporarv Afro-Venezuelan Literature^
Marvin Lewis expresses the view that non-black writers cannot fully engage the black
world and the issues that emanate from within it. He opines that “It is necessary to have
more than a surface knowledge of black culture in order to imbue works with an
Afrocentric vision, a phenomenon that comes from within rather than from without”
(68). On a related note Richard Jackson opines that “Any text by a Black Hispanic
writer about Black people and the Black experience in Latin America is a privileged
find” (6). Thus, for Jackson, in “Black Hispanic literature the identity of the author
does matter” (6).^ Jackson goes as far as to make relevant the racial background of
critics who consider Black Hispanic works. The views of Lewis and Jackson above are
echoed in Walter Mignolo’s observation that
[T]he critiques of modernity. Western logocentrism, capitalism,
Eurocentrism and the like performed in Western Europe and the United
States cannot be valid for persons who think and live in Asia, Africa, or
Latin America. Those who are not white or Christian or who have been
marginal to the foundation, expansion, and transformation of philosophy
and social and natural sciences cannot be satisfied with the European or
American Left. Nietzche’s (as a Christian) criticism of Christianity
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cannot satisfy Khatibi’s (as a Muslim and Maghrebian) criticism of
Christianity and colonization. (85-86).
The main thrust of the views expressed above is for a faithful and informed
reproduction of experiences peculiar to the groups concerned—Black Hispanics,
Christians and etc. But, and as Jackson himself rightly notes, “clearly not all Black
people have the same perspective, and again different critics have different intentions”
(6). Thus, even within the so-perceived authentic worldview can occur differing and
diverse literary representations and criticisms. What is more, the treatment of issues
concerning Blacks solely by Blacks constitutes not only a limitation of the perspectives
that can be brought to bear, but also an essentialism that goes against the spirit of the
very struggles for cultural inclusiveness. Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal rightly notes that
rather than place restrictions on its own critical activity Afro-Hispanism should be open
to currents in intellectual discourses that have the potential to illuminate Affo-Hispanic
texts in decidedly new ways (83).“ ^ Feal’s declaration with regards to the issue on hand
in her “Feminist Interventions in the Race for Theory: Neither Black nor White” is
especially compelling. She intimates:
Afro-Hispanism cannot afford to convene itself as a group whose
entrance requirements are dictated exclusively by specific ethnicities and
nationalities and even ideologies. Rather, through their diversity, Afro-
Hispanists have reshaped the boundaries of “inside” and “outside,” thus
producing and reflecting a complex network of positionalities and
identity politics. The constituents of Afro-Hispanism cannot make
claims to separatist or “pure” practices when (they) (we) already
represent a mestizaje^ that typifies the stratified field that is the object of
study. (13)^
This observation is especially relevant where the issue under consideration
concerns the power relations between the Black and the European. Undoubtedly,
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broadening the context within which the power relations between Blacks and Europeans
are evoked and contested makes it possible to visualize aspects that may otherwise be
overlooked. Furthermore, if the history of Blacks, by which so-called “pure” writers
seek to assert their authenticity, comprises their dealings with Europeans and the West
in general, then the perspectives non-Black writers, such as Mayra Montero and Luis
Goytisolo, need to be considered. With their novels they participate and contribute to
the discourse on Afro-Hispanism.’
In studying Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. Tu. la oscuridad and Mzungo. I
seek to explore the various ways in which despite their liberal strains, they demonstrate
what one may term “complicitness” with the forces of political and cultural control and
exploitation. I will argue, however, that these seemingly comp licit literary works are an
ideal site to view the complex and often contradictory nature of hybrid Hispanic
cultures, which far from validating the forces of control, call into question the
traditional forms of resistance to dominance and imperialism, what cultural theory
sometimes refers to as “oppositional post-colonialism.”
My project draws on and contributes to ongoing debates within postcolonial
theory that deal with history, representation, difference, hybridity and agency. Besides
taking as its task the criticism, repudiation and questioning of Eurocentric discourses of
power, postcolonial theory provides the framework within which a systematic and
thorough analysis of the whole colonial venture and its aftermath can be effectively
scrutinized. Prakash eloquently frames the thrust of postcolonial theory as follows:
“one of the distinct effects of the recent emergence of postcolonial criticism has been to
force a radical rethinking and reformulation of forms of knowledge and social identities
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authored and authorized by colonialism and Western thinking” (491). More
specifically, Vijay Mishra and Bob Hodge in their article entitled “What is post(-)
colonialism?” propose the idea of a complicit postcolonial literary production as a more
comprehensive alternative to the excessive homogenization that seems to lie at the heart
of oppositional postcolonial theory. They convincingly argue that although
oppositional post-colonialism, characterized by an outright rejection of all forms of
colonial authority, is central to the debate surrounding post-colonialism, it by no means
constitutes a complete picture. There also exists another aspect to the corpus of
postcolonial productions; one that appears to side, one way or the other, with the forces
of control and exploitation that oppositional post-colonialism seeks to destroy.
In my view, the potential of what Mishra and Hodge term complicit post
colonialism—the underside of post-colonialism if you will—^holds for subversion has
long been overlooked and is due for a closer reading. This may especially be true in the
field of Affo-hispanic literature, which has long remained fixated on the politics of
oppositional postcoloniality. The numerous studies dedicated to the poetry of social
protest of Nicolas Guillen attest to the mostly unilateral stance adopted in the study of
Affo-hispanic literary works. However, rather than complicit, I see the kind of post
colonialism that Mishra and Hodge describe as being composite—in the sense of being
complex, mixed, involved and even innovative. It takes cognizance of the fact that as a
result of colonial legacies “There is not, on the one side, a discourse of power, and
opposite it, another discourse that runs counter to it” (Foucault, 100). Therefore, and as
Foucault eloquently expresses, since discourses are tactical elements or blocks
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operating in the field of force relations there can exist different and even contradictory
discourses within the same strategy (100).
Although in the field of Affo-hispanism works that demonstrate composite post
colonialism may very well be in the minority, the questions they bring to the debate
surrounding the relations of power, and the way these relations are critically examined
and theorized, epitomize the complex nature of hybrid cultures, a complexity that
sometimes the discourse about literature seems to avoid. In this, composite post
colonialism may be seen to mirror more faithfully the fundamental contradictions that
characterize the literature about race in the Hispanic world. It precludes the study of
power relations solely according to the principles of binary oppositions as seen in works
that display an outright rejection of all forms of colonial authority and legacy.
Composite post-colonialism acknowledges and even underscores the grey areas that can
be found even within the opposition to Eurocentric colonial authority and modes of
thinking. This kind of writing foregrounds the intricate relationships that constitute the
very sustenance of hybridity in Hispanic cultures. Therefore, as Robert Stam explains,
“the point, [in these writings] is not to completely embrace the other perspective but at
least to recognize it and even be transformed by it” (201).
Some of the questions that obsess post-colonial theory will also be considered in
my study, as they provide the very basis for an examination of the texts selected for
study. How does the cultural and imperial dominance of the European manifest itself?
By what means is Eurocentric cultural and imperial dominance authorized and
sustained? What form has traditional oppositional post-colonialism taken? And what
are the dynamics that underpin composite post-colonialism? Key to authoring and
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7
authorizing colonization and the subsequent political and cultural dominance of the
European are the various discourses of religion, science, and economics, which, as we
shall see, figure prominently in the texts studied here. The perception that the Black (as
it happened with the Amerindian) is barbarous, unruly, irrational, and thus in need of
European civilization—“the white man’s burden” or, in France, the mission
civilisatrice—^has served as the justification for the colonial venture. Consequently, as
Edward Said, in his interimplication of Michel Foucault in Orientalism, aptly describes,
there has been established “a mode of discourse with supporting institutions,
vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, even colonial bureaucracies and colonial
styles” (87) that have sustained the pre-eminence of the European in the colonized
lands, and whose effects continue to this day. This discursive construction of European
power has led to a characterization of the relations between the European on the one
hand, and the African (and Amerindian) on the other, in binary terms such as “master”
and “subaltern,” “colonizer” and “colonized,” “ruler” and “ruled.” As post-colonial
critics and others have pointed out, some major texts of Western culture, such as
Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, are informed by
and contribute at least implicitly to the efforts of European imperialism.
It is the categorical repudiation of these principles underlying Western
imperialism that oppositional post coloniality addresses itself to. In rejecting the
standards by which European dominance is perpetuated and sustained, oppositional post
coloniality takes various forms. The spectrum ranges from works that effect a reversal
of the roles and positions of the European and African to those that seek to valorize and
restore the dignity of the African and elements of his or her culture. In Cuba, for
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example, the works of Nicolas Guillen (Motivos de son. El diario que a diariol. Alejo
Carpentier (Ecue-vamba-o. El reino de este mundol and Esteban Montejo’s testimonio
by Miguel Barnet (Biografia de un cimarronl exemplify these tendencies within
oppositional postcoloniality. The move in some of these works to disavow all forms of
European influence, in favor of one that promotes all things African, disregards the
dynamism that underlies the relationship between the African and the European.
This tendency is visible also in most literary productions of the Negritude
movement, to which Michael Dash focuses attention in his article “The Way Out of
Negritude.” In Dash’s view the Negritude movement “froze the writer in the prison of
protest” to such an extent that he or she failed to “see beyond the tragedy of
circumstance to the complex process of survival which the autochthonous as well as the
transplanted cultures in the New World underwent” (200).® Dash casts the Negritude
movement into the realm of oppositional post-colonialism that depicts the colonized
African as the passive victim of imperial dominance and exploitation. This trait in
oppositional post-colonialism establishes a new model of essentialism akin to the one
privileged by Eurocentric discourses of cultural and political dominance, and ignores,
for instance, the impact that the colonized had on the European. The inadequacy of
oppositional post-colonialism as a critical stance to account for those literary
productions which, in their resistance to Eurocentric dominance, strategically employ a
degree of compromise with the forces of control and exploitation, can be remedied with
the creation of a receptive critical space for composite post-colonialism.
It is my contention that the discursive constructs that seek to perpetuate the
dominance of the European do not exist in vacuo, but are constantly engaged, contested
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and even appropriated by the very elements (Amerindian and African) over whom they
seek to exercise control. Thus, one could argue that since the African, European (and
Amerindian) components of Hispanic cultures did and do not remain impervious to one
another, composite post-colonialism renders a more conscientious depiction of the
contingent nature of the power relations. Further, composite post-colonialism,
predicated on a dialectical movement that takes into account the position of the other,
recognizes the point of its convergence with the position of the self.® Consequently
texts that can be characterized as being open to the forces of colonial dominance, as
much as they portray the particular projects of each writer, also contain vestiges of
Eurocentric discourses of power. But within composite post-colonialism, the discourses
of colonial dominance are at the same time intermingled, conjoined and rendered at par
with the values they seek to denigrate. Thus these imperial discursive constructs appear
in composite postcolonial literary works as ruins or traces, and their uncongenial nature
is toned down if not completely eliminated.
As a result, the different pretexts under which European dominance is
discursively constructed and maintained are made contingent in the literary production
of composite post-colonialism. For example, rather than privilege the written text over
the oral—or linear time over the cyclical, the rational over the superstitious, the erudite
over the unlearned, civilization over barbarism, Christianity over paganism, white over
colored, the center over the periphery— these elements are all meshed one into the
other in new reconfigurations. A relationship of interdependence is established among
the elements that discriminate between the European and the African. By employing
elements through which European dominance is enacted, while maintaining the values
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10
of the Afiican, these discriminatory elements are sutured. In this, we are persuaded by
the arguments of Homi Bhabha;
If the effect of colonial power is seen to be the production of
hybridization rather than the noisy command of colonialist authority or
the silent repression of native traditions, then an important change of
perspective occurs. It reveals the ambivalence at the source of traditional
discourses on authority and enables a form of subversion, founded on
that uncertainty, that turns the discursive conditions of dominance into
the grounds of intervention. (35)
Bhabha’s words somehow echo Bolivar’s and Marti’s thinking on the complex
nature of Hispanic cultures. If we agree with Bhabha that the dominant position
attributed to the European is in essence a discursive construct, then its fluidness,
instability provides a niche from which to re-conceptualize the position that each
element occupies within Hispanic culture.
The citation identifies the discursive constructs that uphold the dominance of the
European as sites for contingent relations, which in turn destabilize fixed notions of self
and other. Thus, crucial to the destabilization of the discursive forms that perpetuate the
dominance of the European over the African, is the very exploration of its elements.
Therefore, rather than merely protesting against these discursive constructs, as
oppositional post-colonialism (and much Afrohispanic writing) is wont to do, there
must be a move toward engaging, exploring and coercing them. This process is made
manifest by literary productions that subscribe to the principles of composite post
colonialism and can be seen to be in effect in the works I have selected to study
together—Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. Tu la oscuridad and Mzungo.
The group of texts that I propose to read side by side is by authors from the
Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Equatorial Guinea as well as Spain. Of the three
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cultures, the Caribbean plays a seminal role in initiating and shaping the critical
discourse of post-colonialism within Afrohispanism. As Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria
rightly observes, the Spanish Caribbean contributes a historical and cultural legacy “of
beginnings or foundations” (25). Afterall “colonialism, slavery, racial mixture and
strife, and consequently revolution and independence movements all occurred first in
the Caribbean” (27). It is no coincidence that the origins of the critical discourse on
Affo-hispanism can be traced to the Caribbean. The fact remains that the Caribbean
serves as the context within which most of the crucial questions posed by Affo-
hispanism, in regard to colonization and its aftermath, originate. Indeed, critical studies
on the works of writers ffom various ethnic backgrounds; such as Gertrudis Gomez de
Avellaneda, the Countess of Merlin, Nicolas Guillen, Alejo Carpentier, Lydia Cabrera,
Luis Pales Matos and Roberto Fernandez Retamar, form the theoretical bedrock of
Affohispanism.^® The structures of power that these authors explore are also pertinent
to the cultural context of Equatorial Guinea, which shares a common, if different
experience of colonization with the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Moreover, as Barbara
J. Webb observes, in discussing the importance of mjdh and history in Caribbean
literature, a key feature in these works is the “quest for origins.” A quest for origins
invariably leads to Africa.
In this. Equatorial Guinea, which historically served as the port from which
slaves were transported to the Americas may provide an engaging counterpoint. The
inclusion of a text set in Guinea, Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. is especially novel
in the field of Affo-hispanic studies, for it brings to the debates surrounding Affo-
hispanic literature an aspect often overlooked—the nature of Afro-hispanism in the
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12
heart of Africa. What kinds of permutations must the critical discourse on Affo-
hispanism go through to account for a trans-Atlantic corpus of works on similar
subjects? Among other things it must be especially mindful of the persistence, to this
day, of varied elements of the colonial legacy. Studied together these various texts from
the Caribbean and Equatorial Guinea illuminate each other and provide a broader
context and a richer perspective to the critical discourse on Afrohispanism.
Still, in engaging the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Equatorial Guinea in
dialogue, Spain itself becomes somehow implicated. After all the issue under
discussion concerns the power relationships that exist between the European and the
African as a result of European (and specifically Spanish) colonization. As we well
know, Spain’s actual rule over Equatorial Guinea lasts well into the twentieth century.
Furthermore, Spain occupies a special place in the literary production of most of the
writers of Equatorial Guinea, for, these writers, forced to leave their native land, often
live and write from Spain.*' Thus, Spain provides the distance from which authors from
Equatorial Guinea effect their own quest for origins and is certainly interpellated in my
discussion of texts by authors ffom the Caribbean and Equatorial Guinea.
Each of the three close readings that I propose to undertake focuses on an aspect
of the institutions that hold imperial discourses of religion, science and, the political
economy in place. Given the importance accorded religion and the perception that it
played an initiatory role in the European “civilization” of the African, it is befitting to
dedicate the first chapter of my project to a text that addresses itself to unsettling the
machinations of religion. Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra (re)traces the path of an
aspiring Catholic priest who, after spending his whole life preparing for priesthood.
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13
abandons his religious vocation for a career in law. I examine, in this text, the power
that the discourse of Catholicism exerts over the actions of the protagonist. I also show
how the values of Catholicism, transmitted through this discourse, are accepted, allowed
to become part of the reality of the protagonist, but subsequently questioned and
rendered ineffective.
The authoritative discourse of Catholicism and its practices is characterized in
Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra by the use of Latin, which appears fragmented and
disjointed in the text. As a child the protagonist mainly recites this discourse, in the
form of orisons and litanies, an ability he acquires from his constant association with
the village missionary, a Spanish priest. As the protagonist confesses, the wording for
these prayers was not always correct and what is more, they were recited without any
meaning;
Solo en mi habitacion, cuando nadie me vela, cuando los hermanos
pequenos sucumblan al sol del mediodia me revestia con una sabana a
modo de casulla e iniciaba el santo sacrificio in nominee Patris et Filii et
Spiritus Sancti, y me santiguaba: [...] y me golpeaba con
arrepentimiento y mortificacion el diminuto pecho, mea culpa mea culpa
mea maxima culpa, y se me iba a olvidar el Kyrie eleison kyrie eleison
Christie eleison Christe eleison, despues el introito, oremus, inclinaba la
cabecita con recogimiento (64)
The above citation is just one example of how Latin (and to a lesser extent
Greek) are broken in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra— a lofty discourse that appears
constantly fragmented by the musings of the protagonist. The reader is confronted with
the process by which the solemn language of the Roman Catholic rite, usually recited
almost inaudibly and virtually unintelligible to the laity, is quoted in detail, but
deformed and rendered ineffective. The elitist and authoritative underpinnings for the
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14
use of Latin, given its role in making the liturgy the preserve of the clergy, is clearly
undermined in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. This is especially so as the
protagonist’s recital of the liturgy in Latin is limited to the confines of his bedroom
where he substitutes plantains for communion bread.
The argument can be made that the protagonist’s knowledge and use of Latin in
a religious context, and his adherence to the principles of the Catholic faith, signal the
control the latter has on him. Nevertheless, when one considers the fact that the
protagonist also adheres to the tenets of traditional Afiican rites such as circumcision
and consultation of deities, the authority of the Catholic faith over him is called into
question. And as one discerns from the novel, the use of Latin diminishes with the
development of the main character of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra.
The use of Latin, the authoritative discourse of Christianity and its governing
principles in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. is replicated in Tu, la oscuridad, the
next novel 1 propose to examine. In this text, however, Latin is employed in
conjunction with the discourse of science. Scientific tendencies, such as the use of
Latin names of biological species, are juxtaposed to irrational ones, as exemplified in
the naming of voodoo gods, their practices and system of beliefs of Haiti. Let us recall
that science, employed as a system of organizing, classifying and explaining the
physical world and its phenomena, has often heen considered as the privileged domain
of the West. Science stands higher than the irrational and even supernatural basis upon
which the African supposedly explains the world. After the New World is encountered,
the European finds the need to name and interpret the new physical reality surrounding
him. The original religious impetus is soon followed by a scientific discourse that seeks
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to incorporate the New World into Western thinking. Some of these movements are
played out in Montero’s Tu, la oscuridad. The name of the European protagonist who
engenders the discourse of power in the novel is symbolic of this relationship between
religion and science in the colonial venture. Considering that the name Victor served as
a papal title in the early church, its use, with reference to the main Western protagonist
of Tu, la oscuridad, evokes the authority represented by the religious, quasi-imperial
institution of Christianity. Moreover Victor’s role as a scientist, mirrors that of the
official chroniclers in the New World whose works form the very foundations of the
literary tradition of the Americas. In Tu, la oscuridad, Victor, the main protagonist is
the American who possesses a specialized knowledge of rare frog species, which
accords him the ability and authority to identify and preserve them. Victor’s work
recalls that of key figures in Western tradition whose work, shape the science of
explaining the physical world and its phenomena. First, Victor can be likened to
Linnaeus, the Swedish taxonomist, credited with developing the hierarchy for
determining superior and subordinate plant and animal genera and for inventing a
system, in Latin, for naming them. In the context of the Spanish conquest, Vietor also
calls to mind Gonzalo Fem ^dez de Oviedo, whose Historia general v natural de las
Indias (1535-1557) constitutes the first attempt made to catalogue and interpret the
physical world of the Americas. One could therefore argue that Victor is a
contemporary Oviedian figure whose role is to save the (physical) “world” Oviedo once
discovered and named for Europe, and which is now in danger of going extinct.
Having established the above, if one takes cognizance of the fact that Oviedo’s
Historia general de las Indias takes Pliny’s Natural Historv as its model, both the very
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foundations of Western science and the literary tradition of the Americas are called into
question in Tu. la oscuridad. The text effects a symbolic undermining of science—
expressed in Latin as the language of scientific authority—^b y the gradual extinction of
its referents, the rare frog species Victor sets out to “save”. Victor’s journey into the
Haitian jungle in search of the endangered frog species Eleutherodactylus sanguineus.
serves as the context within which relations of power are tried. The scientist’s project
of saving the endangered frog species can only be carried out with the help of Thierry.
Significantly, Thierry’s knowledge of Haitian flora and fauna—and, more importantly,
of the location and behavioral patterns of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus—derives in
large part from the intuitive.''^ Nonetheless, his knowledge, in spite of its non-scientific
base, provides the final “authorization” for Victor’s project. Thierry has to lead Victor
to the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus, and the relations between the two characters
demonstrate the incursions of the scientific into the irrational and vice-versa; in the
process, quite subtly, the one renders the other contingent. The scientific knowledge of
Victor, emblematic of Westem civilization, superiority and rationality, is acknowledged
and admitted but also subjected to the “law of the jungle.” The native Thierry tells
Victor:
Vaya y recoja sus ranitas, no le digo que no, pero culdese de mirar el ojo
del agua, o de pararse para saludar a la mujer que tiende ropa en la orilla.
La mujer es negra, pero los hijitos pueden ser mulatos. Si lo llaman
callese y apriete el paso, que esa no es gente de este mundo. En cambio,
si ve un aura tinosa saludela enseguida, dlgale «kole kole yo la», repitalo
tres veces y persignese en nombre de Dios. (106)
The directives Thierry gives Victor represent another form of knowledge, that of
the illogical, juxtaposed to Victor’s reliance on science. Here and elsewhere, the two
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forms of knowledge constantly contest each other. Although the irrational cannot be
explained in concrete terms, its reality cannot be overlooked and sometimes appears to
overshadow the scientific.
Closely related to the motives of religion and science, in establishing Westem
discourse of hegemony, is the discourse of economics. Religion and science, of course,
did not leave the European blind to the economic gains to be derived from the land and
people in the subaltem world. One could well argue that interest in the colonial
venture, to a large extent, was stimulated and sustained by the economic advantages it
brought in its wake. According to Margarita Zamora although the religious impetus is
seen as a more favorable means of justifying colonization, the actual motive may be
economic. As Zamora signals the “Capitulaciones de Santa Fe” the official document
that commissioned Columbus’ initial journey, carries overtly imperialistic undertones.
As she underscores, the verbs that outline the Admiral’s duties and privileges included
“ganar, descubrir, regir,” actions commensurate with the stated commercial goals of the
voyage to “comprar, trocar, hallar, haber” (27). As she insightfully points out although
there existed political aspirations in the undertaking, they did not constitute the primary
goal. Rather they served:
as a means to facilitate the exploitation of whatever markets might be
found. The fundamental issue the ‘Capitulaciones’addressed was
acquisition, not so much of territories or subjects, but of markets. The
type of expansion it prescribed was quite distinct ffom the reconquest of
Muslim territories that had just culminated on the Iberian peninsula with
the defeat of Granada. Surprisingly, there is no mention of any
evangelical purpose whatsoever in the documents commissioning the
expedition and no religious were listed among the men who sailed with
Columbus. (28)
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Thus, we anchor our project with a Spanish novel that takes up the economic
underpinnings of European hegemony as presented through travel and tourism.
Mzungo frames the experiences of a group of tourists on a cruise ship through various
ports of Eastern Africa. The narrative is built around three main protagonists: Henri
Durand from France, George Montrose from England and Alfonso Javieras from Spain.
These three draw from their past experiences and to a large extent, philosophize among
themselves about the part Europe has contributed to the present situation of Africa.
Henri is an ex-Jesuit priest who now directs the bulletin of an important Humanitarian
Agency in the Third World, George admits to being a former mercenary and now
provides technical assistance to developing countries. For his part Alfonso is an
anthropologist who grew up in Mexico and whose association with people of color has
earned him the nickname El Cafre. From pronouncements and discussions Henri,
George and Alfonso make, Mzungo effectively portrays the construction of hegemony
on a verbal level and thereby underscores the part discourse plays in the construction of
Westem hegemony. The novel also relates the experiences of three other tourists,
Philipe, Philip and Felipe, also French, English and Spanish traveling independently
through various parts of Eastem Africa. In comparison with the three protagonists on
board the cmise ship, Ajax III, the latter group is shown to be in direct contact with
natives. The three Phillips therefore provide a hands-on engagement with the natives
often taking up issues raised by Henri, George and Alfonso on board the Ajax III.
It cannot be denied that with the choice of protagonists from France, England
and Spain Mzungo addresses itself directly to three major players in the project of
colonization as a whole. One could argue that Gojdisolo’s novel casts contemporary
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travel and tourism by Europeans into Third World countries in the same light as the
voyages of exploration undertaken by such explorers as Christopher Columbus, Captain
Thomas Cook, Mungo Park and Alexander von Humboldt whose voyages led to
“discoveries” based upon which the European empires were built and sustained. If one
considers that the interrelationship between the West and non-Westem cultures is an
ongoing process, which, far from yielding its last permutation, constantly involves
repetition, revision, and renegotiation of notions, then there exist areas as yet
unexplored in the coming into contact of these diverse cultures. As Mzungo seems to
point out, one aspect that still warrants consideration, in the encounter between the
European and the native, is what is “discovered” not so much of the native as of the
European himself. As Mary Louise Pratt notes:
Every travel account has this heteroglossic dimension; its knowledge
comes not just out of a traveler’s sensibility and powers of observation,
but out of interaction and experience usually directed and managed by
‘travelees,’ who are working from their own understandings of their
world and of what the Europeans are and ought to be doing. (136)^^
In the citation above Pratt appropriately identifies the role played by the “travelee” as an
active one whose ramifications determine to a certain degree the outlook of the traveler.
As we show, Mzungo draws attention to the hand the native has in determining the
outcome of the European’s trip and consequently the “discourse,” be it verbal or
written, that is constructed. We are confronted with situations where there is active
engagement between the native and the European which makes possible the
appropriation of the position of power as much by the one as the other.
On the cruise ship a system of operation seems to be in effect which puts the
Europeans and the people of color on uneven planes. What constitutes a leisure trip for
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the European translates into hard labor for the people of color within the tourist setting.
As we show, the people of color are expected to occupy positions that fall on a low
echelon, play subservient roles and are even limited in their movements aboard the Ajax
III. The European, on the other hand, is expected to occupy a superior position and,
with the economic wherewithal, is able to move about freely. Nevertheless this system
can only be considered effective or operational when all parties concerned, especially
the people of color, adhere to their assigned roles. And as Mzungo effectively
demonstrates, this very system, while providing grounds for the assertion of European
hegemony, creates a contingent relationship between the European and the native that
undermines any pretensions to superiority.
The very need for the European to travel to Africa warrants a sustained look,
especially if we take into consideration images of Africa that have been imprinted on
the Western mind. In his “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”
Chinua Achebe opines that Africa is perceived as “a metaphysical battlefield, devoid of
all recognizable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril” (788).
Achebe goes on to add “It was and is the dominant image of Africa in the Western
imagination” (792). The question remains, though, as to why the European has felt and
still feels a need to travel and to travel to a place like Africa in spite of such a negative
perception. In the context of Achebe’s remarks above, one could contend that in
venturing into Africa, the European fulfils a need far greater than life itself; or
alternately, the dangers that purportedly lie in wait in Africa are totally non-existent.
Still, one can argue that rather than a peculiar attribute endemic to Africa—devoid of all
recognizable humanity etc.—the convergence of the European and the native (Africa),
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and the resulting encounters between the two, play a more determining role. This seems
to be the position taken by Mzungo which, while pointing out the gaps in Eurocentric
modes of reasoning, cultivates instances where both the European and the native can lay
claim to power.
Frederic Jameson in his “Modernism and Imperialism” makes an observation
which, although in reference to Latin America, may hold true for Africa as well—at
least the Africa Mzungo seeks to portray. Jameson notes:
We think about Third World in a different way today, not merely
because of decolonization and political independence, but above all
because these enormously varied cultures all now speak in their own
distinctive voices. Nor are those voices any longer marginal ones that
we are free to overlook; at least one of them - Latin American literature,
since the boom - has today become perhaps the principal player on the
scene of world culture, and has had an unavoidable and inescapable
influence, not merely on other Third World cultures as such, but on First
World literature and culture as well. (48-49)
Although African literature exerts a certain degree of influence on a global level,
I will not go as far as to say that it is a principal player as yet. Nevertheless I concur
with Jameson in his view that from so-called Third World and non-Westem cultures can
be heard distinctive voices that seek to break through the yoke of marginality. The very
title of Goytisolo’s work epitomizes the sounding of the distinctive voices that Jameson
alludes to, within First World literature so to speak. In the first place, “mzungo” is a
Swahili word used by natives to denominate Europeans and Caucasians in general. Its
use by Goytisolo as the title of his novel therefore implies an appropriation, for, as
author, Goytisolo claims the position the native occupies in making reference to the
European. This is especially obvious seeing that in comparison the novel accords more
discursive agency to the Europeans than it does the natives. Nevertheless one could
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also argue that by giving the native mode of reference such a seminal place as the title
Goytisolo restores whatever discursive agency he holds back from the native, within the
novel. Whatever the case may be Goytisolo, in accordance with Jameson’s view above,
does not overlook this native mode of expression. He shows that the voices from the
Third World can play a much more influencial role within world literature as whole. As
Goytisolo explains in a note to the reader, the word “mzungo” is a Swahili word which
translates “red,” but is used by natives in reference to Europeans and Caucasians in
general. Used undoubtedly in reference to the Caucasian’s skin color, “mzungo” does
not quite translate the reality of the signified, who in this case is usually referred to as
“white.” By using a term which, by his own admission, falls short of the reality it seeks
to portray, Goytisolo does not seek to disparage the native but rather signal the arbitrary
nature of discourse, be it Eurocentric or otherwise.
The perspective that Mzungo presents is unique in that it shows the process by
which the European protagonists, by their pronouncements and experiences, effect a
systematic voiding of the very economic discourse they are meant to establish and
preserve. To a large extent, the economic superiority of the European is rendered
inconsequential when faced with realities that necessitate life and death decisions. Thus
the tourist in Mzungo. a potential catalyst for furthering the economic agenda of empire,
constantly finds his position of power challenged in the face of conditions,
idiosyncrasies and actions present in Afnca.
From the foregoing it is apparent that the study of composite literary production
of the postcolonial era is crucial to debates surrounding Afrohispanism. In effect one
can go as far as to say, that even though not all critics may acknowledge it, by the very
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nature of the issues they deal with, all postcolonial writing is composite. These texts
represent the perspective of a disregarded minority even within a field that seeks to
advocate the validity of a subaltern group. Granted, these texts may accommodate
Eurocentric discourses of power but nevertheless, as my study shows, after being
subjected to the realities of the African component, what remains of the religious,
scientific, and economic discourses of power are vestiges of their former selves—their
ruins.
In physical terms ruins denote decomposition, they constitute elements, which
may, not only be discursively evoked, but also be invoked to create something new. As
much as ruins tell the story of the present, they correspondingly tell that of the past.
With the bearings of the present on them, ruins effect a revision of the past whilst laying
the ground for future discursive re-constructions. Like ruins the texts that I study point
out ways by which the decomposition of the imperial discourses of religion, science,
and economics are procured. As they evoke but also revoke the discourses of power
originating from colonization these texts call up the historical process of Spanish
colonization to underscore the contingent relationships established between its
components. By studying these texts, my project inserts itself within the move in
contemporary post-colonialism towards globalization. I open up a wider context within
which the power relations between the European and the African can be analyzed. By
bringing together works by authors from Equatorial Guinea, the Caribbean and Spain
my project carries out a revision of its own. My project evokes the predilection within
Afrohispanism for oppositional post-colonialism even whilst emphasizing the
subversiveness of composite post-colonialism.
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^ My use of the term “Hispanic” differs from the use of the term in the United States,
where it usually refers to a person of Latin American origin living here, especially one
of Mexican Cuban or Puerto Rican origin. In this study, the term refers to cultural
elements having an origin in, or influenced by Spain. Specifically, the term refers to
Spain and its former colonies of Spanish America and Equatorial Guinea.
^ Lewis studies four Venezuelan literary creations:Tambor: poemas para negros v
mulatos (1938) by Manuel Rodriguez Cardenas; Nochebuena negra (1943) by Juan
Pablo Sojo; Cumboto (1950) by Ramon Diaz Sanchez; and Yo pienso aqul donde...
Estov (1977) by Antonio Acosta Marquez. In his reading of the development of an
Afro-Venezuelan worldview by these authors Lewis opines that Sojo and Acosta
Marquez make a “serious attempt to reclaim African orality and appropriate African
myths and metaphysics through cultural authenticity” (14). On the other hand he sees
Diaz Sanchez and Rodriguez Cardenas as appearing “to be at the margins of black
existence” (14).
^ In the first chapter of his Black Writers and the Hispanic Canon entitled “The
Complexity of Complexion: Reading and Understanding Black Hispanic Writing” (1-9).
See “Reading Against the Cane: Afro-Hispanic Studies and Mestizaje.” Diacritics
25.1 (1995): 82-98.
^ Original emphasis.
^ In Afrohispanic Review 10.3 (1991): 11-20.
^ This is an extension of Arif Dirlik’s notion that the “identity of the postcolonial is no
longer structural but discursive” and that “it is participation in the discourse that defines
them as postcolonial intellectuals” (332). In “The Postcolonial Aura: Third World
Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism. Critical Inquirv 20.2 (1994): 328-56.
* The literary movement, Negritude, was begun in the 1930’s by a group of
Francophone African and Caribbean writers. Pioneered by the Senegalese Leopold
Sedar Senghor and the Martinican Aime Cesaire, the movement questioned the values
by which Europe measured Africa and sought to promote all things African. And a
major characteristic of the movement, for which it has been strongly criticized, is the
substitution of the African for the European. The movement has been criticized for
adhering to the principles, which it seeks to condemn and its failure to m ove beyond the
realm of social protest. Childs and Williams’ commentary (39-42) on the movement is
especially illuminating.
^ According to Homi Bhabha, whose work addresses itself to key issues in postcolonial
theory, postcolonial critical discourses “require forms of dialectical thinking that do not
disavow or sublate the otherness (alterity) that constitutes the symbolic domain of
psychic and social identifications.” He adds that this perspective “forces a recognition
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of the more complex cultural and political boundaries that exist on the cusp of these
often opposed political spheres” (439).
Sab, (1841); La Havane, (1844) “Tuntiin de pasa y griferia” in Azaleas,(1915);
Motivos de son. (1930); Cuentos negros de Cuba (1940); El reino de este
mundp,(1949); and Caliban (1971)are texts by these authors, which have fuelled
important debates concerning imperial and race relations within Afrohispanism.
As a result of the dictatorship of President Francisco Macias Nguema after Equatorial
Guinea’s independence in 1968, most of the intellectuals have fled that country. Their
literary works are produced in Europe, mostly in Spain and France.
It is necessary to recall that Latin evokes Rome, the original empire, and served as the
means by which Greek (Eastern) subordination was asserted. Latin was used as the
official language of government in the Roman Empire and visiting dignitaries from the
East addressing the Senate in Greek had their speeches translated as a mark of their
subordination. In Heart of Darkness. Conrad alludes to the long reach that Latin has in
the construction of imperial relations.
Pliny was a Roman erudite bom in AD 23. Natural Historv brings together material
of, what he describes, “encyclic culture” from over a 100 different sources. He is
credited with compiling the very first encyclopedia of the world. J. Natalicio Gonzalez,
in a preface to the 1944 edition of Oviedo’s Historia natural de las Indias. makes the
observation that “Oviedo escrihio su Historia tomando a Plinio como modelo. Se
propuso componer en lo que se refiere a America lo propio que realizo el erudito autor
latino con relacion al mundo antiguo” (15).
The figure of Thierry and his knowledge of the jungle can be likened to that of
Mackandal in Alejo Carpentier’s El reino de este mundo. also set in Haiti.
Pratt acknowledges the awkwardness of the word “travelee” which she coins in the
mode of “addressee” to describe persons traveled to or who receive travelers.
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CHAPTER ONE
Plantains for Communion: Engaging Catholicism in Las tinieblas de tu memoria
negra.'
[E]l linico ismo redentor
es el catolicismo que predica la
Unica y Verdadera Religi6n[...]
Es natural que Dios envie a una raza
superior y elegida para que salve a los
infieles de la etema condenacion,
eomo habia enviado a Moises
para que arrancara a los Israelites
de las fauces del demoniaco faraon[...]
Todas las tradiciones tienen elementos
verdaderos y elementos falsos
o al menos exagerados y ninguna
puede adaptarse como verdad unica.
T,as tinieblas de tu memoria negra
With its publication in 1987 and its status as finalist in Spain’s Premio Sesamo
in 1990, Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra,served as a lyncb-pin in catapulting the
budding literature of Equatorial Guinea into contemporary literary limelight.^ Donato
Ndongo-Bidyogo, the author of the novel, is fittingly described by Landry-Wilfred
Miampika as “[.. .] un romancier de talent, un joumaliste prolixe et un conferencier
infatigable a qui Ton doit a la fois I’inventaire et la defense acbamee de la literature
equato-guineene” (20).^ That there exists a literature of Equatorial Guinea is itself a
remarkable feat given that sustained political oppression and barriers to freedom of
expression on the part of its leaders, after independence in 1968, has led to the flight of
the majority o f that country’s literary and intellectual workforce into exile. Donato
Ndongo himself has been living a second exile in Murcia, Spain as a result of the
repressive political climate. His first exile was after the inception of Macias’
government in 1968. And, as Wilfi'ey Miampika is apt to note, the existence and
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persistence of the literature of the former Spanish colony is a feat made possible, in
large part, due to the concerted efforts of Ndongo to promote the work of other
Equatorial Guinean writers in addition to his own creative, journalistic and directorial
w o r k ." ^
Notwithstanding the long years spent in exile or perhaps as a result of it,
Ndongo’s focus on his native land has been nothing short of consistent. With both the
temporal and physical distance that his exile grants him, Ndongo’s retrospection on his
native land is systematic. With Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. his very first novel,
Ndongo tackles the period of Spanish colonization of Equatorial Guinea and engages
perhaps the most important element in its operations — religion.^ Certainly much of the
critical acclaim Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra deservedly enjoys stems in part from
the issues the novel raises and the innovatory stance the author seems to take in
addressing the machinations of Catholicism and its reach on the natives of Equatorial
Guinea. In addressing itself to the religious facet of the colonizing venture, the novel
recalls the crucial role religion played in establishing European hegemony over
indigenous peoples as a whole, and inserts itself within ongoing debates in postcolonial
studies. Nevertheless, the peculiarity of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra lies in the
issues it brings to the table and its charismatic mode of questioning the hegemony of the
Eurocentric discourse of religion.
A key issue that Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra forces one to consider is the
different ways in which colonized peoples countered the “civilizing mission” of
Christianity as presented by the West. To all intents and purposes, the novel seemingly
participates in the constructs that religion employs to establish the superiority of the
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European over the Black native. Nevertheless, we are shown an intricate process
through which seemingly receptive subjects, in reality, subvert the hegemonic discourse
of Catholicism and its claims. There are several crucial questions that need to be posed.
How are the hegemonic constructs of Catholicism manifested in Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra? What demands do they make on the native? What is the nature of the
power relations set in place? How do the natives respond to the missionaries’ impetus?
Perhaps most importantly, do all the natives engage Catholicism in the same way?
These are questions that will be taken up in the following pages. However, it is
necessary to first give a description of the novel and the thrust of the arguments it
makes. This will go a long way to clarify the context within which the above
interrogatives are analyzed. In line with this, it becomes equally necessary to mark the
place of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra within the tradition of the novel (as a genre)
underscoring ways in which it explores its most notable characteristic—its fluidity.
Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra brings into sharp focus the religious
underpinnings of the colonial period in the history of Equatorial Guinea. It deals with a
time well after the arrival of the missionaries, when both the missionaries and the
natives have gotten to know each others’ customs and beliefs, and the relationships
established between them are as a result of this knowledge. One can surmise the
familiarity between the missionaries and the natives based on the fact that key figures -
missionaries and natives - are able to describe at length the other’s belief systems and
express an opinion about them. In the novel we are presented the story of a young
seminarian who, after undergoing training, both in his native Equatorial Guinea (known
as Guinea Espanola during the period depicted) and Spain to become a Catholic priest.
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decides to become a lawyer instead. When the novel begins, the nameless protagonist is
in the seminary in Spain explaining to his mentor why he thinks he is not fit to be a
priest. This sets the stage for the protagonist to remember past events in his native
Equatorial Guinea, which have brought him to his present situation and decision.
Although the novel is mainly set in Equatorial Guinea and progresses linearly from the
protagonist’s childhood until he sets off for Spain, the events are framed as recollections
that occur in the present moment.
Notwithstanding the distance—spatial and temporal—^between the moment of
the narration and the actual events recounted, the protagonist, in what amounts to a
Proustian faith in the possibility of regaining time, is able to transport himself
completely into the past through his memories. It is key to note that apart from the very
first chapter, itself titled “cero” (zero), there are just about two other moments when the
present is alluded to in the remaining nine chapters of the novel. Naming the first
chapter of the novel, which also marks the present of the narration, “cero” serves a dual
purpose. With “cero” as the title of the first chapter, a chapter which portrays the
present state of the protagonist, the author suggests that the protagonist is on a tabula
rasa, a point where he has wiped the slate clean and is open to new possibilities. The
protagonist has the option of embarking on a new quest, that is, to go to law school and
train to become a lawyer (the main reason he cites for leaving the priesthood). On the
other hand, by deciding not to pursue his priesthood any further, his training to become
a priest has actually brought him full circle to the point where he has determined to
situate himself outside the influence of Catholicism. This position, ironically, marks the
point he was as a child, before any influence of Catholicism is brought to bear on him.
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Therefore “cero” also marks the point at which he is brought back to a very early phase
of his past. Of the two choices open to him, the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra opts to delve into the past.^ The present moment seems to freeze in time
or, if you wish, is erased, nullified, as the protagonist is completely absorbed into the
past. As we see the past becomes so important in the novel that it transposes itself with
the present and it appears as though the protagonist relives it.
Indeed the very title of the novel, “the shadows of your dark memory,”
underscores the significance of the protagonist’s memories and subsequently the past.
According to Ndongo “Un peuple sans memoire est un peuple sans possibilite de
progres.”^ Seeing that one’s memories are made up of past events, Ndongo’s comment
above suggests that recovering the past is necessary and even serves as a pre-eondition
for advancement. This is telling and even incongruous (when considered in the context
of the novel) given that, as the very title suggests, the memories involved, in this
instance are “dark” ones. With all the negative connotations the word “dark” evokes
one may question why one will opt to dwell on one’s “dark memories” or “dark past.”
As we all know, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, set in the Congo, fueled ongoing debates
surrounding the connotations of the word “darkness” which continue to this day.^
Definitions that have been given to the word “dark” range from “disturbing, frightening,
mysterious, threatening, sinister to even evil,” to name just a few. Thus, the use of
“dark” in reference to the past set in Equatorial Guinea, a country found in Afiica, often
referred to as the “Dark Continent,” creates the impression that the author concurs with
the characterization of Africa in general and his own country in negative terms.
However, as we will see, although it may appear that the author is subscribing to the
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Western hegemonic thinking that sees natives and everything associated with them in
negative terms, he actually appropriates this notion and turns it on its head. We see in
the novel how the past, no matter how dark it is portrayed, can be an enabling element
for progress. Thus, the focus on Equatorial Guinea’s past, a period of Spanish colonial
presence and religious intolerance, is to underscore the enabling element that can be
found within it given that that history has already been made. It may well be also that
“memorias negras” invokes as well Spain’s “black legend,’’ which portrayed the country
as the site from which sprang the Inquisition and the bloody conquest of other parts of
the world.
Probing into the past, and presenting the main protagonist as a child, in a
colonial setting touches on an important issue in postcolonial studies—the
characterization of the colonial subject as a child. In a bid to establish and justify
Western hegemony, natives have often been portrayed as infantile. This move to
associate the colonized subject with the infant has also served as a means of linking the
colonized with the primitive. In casting the colonized as a child the assumption is made
that he is in need of direction as well as development. That is, the child is considered to
be in a primal stage of development and needs to be coached, directed into a civilized
stage. This view of the colonized subject invariably puts in place a hierarchy that
relegates him to a position of subaltemity with relation to the European. In view of this,
one may question why Ndongo would create a protagonist who in addition to being
unnamed is presented as a child. Nevertheless as Bill Ashcroft well notes: “The child,
invented by imperialism to represent the colonized subject amenable to education and
improvement, becomes the allegorical subject of a different trajectory, a site of
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difference and anti-colonial possibility” (53). The child remains in a constant state of
flux, an unstable site acquiescent to different influences and thus what Ashcroft terms
“the transformed and transforming subject” (53). As an entity “in process,” a fact made
the more cogent given that he is unnamed, the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra becomes the incarnation of possibilities, change and even evolution. He
is endowed with the potential to call into question established notions pertaining to
Western hegemony and also explore the very possibilities open to one influenced by
hybridized Hispanic cultures. With the characterization of the protagonist as a child,
and given that the child is seen as a site of possibilities, Ndongo indicates that the
protagonist is able to serve as an instrument for bringing down the very hegemonic
precepts that he may be susceptible to. As we see in the novel, although the protagonist
is the character most influenced by it, he is also the one who provides perhaps the most
probing questioning of Catholicism, its precepts and influence on the people of
Equatorial Guinea.
The presentation of events from the perspective of a child protagonist also calls
up issues related to the genre of testimonio and its “witnessing” of the past. In Miguel
Barnet’s Autobiografla de un cimarron and Elena Poniatowska’s Hasta no verte Jesus
mio Esteban Montejo and Jesusa Palancares, the main protagonists respectively, often
indicate difficulty in remembering events given their old age.® In Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra, on the other hand, questions about the reliability of the protagonist’s
memory never come up with the events presented from the point of view of him as a
child. This is significant as the reliability of the protagonist’s memory derives from the
seemingly innocent perspective from which he presents the interaction between the
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native people of Equatorial Guinea and the Catholic missionaries. Because events are
told from the perspective of a child, the impression is created that they are presented
without any prejudice. Besides, the interpolation of the protagonist’s inner voice in the
course of the narrations takes the move toward apparent objectiveness a step further.
In the course of developing the issues pertaining to the interaction between
Spaniards and the natives of Equatorial Guinea, we are also shown the different stages
of the development of the child protagonist until the present moment when he decides
not to pursue any further the vocation that his father selects for him (and which he
embraces) since his childhood. Throughout his presentation of the events one can
discern the gradual coming of age of the protagonist. In line with the tradition of the
bildungsroman, the novel shows how the protagonist develops not only physically but
also intellectually, emotionally and even spiritually. Like the protagonist of the
bildungsroman, the nameless protagonist of Ndongo’s novel discovers life through
education and influences that play a part in his formation. The protagonist of Las
tinieblas de tu memoria negra falls under the tutelage of different people in the course
of his life. His father, his uncle Abeso, el padre Ortiz, el padre Echenegusia and don
Ramon are all figures who influence him in one way or the other until he reaches that
stage in his life when he decides not to become a priest any longer but a lawyer instead.
Together these figures simultaneously school the protagonist in the traditions of his
native Equatorial Guinea as well as those of Spain (especially in the doctrines of the
Catholic Church).
Despite the more than four hundred years that separate them, a parallel can also
be drawn between the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra and Lazarillo de
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Tonnes, a classic protagonist of Spanish Golden Age literature/® Both Lazarillo and
the unnamed protagonist of T.as tinieblas de tu memoria negra bring practices within the
Catholic religion into question underscoring the brutalities of Catholic priests placed in
positions of power. They are both involved in illicit relationships: Lazarillo, his wife
and his seventh master, the governor, are accused of having a menage-a-trois while the
protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra engages in a sexual relationship with
his aunt. Furthermore, even though they face different circumstances they both steal
food and suffer as a result of it. The deprivation Lazarillo’s first master puts him
through, under the guise of preparing him for life, no doubt pushes him to steal the blind
man’s sausage and leads to the famous episode of the vomit in Lazarillo de Tormes. As
Lazarillo describes:
Y con esto, y con el gran miedo que tenia y con la brevedad del tiempo,
la negra longaniza aiin no habia hecho asiento en el estomago; y lo mas
principal, con el destiento de la cumplidisima nariz, medio casi
ahogandome, todas estas cosas se juntaron y fueron causa que el hecho y
golosina se manifestase y lo suyo fuese vuelto a su dueno. De manera
que, antes que el mal ciego sacase de mi boca su trompa, tal alteracion
sintio mi estomago, que le did con el hurto en ella, de suerte que su nariz
y la negra mal mascada longaniza a un tiempo salieron de mi boca.
(125-26)
The protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra equally experiences the kind of
embarrassment and ridicule Lazarillo suffers from this episode, even if for different
reasons. Required to fast the day before his Catechism, it is no surprise that the child
protagonist wakes up hungry in the middle of the night. All his prayers are unable to
hold him back from helping himself to the various dishes that have been prepared for
his ceremony the next day. And although he is able to soothe his hunger pangs he is
unable to prevent a serious attack of conscience that plagues him throughout his
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ceremony. The panic and fear that take over his body, in part, leads to perhaps the most
humiliating experience of his life:
Estaba llegando al hueco que hahia dejado entre los demas cuando se
rompio la compuerta y salio el chorro. Como en suenos, note como se
extendia el calorcillo en mis calzoncillos, ahora el pantalon, y bajaba por
el muslo, la rodilla, la piema, el calcetin hasta el zapato bianco, y el agua
iha quedando atras mientras avanzaha hacia mi sitio. (85)
This initial case of losing his bladder is followed by a serious case of nausea, which he
is also unable to control:
Y en el mismo instante en que me arrodille, de nuevo cara ai publico, en
el sitio que habia ocupado, senti el vacio en el bajo vientre y la caheza
hueca, cerre instintivamente los ojos, pero ya me resulto imposible
evitarlo: tenia los vomitos en la boca y luchaba por tragarmelos para que
nadie se diera cuenta Senti la tihieza y el hedor al mismo tiempo, y mi
trajecito se iha volviendo de color marron oscuro, manchado de pecado,
el color de la came y del caldo de cacahuete que habia comido la noche
anterior y que aiin no habia logrado digerir. (85-86)
The derision both protagonists suffer as a result of these vomit episodes is quite
substantial and goes a long way in determining their future actions. Lazarillo becomes
even more resolved to take revenge on his blind master. For his part, the protagonist of
Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra begins to have second thoughts about becoming a
priest and almost brings his daily prayer sessions in his room to a halt.
Compared to Lazarillo, the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra
comes from a family more respected and fairly wealthy, judging by the standards of the
communities they live in. Clearly the child protagonist does not have to go through the
same dire situations as often as Lazarillo was prone to do, neither does he demonstrate
the wiliness of Lazarillo nor live on the margins of his society. Nevertheless, as I will
show, in an analysis of the protagonist’s experience in the seminary, he suffers equally
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horrific physical, emotional and mental abuse from a priest in whose eare he is
entrusted and who occupies a position of power over him. It is telling that Ndongo’s
protagonist opts out of the profession he accepts initially as a means of helping his
eommunity. Indeed it will hardly he farfetehed to point out that his training, rather than
making the protagonist a disciple, completely alienates him from Catholicism. The
novel therefore suggests that all the protagonist’s training does is to teach him not to
become a Catholic priest but rather a lawyer.
In deciding to become a lawyer rather than a priest, the protagonist is shown to
have reached a stage where he decides to take control of his own life and identify what
he believes to be necessary for his native land. In his view:
Reverencia, Africa no necesita unicamente sacerdotes. En mi pais [...]
apenas hay medicos, ingenieros, abogados, que se yo [...], nativos.
Tambien eso es primordial, padre para alcanzar nuestra estabilidad, para
nuestro progreso, para construimos una nacion. (17)
From the quotation above one can tell that the protagonist identifies a need for the
people of Africa, and his country in particular, different from what the Catholic priest
(and by extension the European) has in mind. He is a protagonist who as a result of his
training both within and outside his native land has come to the realization that perhaps
nation-building and the material well-being of his people are more pressing needs than
the adherence to and imposition of Catholic dogmas. Seeing that the law attends to
establishing justice within society, the protagonist’s desire to become a lawyer may well
symbolize the native’s quest to seize some basic freedoms of the world for his people,
which may have been denied with colonization. As we see in the novel, the autoeratic
Eurocentric thrust of Catholicism poses an impediment to the native’s freedom to
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worship the gods and deities peculiar to his culture. Rather than passively accept the
place and the role the colonizer has chosen for him, the protagonist seeks to take an
active role in nation building. The protagonist sees his country as an entity in the
making, one which requires the initiative of its native peoples. Thus in deciding to
change his profession, the protagonist effects a double venture of questioning influences
from outside while at the same time epitomizing a form of prise de conscience on the
part of the native regarding his own destiny.
The events described in the novel resonate with those familiar with the history
of Equatorial Guinea. The description, of the protagonist’s family, the priests, the
customs and practices of the native people, the interaction between the missionaries and
the people, all leave no doubt that the novel, in a gesture common to incipient literary
traditions, seeks to capture as faithfully as possible a period in the history of that
country. Carlos Nsue Otong, in making reference to the characters of the novel, reveals
that “cada generacion actual se reconoce en alguno de ellos.” He further reiterates:
Estos personajes, tomados del modelo sociedad-tipo de la antigua
colonia espanola en Africa subsahariana, la Guinea espanola de
entonces, condicionan el ambiente que el autor ha querido mostrar en su
obra, asi como el espacio en el que se mueven: el pueblo y el distrito,
principalmente. A traves de estos personajes se puede ir entendiendo
con relativa facilidad la vida cotidiana, en algunos de sus aspectos en el
marco espacial y temporal de la sociedad descrita en la novela. (58)
Coming from a native of Equatorial Guinea, and one familiar witb the country’s history,
the comments above attest to the high level of realism Ndongo seeks and succeeds in
creating in the novel. The figures depicted are true to life and the situations are
verisimilar. Ndongo’s descriptions can be factually and historically verified and
represent the Equatorial Guinea of the times in real terms. The novel can therefore be
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viewed as Ndongo’s version of his country’s religious history. What is more, presented
from the perspective of the child protagonist, it aspires to provide an unofficial version,
one that considers the experience and account of events on a personal level. Ultimately,
this constitutes a manner of revising the history of Equatorial Guinea and stands in
contestation of the idea of history perceived as a definitive narrative, one imbued with
patriarchal authority.
If in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra subtle means are employed to undermine
the hegemony of religion, the same subtlety does not characterize the portrayal of the
modus operandi of the Catholic missionaries deployed in Equatorial Guinea in their
interaction with the natives. An examination of Catholicism as presented in the novel,
that is, the kind of information it seeks to inculcate, the claims it makes, the role it seeks
to play in the life of the natives and the means it employs to achieve its objectives,
reveals an unmistakable penchant for dogmatism. Key figures who by their
pronouncements, actions and interaction underscore the inflexibility of Catholicism are
el padre Ortiz, the missionary priest; el padre Echenagusia, the head of the seminary and
don Ramon, the school teacher.
El padre Ortiz is in charge of the protagonist’s village and the surrounding area
referred to in the novel as “reducciones.” It is worthy to note that this was the same
mode of reference to Amerindian villages created by Spanish missionaries in Latin
America during the colonial period. In view of this, one can trace the extension of a
practice prevalent in Latin America to Equatorial Guinea, in spite of the difference in
time and space. This reinforees the status of Equatorial Guinea as a belated, but typical
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colony of Spain, but more importantly it imderscores the missionary’s perception of the
native—African or Amerindian—in the same light.
The Catholic missionary pays monthly visits to the villages with the protagonist
as his altar boy and sometimes his interpreter. As the main flag bearer of the Catholic
religion in the Equatorial Guinea of the novel, el padre Ortiz typifies the missionaries
commonly found in colonial contexts. As the priest in charge of the mission,
disseminating the beliefs and principles of his faith appears to be the sole reason for el
padre Ortiz’s presence in the colony. And in accordance with Western hegemonic
discourse and beliefs, he sees and presents Catholicism as the one true religion.
Furthermore, he views his presence in Equatorial Guinea as necessary for the
redemption of the barbarous natives. Nicholas Thomas asserts that
modem colonial discourse have presented native peoples in a number of
ways: as heathens but potential Christians, as savages to be wished away,
as primitives defined through the negation of modemity and as distinct
‘“races’” or ‘“cultures’” possessing distinct natures. (790)
This appears to be the perspective from which el padre Ortiz approaches the
natives. His speech, actions and interactions with the natives are all geared toward
establishing the superiority and validity of Catholicism over the traditional religious
beliefs present in the colony. During his monthly visits to “las reducciones” el padre
Ortiz spreads his message of the need for conversion on the part of the natives from
uncivilized and barbarous practices to civilized ones. In his speech, which Baltazar Fra-
Molinero appropriately refers to as “propaganda imperial,” Catholicism emerges as a
demanding religion that bids all to bend to its precepts. According to Fra-Molinero:
El discurso misionero esta imbricado en un lenguaje de violencia que
primero ridiculiza las religiones tribales, despues intenta demostrar las
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verdades del cristianismo en oposicion y refutacion de las creencias que
intenta erradicar, y finalmente exige con coacciones constantes actos de
ortodoxia y conformidad. (50)
El padre Ortiz fits the profile of the Catholic missionary Ruiz describes to the
letter. Ndongo presents a missionary whose disdain of the practices that undergird the
religious strata of the natives, fuels a profound intolerance. In seeking to posit the
doctrines of Catholicism as the one true religion, el padre Ortiz assumes a position of
authority, a position from which his actions, though questionable, are justified. Surely
inherent in the gesture of telling the natives what to do (in this case to abandon their
beliefs and practices for Catholicism), a gesture often exemplified in relationships
between parents and children, master and subaltern, is the notion that el padre Ortiz has
not only the authority but also the acuity to do so. It is, without doubt, by virtue of
being Christian or, if you wish, by being the flag bearer of Catholicism, that el padre
Ortiz is able to appropriate this position. It appears that Christianity accords the
missionary a form of knowledge superior and alien to that of the native who practiees
the religious customs inherited from his ancestors. How else eould el padre Ortiz
categorically reject the religious beliefs of the Guinean people, especially when he has
had no experience of them? In effect, given the fact that the priest has no direct
experience of the religious customs of the natives, his categorical rejection and
characterization of them as “barbaric” goes a long way in showing the high degree of
arbitrariness at the core of hegemonic inclinations. Furthermore the misconceptions the
missionaries had about the natives are underscored.
In his Guinea Ecuatorial: historia. costumbres v tradiciones (1984),Jose Manuel
Novoa Ruiz presents an extensive study on the culture of the Guinean people from its
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“discovery” through colonial times to the present. The author, who first lived as an
expatriate in Guinea, returns after the dictatorship of Macias—the first dictatorship, to
borrow Ndongo’s words—to undertake an in depth study of the history, customs and
traditions of the Guinean people. Thus Novoa Ruiz, writing his book after his sojourn
with the natives, can be viewed as a “testigo ocular” to the practices he describes in his
book. Among the customs and beliefs he describes Ruiz presents details of the religious
practices of the Guinean people and provides an insightful observation of not only the
basis underlying them but also the indiscriminate work of Spanish missionaries in their
eradication. In Ruiz’s view, with reference to Catholicism:
Sus representantes no se paran en un estudio previo de las creencias
religiosas de los pueblos guineanos, distinguiendo los ritos de caracter
positive para la comunidad de los claramente negatives. Miden todo por
el mismo rasero y comienza la accion mas sombria de la historia de las
misiones en Centro Africa. Sistematicamente se queman y se destruyen
los objetos rituales, se persigue todo tipo de culto y castran por su base
toda manifestacion ritual que no se ajuste a los estrictos preceptos de la
religion catolica. (148)
As Ruiz rightly points out, the missionaries in their treatment of the natives do
not consider for a moment that there may be some value in their religious beliefs and
practices. In effect, the missionaries’ perception of them as Other, what Thomas
describes to be a “distinct race or culture” the natives’ practices are totally rejected and
are immediately marked for eradication. Ruiz’s words are echoed by the narrator of Las
tinieblas de tu memoria negra in his description of a typical day in the life of el padre
Ortiz. According to the narrator, in one of the numerous instances when the protagonist
is addressed as “tii,” el padre Ortiz, with the help of the protagonist:
obligabais a los salvajes negros a sacar de sus cabanas los signos
totemicos y las lanzas y las flechas emponzonadas con estrofanto y las
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mascaras y las tallas de madera y las efigies en bronce y los tambores
mientras anunciabais la ira de Dios contra quien conservara al demonio
con el, y el padre Ortiz se llevaba todas esas cosas para quemarlas, segun
decia. (31)
Ruiz’s historical account and the narrator’s observations effectively communicate the
violence that the missionaries sought to perpetuate and the strong emotional response
such violence could ultimately provoke. These actions of el padre Ortiz confirm the
musings of the protagonist/narrator to the effect that for el padre Ortiz “el linico ismo
redentor es el catolicismo’’ (27). The objects mentioned by the protagonist are
emblematic of the traditional practices and beliefs of the native Guineans and constitute
elements essential not only to the identity of the natives but also to their very
sustenance. Nevertheless, these are the very items of which el Padre Ortiz sought to
eleanse the “salvajes negros,’’ to borrow the description of the narrator above. Eaeh
item plays a seminal role in the day-to-day activities of the natives. The totemic signs
make it possible to distinguish between different ethnic groups in a region. This is a
very important means by which indigenous African people identify themselves not only
to each other but also to the spirits and animals with whom they believe they must co
exist. The spears, bows and arrows serve as the means by which the natives, mainly
hunters, obtain food for their tribes. Finally, the drum serves as a very important means
of communication and is essential in the religious rituals practiced by the natives.
Surely, the total eradication of these items and the traditional religious beliefs
associated with them, passed down from generation to generation and embedded in the
fabric of Guinean culture, constitutes no less than an act of violence. The very image of
padre Ortiz on his motorcycle cutting through the forest, which the protagonist
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describes as “caminos intransitables” and “la imagen del animal herido por el estruendo
de la mote,” (23) foreshadows the violent acts described above. In describing the priest,
Carlos Nsue Otong’s asserts that “padre Ortiz es la encamacion del misionero de
bosque adentro [...] vive con la gente discute y trata de convencer a sus eventuates
feligreses. No es violento por naturaleza” (62). Nevertheless, from the description
given above and other incidents in the novel, Otong’s assertion is debatable. For
example in an encounter with tio Abeso, the protagonist paints the picture of a priest
impatient and unable to control his emotions.
According to the protagonist, during his encounter with tio Abeso el padre Ortiz
“se ponia colerico” (94), and in another instance he could barely hold his emotions in
check with “la cara enrojecida de ira” (95). The emotions with which the protagonist
associates the priest are ones usually associated with violence and are symptomatic of
the very acts he attempts to perpetrate where the indigenous people are concerned.
Thus Catholicism, as perceived from the motives and actions of el padre Ortiz, emerges
as a religion which, in seeking to assert itself and completely override the system of
beliefs that governs the lives of the natives, perpetuates acts of violence.
The violence that the natives suffer in the name of Catholicism is further
highlighted in an incident between the protagonist and el padre Echenagusia, the head
of the seminary in Bata. From the protagonist’s descriptions, el padre Echenagusia
appears as one who intimidates and instills terror in the native people and especially the
youth who are enrolled in the missionary school. In the protagonist’s description, el
padre Echenagusia, also referred to as “Ojo Picante” for the tic in his bloodshot eyes
and pereimial bad mood, assumes a tyrannical form. As the protagonist shows, his
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preferred method of evangelizing is by threats, intimidation and giving free reign to his
emotions. If the form of violence that el padre Ortiz employs in the course of his
mission can be termed metaphoric, that of el padre Echenagusia is more direct and
physical. This priest described by the protagonist as having a “perenne genio
malhumorado” (114) prides himself in his physical abilities to go head to head with the
strongest of the natives. One cannot ignore the warning flags that are raised when the
protagonist explains that “todos le dejaban ganar por temor a su ira” (114) and when he
further describes him as “celoso del deber que no permitia ni perdonaba ningiin
menoscabo de su autoridad de Padre Superior” (115). He is presented as one
intoxicated by the authority of his position to the extent that he loses sight of the “noble
mission” the institution he represents purports to undertake and for which he was
employed. It is shown that if the natives cede to him, it is by virtue of the fear he
instills in them for they consider him as one having “brujeria poderosa” (122).
The protagonist recalls an incident in which the high-handedness of the padre
Echenagusia is poignantly revealed. This happens when the protagonist and his
colleagues refuse to eat their dinner after they discover that it had been cooked with a
centipede in it, and more so after their discovery leads them to vomit into it. The
protagonist’s attempt to explain serves only to catapult the priest into one of the rages
for which he is famous for, and enact perhaps the most brutal verbal and physical
assault described in the novel. As the protagonist describes:
El padre no escuchaba, seguia gritando, yo percebla como en suenos, las
diminutas gotas de su saliva sobre mi cuello [...] senti el golpe en mi
oido derecho, recuerdo que me tambalee, consegui agarrarme al horde de
la mesa antes de caerme al suelo arrastrando sobre mi el plato de sopa de
cacahuete con vomitos y envuelto de yuca con el ciempies enorme y
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rojo. El padre seguia gritando ya totalmente descontrolado mientras sus
zapatos negros golpeaban mis nalgas y mis espaldas y mi cabeza. (123)
What we see here is a religious figure out of control and this recalls, on one
level, the episode of the vomit already commented above, and on another, the episode
with the clerigo de Maqueda in Lazarillo de Tormes. Lazarillo describes the beating he
received at the hands of the priest in the following terms: “Levantando bien el palo,
[...], con toda su fuerza me descargo en la cabeza un tan gran golpe, que sin ningiin
sentido y muy mal descalabrado me dejo” (146). Unsurprisingly neither protagonist is
able to defend himself from the wrath of his abuser. When the protagonist of Las
tiniehlas de tu memoria negra mentions that the priest “no escuchaba,” that is, he did
not listen, he highlights a common gesture in the missionaries’ treatment of natives.
Whereas the missionaries expect the natives to completely accept what they preach,
they in return are not prepared to listen to what the natives have to offer. In their
interaction with the natives, the missionaries attempt to establish a one-dimensional
system of interaction from “top down.” Theirs is a system in which they seek to
systematically have some bearing on the very roots of the native’s traditions while
remaining impervious to any influence the native might exert. Therefore it should come
as no surprise that the very idea of the missionaries participating in traditional rituals
and practices of the natives is never brought up in the novel. This effectively
communicates the missionaries’ disregard of the mores that hold the natives together
and underscores the passive role the missionaries sought to have the natives play in the
encounter between the two.
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One would ask what motivates el padre Echenegusia to react the way he does to
the pupils’ refusal to eat food cooked with a centipede. Could it be that he believes the
natives are like savages who eat worms and therefore having a centipede in their food is
the most natural thing in the world? Does he therefore see the refusal of the
seminarians unwarranted? Does he consider the pupils’ action (or inaction) only in
terms of an affront to his authority? Does he for a moment consider that under the
circumstances, the (in)action of the pupils is founded on fundamental human necessities
and transcends any claim he may have on them for power? By insisting that the pupils
eat the contaminated food el padre Ojo Picante seeks to assert that the pupils, by
attending the seminary school, lose any rights they have to decide what and what not to
eat. Besides, he seems to indicate that natives are base to the extent that eating food
cooked with a centipede should pose no problem. We find here that a fundamental
premise of religion and Christianity, one that sees all people as equal, is blatantly
ignored.
In essence, by refusing to listen to the pupils, insisting that the students eat the
food and physically assaulting the protagonist, the priest enacts a form of violence
which is not only physical but, in Levinas’ words, “interrupts their continuity,” (for
surely eating food consciously or unconsciously cooked with centipedes does not
constitute a common practice in Guinean society). Furthermore he seeks to obligate the
pupils to “play roles in which they no longer recognize themselves” and also make them
“betray not only commitments but their own substance” (21). As the protagonist
explains, the very idea of eating food cooked with a centipede is one that he cannot
bring himself to consider: “Me preguntaba a mi mismo si seria el primer fang en la
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historia de nuestro pueblo que comeria ciempies, y esc me asustaba mas que nada,
como un fang puede comer eso [.. .]” (123). From the protagonist’s comments above it
is obvious that el padre Echenagusia is forcing him to commit a taboo, an action which
the protagonist cannot bring himself to take in spite of the fact that he has committed
himself to becoming a Catholic priest. As the protagonist further explains, eating the
food with the centipede implies losing respect, which for him is crucial to his
ontological being. Thus if the protagonist is to follow el padre Ojo Picante’s directive,
it will be at the cost of contravening not only the precepts of his native society but also a
fundamental personal principle—a violation in all respects.
Consequently, the figure of the priest inducing the seminarians to eat the
contaminated food bears a strong semblance to that of the snake in the Garden of Eden
who forced the original sin of man. By this, I do not suggest that conditions in the
colonial setting or the seminary are reflective of the conditions that existed in the
Garden of Eden. The point is, the priest seeks to force the protagonist to contravene a
taboo— a sin of some sorts in the native’s context; to perform an act for the very first
time in his life, which will essentially entail his ostracization from his ethnic group.
Basically this is the same scenario instigated by the snake in the Bible. Accordingly,
one could argue that the priest seeks to force a re-enactment of the original scene of sin.
Furthermore, el padre Ojo Picante’s insistence and failure to consider the protagonist’s
perspective serves only to highlight the unidimensional nature of the vocation he
represents and underscores the imperious manner by whieh he relates to his wards.
The physical assault by the head of the mission school on one of the pupils in his
seminary, given the colonial context within which it occurs, evokes a relationship of
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power that plays out on at least three different levels. These are age, religion and race.
In the first place, el padre Echenegusia’s actions can be viewed in terms of an adult
employing force to elicit a minor’s obedience. By putting the white priest and the
native seminarian in the position of master and student and more so in a battle of wills,
Ndongo subtly reminds us of the situation in colonial contexts where natives have often
been viewed as naive, and in need of direction.” By resorting to the use of his physical
strength, seeing that the pupil’s can never match it, the priest not only appropriates the
position of power over the protagonist but also abuses it. It is significant to note that a
Catholic priest, the head of the missionary school would resort to physical force in
response to the protagonist’s refusal.
It would appear from the description of the priests that the author merely inverts
the positions generally maintained in Western hegemonic discourse by portraying the
white missionaries as being brutal, violent and even barbaric, traits with which the non-
Westem native has usually been identified. However one should note that the violence
underlying the civilizing mission has always been present, albeit ignored. What
Ndongo does is to bring this violence into relief and in so doing suggests that violence,
no matter what prompts it, or how noble its underlying motive, cannot be justified.
It appears all the institutions collude to instill Catholicism into all aspects of the
life of the protagonist. Apart from the religious entities dedicated to the dissemination
of Catholicism in the society depicted in Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra. the
educational system also takes up the cause. And it is equally uncompromising in its
message and tactics. The unbending rule of Catholicism is further embodied in don
Ramon the schoolteacher. One observes that in the figure of don Ramon the
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collaboration of Catholicism and the Spanish nationalism of the Franco era is made
complete. His instruction of the native Guinean children is marked by catch phrases,
which reflect not only the autocratic rule of the Franco era but also the part that religion
had in its enforcement. The fusion between religion and academe is emphasized in don
Ramon’s teachings as even history is explained in religious terms. According to the
protagonist the morning routine at school consisted of forming lines with hands raised
in Falangist salute, marching before a red flag and singing “[...] deseoso de saber vengo
a la escuela a aprender iluminame sefior quisiera ser un portento de humilde sabiduria
para tenerte contento Dios Santo del alma mla” (24). Furthermore, don Ramon believed
that “la letra solo puede entrar con sangre, porque los negros tenemos la cabeza muy
dura” (24). Thus he always carried a whip, which he used expeditiously to ensure that
the pupils learned the lessons he taught them. According to the protagonist “No saber la
leccion podia costarle a uno veinticinco a treinta melongazos en el culo desnudo [...]”
(24). Like the incident between the protagonist and padre Echenegusia physical
punishment is once again employed as a means of coercing the pupils into compliance.
ft can be seen from the foregoing that the interaction between the natives and the
Spaniards is fraught with violence. Drawing from the autocratic nature of Catholicism,
the Spaniards are unrelenting in the dissemination of their beliefs while their actions are
geared toward the total dominance of the natives. Nevertheless, it is important to note
that although in the novel Catholicism seeks to become the dominant religion that status
is never completely attained. Although there exists the impetus toward establishing the
total dominance of Catholicism, on the part of el padre Ortiz and other missionaries.
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representatives of Spanish hegemony, the natives one way or the other undermine this
impetus.
In view of the aggressive manner in which the missionaries seek to bend the
natives to Catholic doctrines, the reaction of the natives is crucial to our discussion.
Not only does the native’s reaction determine the success or failure of the “noble
mission,” but it also reveals the thought process of the native in his dealings with the
missionaries. In Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra the society is such that we see a
move on the part of the missionaries (foreigners or outsiders if you wish), in pursuit of
the natives. In essence, it is evident that in the eyes of the missionaries knowledge
about the existence of a system of beliefs different from theirs is not sufficient, rather it
calls for action to obliterate. That is, by their actions and pronouncements el padre
Ortiz and others demonstrate that there is no place for the eo-existenee of other forms of
religious practices alongside Catholicism. Homogeneity and essentialism are the
operative words where the foreigners are concerned. On the other hand the native’s
perception on this totalitarian push for Catholicism, as we will examine in the
proceeding section, proves to be more discerning. We are interested here in el tlo
Abeso’s take on Catholicism examined within the context of his traditional customs and
beliefs.
According to the protagonist, “El padre Ortiz habia tomado como el asimto mas
importante de su mision apostolica la conversion del tio Abeso” (93). This aspect of el
padre Ortiz’s mission is made the more critical seeing that tio Abeso, as the head of his
family, is portrayed as the main embodiment of the traditional beliefs directly
incongruous to the principles and doctrines of Catholicism. Tio Abeso, as the character
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least swayed by the propaganda of the missionaries, epitomizes everything that el padre
Ortiz abhors in the indigene. In the role of “el unico que intentaba salvaguardar la
memoria colectiva de [s]u pueblo,” his creed consists of “Revivir la esencia de vuestra
casta [...] conservando Intacta la fuerza magica, misteriosa y peligrosa que le habia sido
conferida por el pueblo como jefe” (91). Tlo Abeso appears unbending in his beliefs
and mode of life and emerges as a direct challenge to the very presence of el padre
Ortiz, and by extension Catholicism, in the society of his era. In tio Abeso, we see a
native who engages in rituals perceived as sacrilegious by the missionaries. Unlike his
brother, the protagonist’s father, tio Abeso is polygamous—he is married traditionally
to seven women, he is not baptized, and does not speak Spanish. Thus it is with a sense
of purpose that el padre Ortiz directs his attentions to the head of the protagonist’s
family. In spite of his beliefs and actions, tio Abeso demonstrates a more objective
view of Catholicism. In the first place he is prepared to look for parallels between his
traditions and those promoted by the missionaries.
The protagonist, in recalling the encounters between el padre Ortiz and tio
Abeso, describes one episode that stands out rather vividly in his mind. This is an
encounter between the two maximum representatives of Catholicism and traditional
beliefs for which the protagonist served as an interpreter. Thus his description of the
encounter provides details that go beyond the exchanges between the two. He frames
this encounter as a war of words between Tio Abeso and el padre Ortiz which provides
concrete grounds where the evocation of key elements of Catholic indoctrination and
the counter arguments that undermine them are played out. During this meeting the
perspectives of the two on such key issues as God, faith, the resurrection of Christ,
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polygamy, creation, hell, are presented. El padre Ortiz asserts the essentialist view of
the existence of one true God and one true religion aside from which other beliefs and
practices are sacrilegious. Further, he points out to tio Abeso that Jesus Christ died and
resurrected for the salvation of all men and threatens hell for sinners. According to the
protagonist, the main argument the Catholic father makes was “faith”, faith in God, in
his “Doctrina Revelada” and in the church founded by his only son. He admonishes tio
Abeso for his immorality, by marrying seven women. Furthermore, el padre Ortiz uses
the argument for the need for civilization as a justification of the imposition of his
beliefs on the native people. He sees his mission as necessary for the advancement of
the natives within the context of the world as a whole. In his view Catholicism brings
civilization, helps heal diseases, brings peace, and above all, fights barbarous customs.
In his admonishment of tio Abeso, el padre Ortiz leaves no doubt that he
considers the native a sinner. But during this encounter it becomes apparent that for tio
Aheso, his religious beliefs and practices are a variation of the precepts that underlie the
Catholicism Ortiz preaches, and are equally valid. In his view: “Todas las trihus tienen
sus tradiciones y el secreto de la paz entre las distintas tribus esta en que cada una
conserve y cumpla las suyas sin meterse con los amuletos que protegen a las demas”
(93). He reiterates that “todas las tradiciones tienen elementos verdaderos y elementos
falsos o al menos exagerados y ninguna puede adoptarse como verdad unica” (93).
From the above quotation one can discern that although tio Abeso acknowledges the
existence of the Catholie tradition, in his view, that knowledge does not call for action
to eradicate it. Rather, he draws attention to the possibility of a peaceful co-existence
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between different races where one does not put down but instead respects the others
values.
Perhaps more judicious is his view that different cultures or races should be able
to preserve elements of their own traditions without putting forward any essentialist
claims. In this tio Abeso in his own way reiterates what Simon Bolivar and Jose Marti
advocate decades before him—the plurality of Hispanic cultures. He appears to put into
effect the idea of “familia humana” expounded by Bolivar in his Discurso de Angostura
in 1819.^^ Additionally tio Abeso’s his view that the coming into contact of Spaniards
and Africans should forment tolerance and the celebration of differences recalls Marti’s
call for “nuestra America mestiza.”
For example, tio Abeso sees his veneration of the totemic symbols of his
religious beliefs as pertinent to his status and the role he plays in his society. In fact, in
his rebuttal, tio Abeso systematically and emphatically addresses all aspects of the
arguments brought forward by the Catholic priest.
Nada de barbaro tenia la veneracion del caiman, un ser que habia
prestado un singular servicio a nuestra tribu, porque ni siquiera el estaria
alii ahora sentado de no ser por im caiman. ^No cuidais vosotros con
mimo a vuestros personajes destacados, a esos que llamais santos? ^No
es un animal lo que monta la estatua que hay en la capilla? Yo veo
vuestras imagenes en vuestros templos y pienso que no son mas que
vuestros totems, los restos disecados de vuestros antepasados ilustres
[...]. Si conservo en mi casa la calavera del jefe Abeso Motulu es
porque me hace sentirme seguro y me da fuerzas y me incita a seguir su
ejemplo. Dices que habeis traido medicinas, pero tambien encontrasteis
medicinas. Dices que habeis traido paz, y la guerra la provocasteis
vosotros. El unico problema que yo os veo a vosotros es que quereis que
dejemos nuestras costumbres y confiemos en vuestros antepasados. Y
eso no puede ser. (97-99)
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From the foregoing it is evident that in the eyes of tio Aheso, the hasic principles that
underlie Catholicism and those that underlie the traditional religious beliefs of his tribe
are not very different. He finds parallels in the practices of the two traditions and
desists from labeling one superior or more valid than the other. Clearly what we see
from tio Abeso’s rebuttal is a native who believes in the possibility of different
traditions and eultiu*es coexisting peacefully, recognizing the idiosyncrasies of each
other’s traditions and refraining from imposing themselves one upon the other. This
view echoes one expressed by Ngugi Wa Thiongo to the effect that:
What has been wrong in the colonial context is that the act of
interpreting the other culture that is far from us has, instead of clarifying
real connections and each culture by illuminating the other, ended by
making us captives of the foreign culture and alienating us from our
own. (119)
To a large degree, Tio Abeso’s position makes room for the possibility of Catholicism
and African traditional religions to mesh gears and explore the possibilities each has to
offer. He therefore advocates a form of mestizaje cultural that does not necessarily lead
to alienation or the abandonment of one’s roots.
One could argue that Ndongo is the very embodiment of the kind of alienation
Thiongo mentions in the quotation above. As a native of Equatorial Guinea living in
exile in Spain; writing a novel, originally a Western genre; writing in Spanish and with
a protagonist who first studies to become a Catholic priest and who later decides to
study law, Ndongo—as well as his protagonist—appears to be the quintessential
“captive” of a foreign culture. He appears to fall into the trap which, in Thiongo’s
words, “were taking us further and further from ourselves to other selves, from our
world into other worlds” (288).^^ Nevertheless, a closer examination reveals that rather
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than a captive or alienated, Ndongo actually employs the elements of the foreign culture
to illuminate his native culture. He participates in what Carlos Fuentes in discussing
Hispanic literature calls “una familia literaria,”''^ that is, a tradition which transcends
national boundaries and indeed underlies much of Hispanic literature from Christopher
Columbus’ Diario de abordo to Jorge Luis Borges’ “El aleph.” As is well known, on
arrival in what we know now as Latin America, Colombus was faced with realities
which, although new and sometimes unintelligible, needed to be expressed in his
writings back to Spain. While the realities he describes in his writings are “American,”
as it were, he employs Spanish in their expression. Borges work, on the other hand,
often looks beyond Latin America to embrace the world. One aspect of Borges’
“worldly” view of literature could well be his obsession with translations. And as Ilan
Stavans rightly observes, Borges’ use of translations of the Arabic novel A Thousand
and One Nights by Richard Francis Burton, Edward Lane, Antoine Galland and J. C.
Mardrus, in his “El traductor de las mil y una noches,” instead of the Spanish versions
underscores this fact.^^ For Stavans, this shows that rather than perceive of language as
constrictive, Borges viewed it as a springboard.^^
As Fuentes further reiterates, “una lengua occidental puede servir perfectamente
para transmitir una imaginacion de origen americano y africano, enriqueciendo a todos
los factores de la ecuacion” (169). Although Ndongo writes in Spanish the realities and
idiosyncrasies he describes are undoubtedly Equatoguinean, African. As already noted,
Ndongo is able to capture the spirit of a period in the history of his country dining
which both native and colonial religious influences were brought to bear on the people.
Besides, he effectively portrays the subtleties with which Catholicism’s hegemony is
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undermined. Thus Ndongo’s use of Spanish does not diminish the native component of
his heritage but rather takes into account the dynamism symptomatic of hybridized
Hispanic cultures and to which his country is allied to. Spanish, rather than “the means
of spiritual subjugation” (287), as Thiongo believes, serves as the means of spiritual
expression.
In practical terms, let us also recall that in Equatorial Guinea, Spanish is the
language of literacy, and, as the national language it facilitates communication among
the diverse ethnic and language groups. By writing in Spanish Ndongo opens up the
literature of Equatorial Guinea to a broader audience both within and outside his
country and, at the same time, directly addresses his Spanish “masters.” In doing so,
Ndongo still maintains his grip on elements native to his coimtry. This also concurs
with the text’s genre. Indeed as a reading of Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra shows,
although a Western mode is employed, elements of oral tradition, by which African
literary productions have been characterized, also abound in and transforms the
narrative. Ndongo’s position does not differ from that of the Haitian writer Rene
Depestre, who, in response to a question about his use of French in his writings, asserts:
J’ecris: ni contre le creole ni contre le lxan9ais, son ‘oncle blanc’. J’ecris
pour mesurer le degre de I’unite spirituelle auquel un poete peu parvenir,
avec deux fers au feu: la culture ffan9aise et Taventure de la creolite qui
constitue le fond de la persoimalite de base haitienne. (90)^*
In the above quotation Depestre points out that one can aspire to a form of spiritual
unity with the use of so-called colonial languages. Writers like himself and Ndongo can
aver themselves of two traditions in their literary creations, and this in itself may
constitute an expression of their ontological being. The image of the blacksmith, as
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portrayed by the expression “deux fers au feu” is particulary apt in describing the
innovative stance the African writer (or writers from formerly colonized countries in
general) must necessarily take in using the language of the former colonizer.'^
In line with what Ngugi Wa Thiongo deems to be right in the colonial context,
one observes that tio Abeso would rather look for elements within both cultures that
make them comparable even while maintaining their autonomy. In effect, he advocates
a situation where heterogeneity does not necessarily lead to conflict, given that for him
each tradition or culture must recognize the principles of the other, acknowledge them
and foment mutual respect. Tio Abeso’s stance with regard to the missionaries’
presence and activities, given his position among the natives, is highly unconventional
and underscores an aspect of the innovative perspective Ndongo brings to the debates
regarding postcolonialism. As the head of his family and one who takes upon himself
the responsibility of keeping intact the traditions handed down to him by his forefathers,
one would expect that tio Abeso mount a campaign against Catholicism in his country
and categorically forbid any member of his family from associating with the
missionaries. Indeed, one expects that there be an organized movement of some form
or other to challenge Catholicism’s influence on the natives, and such a movement be
headed by tio Abeso.
Rather, he gives his consent to his nephew, the protagonist, to pursue a career in
the Catholic priesthood. Although he remains impervious to the influences of the
missionaries in his village (to the extent that he does not participate in their religious
rites and stands up to el padre Ortiz when questioned), tio Abeso is willing to
accommodate its reach even within the family of which he is head. We see that tio
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Abeso accords his nephew the kind of freedom that Catholicism is unable to grant. By
abstaining from imposing his beliefs on his family and allowing them the freedom to
experience a different culture, tlo Abeso demonstrates a high level of tolerance and
progressiveness that directly overrides the backward light into whieh the native has
often been cast. By his treatment of tio Abeso, Ndongo signals a native more
perceptive than one who would have simply opposed Catholicism and forbidden
members of his family to dabble in it. Indeed this is an aspect of the native’s reaction to
European hegemony that has often been omitted from debates surrounding postcolonial
literatures. A great part of postcolonial literature tends to focus on the combative stance
adopted by natives to disavow any form of European influence. From the attention such
literature generates one is compelled to believe it falls more in line with what is
perceived to be an appropriate and favorable reaction against European hegemony.
Tio Abeso’s stance for tolerance and mutual respect constitutes just one aspect
of the natives’ reaction to the principles Catholicism sought to put in place in the
society. It is therefore necessary to consider another viewpoint in the natives’ reaction
to the precepts that the Spaniards sought to establish. Specifically we bring out for
consideration the purview of the natives who, as far as one can tell, seem to be well
disposed to or even seem to be co-opted by Catholicism. Falling into the category of
natives who seem totally receptive to Catholic doctrines are the protagonist and his
father respectively. From all appearances, the protagonist and his father are totally
assimilated by Catholicism. Nonetheless, on close examination, it becomes equally
apparent that they do not simply give up their beliefs and customs for those of the
Spaniards. Instead they show a more intricate way of life and perhaps show a more
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powerful form of resistance, albeit subtle, to the hegemonic discourse and impetus of
Catholicism. Although in the novel Catholieism is presented, from the point of view of
the protagonist and his father, as a religion that holds promise for the future of the
Guinean society, the two never lose sight of the importance of their traditional system
ofbeliefs.
While the hard lined stance of the missionaries is overtly displayed, perhaps the
most effective means of parrying its darts are the subtlest. The kind of subtlety I
describe is made manifest by the protagonist and his father, who, to all intents, accept
the doctrines of Catholicism. However as we see at the begirming of the novel, after
years of training to become a priest, after taking the time and the effort to get to know
and experience the teachings of Catholicism, the protagonist rescinds his decision to
become a priest.
This move by the protagonist demonstrates a form of resistance indicative of
what Williams and Chrisman, in discussing oppositions to colonialism, term “mundane,
non-heroic” (27), but is one which proves to be very powerful in destabilizing or
truncating the reach of Catholicism. Such subtle forms of resistance to Catholicism
pervade the whole novel and can be analyzed on different levels. According to Peter
Childs and Patrick Williams, in discussing Edward Said’s theories of resistance,
culture can be seen to be not only a site of struggle but also a mode of
struggle and that for which the struggle is waged; it is one of the terrains
on which colonizer and colonized, imperialist and ‘free’ post-colonial
oppose one another, it is one of the ways in which each side conducts the
struggle (disseminating information, conducting arguments, constructing
representations); it is also one of the principal prizes of the struggle (the
importance of the ability to dominate someone else’s culture, or
alternatively the ability to retain control in the face of attempts at
domination, is transparent). (110)
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In the novel religion serves as the main focus of the encounter between the
Spaniards and the Guineans and the quotation above effectively reflects its dynamics.
As 1 have shown, the missionaries attempt to completely override the system ofbeliefs
of the native people and establish their mode of life in Equatorial Guinea. However, as
we shall see in this section. Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra takes a step further. In
the novel Catholicism is actually accepted, practiced and encouraged, making the
protagonist’s rejection of Catholicism, after spending most of his life “indoctrinating”
himself in its practices, all the more significant and making his “mundane” form of
resistance all the more powerful.
Before the protagonist can get to the point where rejecting a vocation in religion
is the logical thing to do, he appears to be the ideal model of the success of Catholic
evangelization. His adherence to Catholicism, from all indications, touts his submission
to Catholic hegemony and its triumph over him. As an altar boy, his duties included
traveling with el padre Ortiz and translating sermons into his native language for his
people. So even at an early age the protagonist learns not only to process the message
contained in the priest’s sermons but also how to make it meaningful to his people. He
even goes as far as to say: “Yo era una pieza insustituible por entonces de su mision
apostolica” (99). Without him the priest is unable to undertake his evangelizing duties
and thus a relationship of interdependence is established between the two. Not only is it
important that the priest convert the protagonist, but also, through him other souls could
also be won for Catholicism. As we see the protagonist’s public devotion to the
evangelizing efforts of the priest is duplicated on an even more personal level. His
thoughts are inundated with reflections on stories about saints, and other religious
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figures and in the sanctuary of his bedroom he often imitates el padre Ortiz. This
indicates the extent to which Catholicism holds sway over him and warrants close
examination.
In the first place, in imitating el padre Ortiz, the protagonist prefers to use Latin.
The authoritative underpinnings of Latin even in early times makes its use by the
protagonist all the more significant.^'^ In the novel this use graphically demonstrates the
power the discourse of Catholicism wields on the protagonist. In showing the
pervasiveness of Catholicism, the use of Latin as characterized in Las tiniehlas de tu
memoria negra indicates ways in which its hegemony is undermined. In the novel only
the protagonist uses Latin and this occurs only in the confines of his bedroom. As we
have already mentioned, the protagonist is able to recite this discourse, in the form of
orisons and litanies, from constantly listening to the village missionary, not necessarily
because it had any meaning for him. As he admits, he sometimes recited the prayers
without comprehending nor remembering their exact wording. Thus, the language,
which appears fragmented and disjointed in the text, loses any real meaning. It is
necessary to cite an episode during which the protagonist’s use of Latin rather than
underscore its importance effectively serves to ridicule:
[Cjredo in unum Deum Pater omnipotente factorem coeli et terrae
visibilium et invisibilium et in Domine lesu Christi Filius Dei
Unigenitus, una pausa par tomar aliento, Deus de Deo con lumen de
lumine Deus verus de Deo vero, y descansaba para tragar saliva. Con
suma fe, emocionado, retomaba el hilo, genitus non factus
consustancialis patrem per quem omnia factus est qui propter, se me
habian olvidado algunas palabras, pero seguia con un entusiasmo
renovado, de corrido, sin descansar, descendit de coeli et incamatus est
de espiritu sancto et Maria Virgine y seguia recitando los latinajos sin
saber exactamente lo que decia, tal y como me iba saliendo o recordaba
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que le solian salir al Padre Orliz, et homo factus est crueifixus etiam pro
nobis sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est. (67)
The above eitation shows bow Latin is broken in Las tiniehlas de tu memoria
negra, for the usually lofty discourse appears constantly fragmented by the musings of
the protagonist which are rendered in Spanish. The pauses in the recitation, to eateh bis
breath and swallow saliva, show bow the language tries to physically take over the
protagonist and bis resistance to it. One could argue that from its use by the
protagonist, within the context of the novel, Latin constitutes an aside, a digression only
tangential to the language of the novel. Thus, as one of the important elements of
Catholicism and as the privileged language of the clergy, the use of Latin by the
protagonist within the confines of bis bedroom proves to be far more symbolic than one
would imagine. Latin is stripped of its exclusiveness. Clearly, as a status symbol of
Catholicism Latin’s place in Ndongo’s novel is rendered rather inconsequential. Even
with the limited use to which Latin is put we observe that there is a constant incursion
of the musings of the protagonist which are rendered in Spanish. Thus graphically, the
formal language usually employed during important Roman Catholic rites is infused
with digressions and thrown out of sync. The elitist and authoritative underpinnings for
the use of Latin, given its role in making the liturgy the preserve of the clergy, is thus
effectively undermined in Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra. By extension, this is
indicative of the fact that perhaps Catholicism actually influences the protagonist in a
sporadic manner and not in any sustained way, a fact that seems to be validated by the
protagonist’s decision to leave the priesthood. The argument can be made that the
protagonist’s knowledge and use of Latin in a religious context, and his adherence to
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the principles of the Catholic faith, signal the control the latter has on him. However, as
one discerns from the novel, the protagonist’s use of Latin does not go beyond the
confines of his bedroom and diminishes with the development of the main character of
Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra.
Still, by participating in activities that suggest that his life is exclusively
embroiled in Catholicism, the protagonist comes across as one socially alienated from
his peers. The protagonist attends a Catholic school, serves as an altar boy, evangelizes
with the priest assigned to his village, participates in his first communion, enrolls in the
seminary and travels to Spain to become a priest. The protagonist’s participation in
these activities means he is often isolated from other children his age and does not take
part in the kind of games that they play. He is unable to acquire certain skills that
validate his status as a child within the traditional setting. As the protagonist explains:
El horror ante la condenacion etema no me permitio ser un nino. Ya no
iba al rlo Wele con Ba, ni supe ya construir coches con medula de
bambii, que tanto me habian gustado, [...]. No hice jamas una flecha
para tirotear con ella a los pajaros, ni fiii a banarme al Nganga con mi
amigo Otunga o mis primos Anton o Mbo. Aiin hoy no se nadar. No
tenia un perro para rastrear a los ratones silvestres, ni sabia construir un
cesto para atrapar a los peces. (63)
His apparent alienation is made the more patent when one considers that by the age of
eight years the protagonist could recite the catechism from memory but is unable to
undertake the common activities outlined above. Even his most intimate moments are
spent in reflection on the teachings of Catholicism striving to be guided by them.
Nonetheless a closer look reveals that the protagonist participates in certain activities
peculiar to native children his age, activities of a much more significant nature than
building bamboo cars and making fishing baskets.
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When one considers the fact that the protagonist suhscribes to the tenets of
traditional African rites such as circumcision, the consultation of deities, and the
veneration of ancestors, even while indoctrinating himself in Catholicism, one sees how
the authority of the Catholic faith over him is undermined. Obviously these activities
are of a more “transgressive” nature than making bows and arrows. The ritualistic
activities are ones which in el padre Ortiz’s books can be characterized as “practicas
fetichistas,” “blasfemos,” “barbaros”. By its very nature, and as Ndongo graphically
describes it, the protagonist’s circumcision appears to validate the Western view that the
natives are barbarous.
Bebio de nuevo el liquido de la olla, se enjuago la hoca y la garganta y
escupio sobre mi cabeza rapada, y antes de que me recobrara del ligero
susto al sentir el agua sobre mi cuerpo, cogio el colgajo de entre mis
piemas, lo estiro cuanto pudo y con precision dejo caer la otra mano
sobre el colgajo, y senti el corte y senti el retroceso de la mitad del
colgajo y senti la sangre que brotaba de mi cuerpo hacia la hoca de la
tierramadre. (44-45)
The protagonist’s circumcision takes place in the dead of the night - in darkness - only
in the presence of his father, uncles and grandfathers. This rite of passage is shrouded
in mystery and brings about permanent dismemberment of a part of his body.
Nevertheless, despite the extent of physical pain involved, in comparison with his first
communion, his circumcision seems to have a far more favorable effect on the
protagonist. The sense of achievement that the protagonist demonstrates with regard to
his eireumcision brings him far outweighs that of his first communion. In preparation
for his communion he is unable to abstain from eating as was required; he has an attack
of conscience and nerves as a result of this and completely soils himself during the
eeremony. Such is the shame and defeat the protagonist feels after his first communion
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that he declares: “a partir de entonces deje de decir misas en mi habitacion. Casi deje
de rezar. No pensaba ya ser sacerdote ni queria absolutamente nada: hiciera lo que
hiciese, el estigma lo llevaria por siempre [...]” (86-87). On the other hand, upon
completion of the rites of his circumcision the protagonist declares “me sentia
satisfecho conmigo mismo, seguro y feliz” (54). When considered in light of the
protagonist’s final decision regarding the priesthood the above assertions are very
significant. This is especially so if we consider the first communion and circumcision
as representative of Western values and native values respectively. We see, by the
protagonist’s proclamations, another subtle manner in which Catholicism is undermined
in the novel. Nevertheless the question remains as to how the protagonist is able to
embrace Catholicism even whilst holding on to and clearly validating his traditional
beliefs and practices.
In his article “A dynamic continuity between traditions” Diene Doudou notes
that “African cultural and spiritual reality is characterized by continual inventive
change.” In his view,
Africa has this ability to synthesize, to cross borders and to work to reach
the essence. This is largely due to the mystical nature of its spirituality.
There is no division between things. Everything is one. There is a close
bond between everything in the universe. The divine is everywhere. So
Africans [...] do not really mind whether the divine is called Christ, has
a voodoo name or the name of a local spirit. (56)
The nature of the spirituality Dodou describes above is one that foments
tolerance, which, in turn enables transformation. The system of values by which Dodou
characterizes African religiousity can be seen at play in the Mexican colonial setting.
According to Tzvetan Todorov “The god of the Aztec religion is both one and many.
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This is what causes Aztec religiosity to adapt itself so well to the addition of new
divinities” (106). As he notes, the commissioning of Coatescalli—Temple of Diverse
Gods—^b y Moctezuma was with the objective of accommodating not only Aztec gods
but those of the Spaniards as well. Todorov continues: “The same is not true of the
Christians [...] the Christian god is not one incarnation which can be added to the rest,
it is one (Todorov’s emphasis) in an exclusive and intolerant fashion, and leaves no
room for other gods” (106). As Todorov rightly notes, and as Las tiniehlas de tu
memoria negra effectively communicates, the all-embracing spiritual outlook
characteristic of Mexican and African cultures cannot be found within the Spanish
(Christian) system of values. If one will recall, religion constituted a key element that
impelled resistance to Moorish rule in Spain and subsequent wars of Reconquest from
718 until the fall of Granada in 1492. Historically, and as we see in Ndongo’s novel,
Catholicism, like other “fundamentalist movements of purification, [...] allow for no
exceptions, no anomalies, no betwixt-and-betweens” (Werbner, 142).
In Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra the ability of the protagonist and his father
to alternate between their native and Western forms of religious practices gives
credence to Doudou’s observations above. Perhaps it is the inherent nature of African
traditions to find a bond with everything in the imiverse that empowers the protagonist
and his father to freely alternate between religions and even tio Abeso to be so
“tolerant” of Catholicism. The image of the protagonist with which we are confronted
is of one receptive to new realities while firmly entrenched in the old, a figure, who fits
the profile of the transcultural as described by Angel Rama in his Transculturacion
narrativa en America Latina. In Rama’s view the coneept of transculturation:
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se elabora sobre una doble comprobacion: por una parte registra que la
cultura presente de la comunidad latinoamericana (que es un producto
largamente transculturado y en permanente evolucion) esta compuesta de
valores idiosincraticos, los que pueden reconocerse aetuando desde
fechas remotas; por otra parte corrobora la energla creadora que la
mueve, haciendola muy distinta de un simple agregado de normas,
comportamientos, creencias y objetos culturales, pues se trata de una
fuerza que actiia con desenvoltura tanto sobre su herencia particular,
segun las situaciones propias de su desarrollo, como sobre las
aportaciones provenientes de fuera. (33-34)
Rama’s concept of transculturation, which he adopts from the work of Cuban
anthropologist Fernando Ortiz on Affo-Cuban cultural norms and patterns, aims at
making manifest the active role subalterns play in determining the outcome of their
interrelationship with other cultures.^' As one would agree, the interaction between the
native and the colonialist did not entail the complete take over by the so-called superior
culture, tradition or race over the other. And as Wa Thiongo rightly observes, “No
culture is an island onto itself. It has been influenced by other cultures and other
histories with which it has come into contact” (125). With the presence of the
missionaries in the Equatorial Guinea of the novel and the effort they put into their
vocation of disseminating Catholicism, there is no doubt that there is a conscious effort
to bring the two cultures into contact. Indeed the history of Catholicism cannot be
complete without mention of the evangelizing efforts of its missionaries. For its part
the arrival and the missions of the “white man,” as the natives usually referred to the
missionaries, forever mark the history of Equatorial Guinea. Hence while recognizing
the influences that cultures that come into contact bring to bear on each other, this
process is consciously or unconsciously selective. The two critics mentioned above
underscore this dynamic characteristic germane to cultural relations and hence the
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traditions embodied within them. It becomes apparent in Las tiniehlas de tu memoria
negra that in the encounter between Catholicism and the traditional religious beliefs of
Equatorial Guinea, the kind of religiosity demonstrated by the protagonist and his father
effectively portrays this.
If we consider that, historically, agents of Spanish Catholicism or enforcers of
the dogmas of Catholicism have always demonstrated a penchant for absolutism that
borders on the fanatical, we must also consider if the protagonists’ “compliance” is not
contrived. For as it has also been historically proven in medieval and early-modem
times Jews and Moors were often accused of accepting Catholicism in a move to avoid
persecution and even death. Thus, for them, practicing Catholicism was merely a front
considering that they stood to lose their lives otherwise. In Las tiniehlas de tu memoria
negra, depicting the period of Spanish rule in the twentieth century, the fervor with
which the enforcers carry out their duties has not diminished and one cannot help asking
if the protagonist and his father accepting Catholicism was not merely a front as the
case was in medieval times. This question is especially pertinent seeing that
historically, during colonial rule in Equatorial Guinea, converting to Catholicism and
participating in its practices (monogamous marriages in the church, for example),
accorded natives the status of “emancipado pleno.” This position delegated the native
to be bound by the laws of the metropolis and accorded him many privileges. For
instance, a native who attained the status of “emancipado pleno” could preserve his
family land and even be appointed to serve in the colonial administration.^^ As the
case may be, in the novel, the protagonist’s father is shown to have risen to the position
of “emancipado pleno.”
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However, it is shown that there is a genuine interest on the native’s part to get to
know the Other, to know more ahout Catholicism and to explore the relevance of its
claims on his native system of beliefs. Together with his father, the protagonist initially
holds the viewpoint that by learning the ways of the white man—that is, by subscribing
to aspects of Western values—and by becoming a priest he will bring a form of
redemption to his tribe. Thus Catholicism—and, by extension. Western thought—is not
rejected absolutely hut rather presented as a religion that holds promise for the future of
the protagonist’s tribe. It is in view of this that the protagonist’s decision to abandon
the vocation for which he has dedicated most of his life constitutes perhaps a more
powerful form of undermining the religious hegemony of Catholicism.
It should he noted that in the Equatorial Guinea presented in the novel, Spanish
rule and dominance is acknowledged but Catholicism is not acclaimed as the
mainstream religion. The proponents of Catholicism fall in the minority. This is
important in so far as it signals the extent to which Catholicism can he imposed on the
natives. Indeed, the protagonist and his father, while professing to be converts, fully
participate in the traditional religious practices of their ethnic group. They accord equal
importance to their traditional religious beliefs and practices and Catholicism. To an
extent, it can be said that given the intolerant nature of Catholicism, and its
incompatibility with other forms of religion, the protagonist and his father have always
undermined Catholic autocracy by adhering to their traditional beliefs. From the
interaction between the natives and the missionaries it becomes apparent that after years
of practicing their traditional forms of religion, natives do not actually freely exchange
their beliefs for those of the West. Thus the very notion of Western religious hegemony
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is called into question. It cannot be overemphasized that, by their actions, the
missionaries present Catholicism as a religion that does not provide room for
accommodating and adapting traditional practices, rites and beliefs. However, as we
see in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. the zealousness and penchant for domination
do not actually guarantee full compliance from natives. Thus Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra poses the question as to whether it is possible for a native to completely
adopt a “foreign” system of beliefs, whether by fair or foul means, without preserving
aspects of those that are entrenched in his way of life. To this question Ndongo’s
answer seems to be in the negative. The author suggests that indeed a space can be
created to accommodate disparate purviews. Juxtaposed to Catholicism, the African
traditional religion practiced by the protagonist and his ethnic group stands out as being
practical and even progressive. The group that, in Western hegemonic thought and
discourse, is considered backward and inferior reflects more accurately the reality of the
interrelationship between cultures.
The cultural transcendence Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra portrays finds
ample expression within the context of the novel (as a genre). With the novel often
referred to as a hybridized form, it appears that Ndongo has chosen an appropriate
medium to lay out the complex form that the culture of Equatorial Guinea has assumed
in coming into contact with Spanish culture. We find that Las tinieblas de tu memoria
corresponds with Bakhtin’s view that “The novel has become the leading hero in the
drama of literay development in our time precisely because it best of all reflects the
tendencies of a new world still in the making” (7). As we see, Ndongo presents a
protagonist (and by extension a society) whose life has undergone many
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transformations but is one still in the making. The protagonist is the very
personification of possibilities and turns any attempts at keeping him in a straight jacket
on its head. A product of a “third world” country in the “dark continent,” the child
protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra serves as a powerful means of
destabilizing Western religious hegemony in its various forms. As a product of
Hispanic culture the protagonist of Ndongo’s novel incarnates Garcia Canclini’s
observation that the past is present in the present and endowed with futuricity. Having
lived through a period of Spain’s presence in Equatorial Guinea and having experienced
its religious influence on a personal level, the protagonist bears the mark of his
country’s and Spain’s history. What he is, or if you wish, what he has become, stems in
large part from the experiences he has lived. But the process is not complete; it is still
in the making. As we see at the beginning of the novel, impelled by his past, he is on
the brink of moving in a new direction. The protagonist epitomizes both the temporal
hybridity Canclini describes as well as a cultural (religious) hybridity which, according
to Bhabha, sets the stage for disrupting colonial authority (35). The protagonist reveals
that he is at a place where, as a person, he is a “work in progress” and therefore.
Catholic hegemony over him is still undecided, susceptible to contestation and
ultimately, subversion.
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^ The novel is the first in a trilogy by Donato Ndongo the renowned Equatorial Guinean
writer. According to the author, in an interview with Landry-Wilfred Miampika,
although he finished the novel in 1980 it remained unpublished until after coming in as
finalist in the Premio Sesamo.
^ Spain’s Premio Sesamo is one of that country’s most prestigious literary awards. The
author attributes the eventual publication of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra to its
position as finalist in the competition for the Premio Sesamo.
^ In his introduction to an interview with Donato Ndongo during the second Colloquium
on Afhcan Studies in the Iberian World. This took place in Madrid in September 1999.
Ndongo was the first to publish an anthology of literature from Equatorial Guinea.
His Antologia de la literatura guineana was published in 1984 and is followed by a
second - Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial fAntologiaf - in 2000. In Ndongo’s
anthologies can be foimd works by such writers as Francisco Zamora Lloboch, Ciriaco
Bokesa, Marcelo Ensema Nsang, Constantino Ocha’a Anve, Juan Balboa Boneke,
Raquel Ilonbe and Justo Bolekia Boleka. Ndongo’s Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial
(Antologia) gives biographical as well as bibliographical information on these writers
and others. See pages 449-63.
^ Ndongo’s second novel, Los poderes de la tempestad. focuses on the period after
Equatorial Guinea’s independence from Spain, the third is forthcoming.
^ In the second book of Ndongo’s trilogy the protagonist has become a full-fledged
lawyer eager to return to his native Equatorial Guinea.
7
See Miampika, page 24.
Notable among the critics who have debated the issues raised in Conrad’s novella
include Chinua Achebe with his “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness.” Research in African Literatures. 9 (Spring) 1978, 1-15.
^ La autobiografia de un cimarron by Miguel Bamet and Hasta no verte Jesus mio by
Elena Poniatowska fall into the category of writing known as “testimonio,” a kind of
writing which relies on the memories of its informants. For a more detailed
examination of the subject of “testimonio” see Miguel Barnet’s “La novela testimonio;
socio-literatura” which appeared in his Cancion de Rachel (1969) as an appendix. See
also John Beverly and Hugo Achugar, La voz del otro: testimonio. subaltemidad v
verdad narrativa, (Lima: Editores Latinoamericanas, 1992) and Elzbieta Sklodowska,
“Testimonio mediatizado: ventriloquia o heteroglosia (Bamet/Montejo;
Burgos/Menchii),” in Revista de Critica Literaria Latinoamericana, 19.38 (1993): 81-90.
In addition to the aforementioned The Real Thing edited by George M. Gugelberger,
Durham: Duke UP, 1996 also compiles articles by various critics which address the
subject. They include: George Yiidice (“Testimonio and Postmodernism”); Margaret
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Randall (Reclaiming Voices: Notes on a New Female Practice in Journalism”); Mare
Zimerman (Testimonios in Guatemala: Payeras, Rigoberta and Beyond); Doris Sommer
(“No Secrets”)..
Lazarillo de Tormes of course, the protagonist of the eponymous novel published
anonymously in the sixteenth century.
'' Reference to indigenous people as naive, infantile, in need of direction and thus
“Christianizable” is especially common in colonial writings. See The Diario of
Christopher Columbus’ First Voyage to America 64, 74 and 143. See also Ercilla’s La
araucana. Canto Primero, line 1 of the 40* octave, line 2 through 4 of the 45* octave.
The Comentarios reales of El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega also alludes to this
characteristic - 26.
A speech delivered by Simon Boliver to the Congress of Venezuela on February 15,
1819 on the occasion of its second inauguration.
In his article entitled “The Language of African Literature” Thiongo makes a case for
the need for African writers to use native Afiican languages in literary creations. In
Thiongo’s view, African writers are obsessed with enriching foreign languages rather
than their own and although he recognizes the import of language in anti-imperialist
endeavors, he sees his use of Gikuyu, a Kenyan and African language, as better serving
this purpose. For his part Depestre argues to the contrary he believes: “Je livrais une
sorte de bataille decoloniale a la langue fran9aise. Mon combat anti-colonialiste
utilisait les armes de I’adversaire negrier pour essayer de le battre sur son propre terrain,
avec ses mots plus intimes.” See Gauvin, page 90.
In Geografia de la no vela, page 169.
In Historia de la etemidad (1953).
'^In his article “Beyond Translation: Borges and Faulkner.” Michigan Quarterly
Review 40.4 (2001): 628-39.
It should be noted that in 1963 the Organization of Afiiean Unity (GAU) decreed that
French be introduced to the curriculum of Anglophone Afiican countries and English in
Froncophone countries.
In an interview with Lise Gauvin which took place in Montreal in 1995 where
Depestre was attending the premier of Jean-Danierl Lafond’s film Hai'ti dans tons nos
reves.
For further reading on the debates surrounding the use of colonial languages in
literature see Braj B. Kaehru “The Alchemy of English;” Raja Rao “Language and
Spirit’;” Bill Ashcroft ‘Constitutive Graphonomy;” W. H New “New Language, New
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World;” Edward Kamau Brathwaite;” and Chantal Zabus “R elixificationIn Ashcroft
etal 283-318.
With the pre-eminence of the the Roman empire, especially with the exploits of
Alexander the Great, the use of Latin became imperative even among the conquered.
The Cuban anthropologist, Fernando Ortiz, designated the term “transculturacion” in
description of the process by which black marginal elements in Cuban eulture actively
engage dominant Eurocentric influences. Appearing in Ortiz’s Contrapunto Cubano
(1947), the term seeks to underscore the selective response of blacks to elements of the
dominant culture, a key factor terms such as “acculturation” and “deculturation” elide.
Emiliano Buale Boriko gives an in depth study of the decrees that governed the
colonial administration of Equatorial Guinea. His description of the role and of the
Catholic Church within the colonial administration, and the power it wielded in its
operations are particularly noteworthy. See pages 48-52.
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CHAPTER TWO
What is Science Without Voodoo?: Materiality and Irrationalism in Tu la oscuridad.
Se que hay en este imperio de las Indias
(que Vuestra Cesarea Majestad y su corona
de Castilla poseen), tan grandes reinos e
provincias, y de tan extranas gentes e
diversidades e costumbres e ceremonias e
idolatrias apartadas de cuanto estaba
escripto, desde ab initio hasta nuestro tiempo,
que es muy corta la vida del hombre para lo
poder ver ni acabar de entender o conjeturar.
Historia general v natural de las Indias. 8.’
We must conclude then that in Haiti, and by
extension in the most Africanized Caribbean
nations, supersyncretic beliefs make up
a discourse that stays in contact with many
other discourses; that is, they organize
themselves within a discursive network that
connects surreptitiously with the knowledge
of the disciplines and the professions.
The Repeating Island. 163.
Key within the discursive construetion of Western cultural hegemony is the
perception that science is the superior and perhaps ultimate means by which natural
phenomena ean be explained. Assertions backed by scientific research and findings are
given more credence and often considered to be more persuasive than those predicated
on intuition or, if you wish, the irrational. Moreover, in accordance with some Western
hegemonic discourses, science is considered as the realm of the “white,” whereas the
irrational is more readily assoeiated with the “black” or other so-called people of color.
In this chapter, we now focus our attention on how the belief that science forms the
ultimate means of explaining world phenomena is called into question in Tu la
oscuridad (1995), a novel by Mayra Montero,^ even as the text explores the relevance or
lack thereof, of “primitive” belief systems. Although Montero is best known as a
journalist and has gained a certain measure of fame in large part through her work
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writing erotic novels, she is also the author of several works that explore life in the
Caribbean.^ Our study of her Tu la oscuridad will not only underscore the grounds it
provides for debating the notion of the superiority of science over the irrational but also
show that perhaps science and the irrational may well be interdependent on each other.
If the focus of chapter One was religion and its discontents. Chapter Two tackles the
role of science in a nation peopled mostly by descendents of Africans.
Tu la oscuridad relates an expedition by a North American herpetologist named
Victor Grigg to Haiti in search of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus, a frog speeies in
danger of extinction. In Haiti, Victor employs the services of Thierry Adrien, an elderly
Haitian guide who leads him through the dangerous Mont des Enfants Perdus and the
mountain of Casetaches where the croaking of the grenouille du sang, as the frog is
referred to locally, was last heard—forty years ago. Of the thirty chapters that comprise
the novel, a third is accounted for by each of the two protagonists whose alternating
accounts are interspersed with what appear to be factual accounts of the disappearance
of frogs in various parts of the world. Victor and Thierry communicate the challenges
presented by the expedition but intertwined with these narratives are their own personal
stories. We find out that Victor’s marriage is in jeopardy and Thierry, a former zombie
hunter, has suffered the misfortune of losing most of his loved ones.
We show that the novel brings the apparent superiority of science over the
intuitive—and subsequently the white over the black—into sharp focus even as it forces
us to take a closer look at the relevance of the intuitive or the irrational in explaining
world phenomena. Although we highlight the point just made, we do so not just to
signal a counter discourse to that of the West. Rather, we aim to point out, that on a
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thematic and stractural level, there exist elements that mediate in the relationship
between the two seemingly mutually exclusive modes of explaining natural phenomena.
As we expound, Montero’s novel establishes points of contact with two seminal
novels of the English and Latin American literary tradition—Heart of Darkeness (1902)
by Joseph Conrad and El reino de este mundo (1949) by Alejo Carpentier—^which have
generated debates pertaining to the interrelationship between whites and blacks that
continue to date. This prompts comparative analyses between Tu la oscuridad and the
two novels mentioned above and we do this with a view to explore new avenues
Montero’s novel opens up in the appreciation of the interrelationship between the black
and the white—especially in regards to race, agency, the supposed marvelous reality of
Latin America and violence—even while evoking age-old debates surrounding them.
We also bring to light that while the general consensus may be that the novel is
primarily preoccupied with such a contemporary issue as the extinction of frog species,
it could well be that the central metaphor that drives Tu la oscuridad is the age-old
phenomenon of death.
Within the context of Victor travelling from the US to Haiti in search of the
elusive Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus, and the extinction of frogs all over the world,
Montero is able to call up the very foundations of the history and literature of Latin
America while addressing herself to a problem which preoccupies contemporary
science. In Tu. la oscuridad. Victor is seen as possessing a specialized knowledge of
rare frog species, which accords him the ability and authority to identify, categorize,
characterize and preserve them. As a herpetologist Victor’s recalls key figures in
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Western tradition whose works, have shaped the science of explaining the physical
world and its phenomena.
First, Victor can be likened to Liimaeus, the Swedish taxonomist, credited with
developing the hierarchy for determining superior and subordinate plant and animal
genera and for inventing a system, in Latin, for naming them."^ The significance of
Linnaeus’ work in shaping Western discourse is eloquently expressed by David Spurr
who observes that “At the end of the classical period, classification had moved beyond
the mere nomination of the visible to the establishment, for each natural being, of a
character based on the intemal principle of organic structure” (63). As Spurr further
reiterates:
Such a system of understanding—one that orders natural beings
according to function establishes a hierarchy based on intemal
character—has consequences for the classification of human races in the
Westem mind and ultimately for the analysis of Third World societies in
Western writing. (63)
The hierarchical system, originally developed for the classification of plants, ultimately
served as a model upon which the ranking of the human races into superior and inferior
beings was derived. Thus in the figure of Victor can be traced the very origins of the
system by means of whieh human races have been classified and whose impact continue
to be felt and debated to this day. It does not take long for one to find out that Latin
constantly crisscrosses Victor’s narrative, in the mode of the scientific manner of
denomination. For example Victor’s references to frog species are mainly by their
scientific names—Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus ('351. Alvte obstreticans (38), Bufo
gurgulio (61), Pipa. Pipa (63), Rana niniens (66)—a tendency which renders his
narrative almost invocational. He even chooses to describe his suspicions of his wife’s
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extramarital activities with an analogy of frog’s behavioral patterns. And in doing so he
prefers to use Latinate expressions—“Cuando se tiene una profesion como la mla, es
facilisimo captar eiertas senales, identificar ciertos olores, reconocer los movimientos
previos al amplexus (asi llamamos al abrazo sexual entre las ranas) que se avecina”
(14).
In the context of the Spanish conquest, Victor also calls to mind Gonzalo
Fernandez de Oviedo, whose Historia general v natural de las Indias (1535-1557)
constitutes the first attempt made to catalogue and interpret the physical world of Latin
America. One could therefore argue that Victor is a contemporary Oviedian figure
whose role is to save the (physical) “world” Oviedo once discovered and named for
Europe, and which is now in danger of going extinct. Interestingly, as we see from his
remarks quoted in the first of the two epigraphs that begin this chapter, Oviedo alludes
to the challenges involved in the attempt to comprehend the New World. As he notes,
and as the very figure of Victor can attest to, this may be a feat that proves elusive in
one’s lifetime. Having established the above, if one takes cognizance of the fact that
Oviedo’s Historia general de las Indias takes Pliny’s Natural Historv as its model, both
the very foundations of Westem science and the literary tradition of the Americas are
brought into sharp focus in Tu. la oscuridad.^
Additionally, mention need be made of the collusion of natural science—with
the work of Joseph Banks and the Royal Society—in the establishment of the British
Empire. Described by John Gascoigne as the “unofficial advisor to govemment on
matters scientific” (4),^ Banks and the Royal Society, of which he was president, are
credited with opening the British Government’s eyes to the economic advantages to be
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derived from plants. He occupied the prestigious position of naturalist on Captain
Cook’s exploration in the Pacific between 1768 and 1771.^ As Gascoigne notes,
voyages of exploration served as a source of rivalry among the English, French, Dutch
and even Spanish in the 18* century seeing that it served as a means by which both their
political and economic prowess was measured. From the above, one can establish how
science proliferates the political economy and thereby enabling imperial agendas. If we
also take into consideration the fact that the authority of science is backed by the use of
Latin, which in the original empire served as the means by which Roman authority was
asserted over other peoples, it becomes clear that Tu la oscuridad constructs in Victor a
figure of extreme symbolic importance. This is further underscored by the importance
of the Emperor Victor in Roman history. Thus Victor traces the development of
Westem hegemony to its very roots and unites all its principal elements—science,
history, literature, the political economy and discourse. Therefore, implicit in the
calling into question of Westem science (through the figure of Victor) also implies the
questioning of all the other components to which it has contributed.
The gradual extinction of frog species from all over the world, as Tu la
oscuridad portrays, forms part of a global preoccupation very much in the forefront of
contemporary issues. At the same time if we consider the fact that some of the first
literature written about the Americas centers on the flora and fauna, Montero’s novel
attests to the versatility of Caribbean literature generated in part by the hybrid nature of
its cultural components. Indeed, according to accounts in the novel, the last of the
Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus is captured in 1992, five hundred years after Columbus’
“discovery” of America: history becomes enmeshed with science. Symbolically,
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Montero’s text shows the extent to which Columbus’ so-called discovery has
determined the course of the history of Latin America, the discourse that has been
generated about it and even the subsequent establishment of Westem hegemony.
Seeing that the origins or the calling into being (through naming) of the
Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus can be attributed to Columbus’ arrival in the Caribbean,
Montero’s novel suggests that it is only logical that its extinction occur during its
quincentennial anniversary. The extinction of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus takes
us full circle, back to the place where it all started—the Caribbean. As we have already
indicated, this symbolizes the undermining of all the other means by which Westem
hegemony has been asserted over non-Westem eultures.
Parallel to the peculiar characteristic the novel has of establishing points of
contact with the multiple forms in which Westem hegemony presents itself, ean be
found a flexibility of the narrative form of Tu la oseuridad. The novel lends itself to
consideration as a hybrid text incorporating different narrative forms. In the first place,
Tu la oscuridad can be viewed as a travel novel, seeing that it provides a chroniele of
Victor’s expedition in Haiti and describes every step along the way. It should be noted
that although Victor’s joumey is impelled by scientific research his experiences in Haiti
are not based solely on his work. He comes into contact with other elements of the
society, including the people and their idiosyncrasies, and these, in part, determine his
narrative. In his own words Victor drives this point home:
^Si no lograba capturar a la rana, [.. .]c6mo explicarle que Haiti no era
un lugar a secas, un nombre solo, una montana con una rana
sobreviviente? ^Como eontai'le sobre Cito Francisque, el hombre que
me habia sacado a palos del Mont des Enfants Perdus? ^Como hablarle
de los animales que echaban todavia vivos a las hogueras, y del polvo y
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de las pestilencias, las abominables, impensables, desconocidas
pestilencias? ^Como describirle las calles, los albanales abiertos, las
bosta humana en medio de la acera, los cadaveres del amanecer, la mujer
sin sus manos, el hombre sin su rostro? (226)
Traveling in a foreign land in pursuit of his objective, Victor’s presentation of the day-
to-day activities can also be viewed as a journal in which some of his most intimate
thoughts are recorded. Additionally, there are sections in which Thierry provides
information about deities, rites, beliefs, and practices peculiar to the people. Victor
records these conversations when he comes to the realization that they contain
important information about the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus. Thus, unwittingly,
Victor converts the text into anthropological material.
Montero’s novel also lends itself to consideration as non-fiction. The seemingly
non-fictional entries detailing the disappearances of the frogs refers to a herpetologist
named Victor and his expedition to Haiti in search of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus.
In this “scientific,” “factual” entry we are also told that the herpetologist together with
his assistant named Thierry are shipwrecked off the Coast of Grand Goave. This occurs
on their way back to Port-au-Prince from Jeremie with what is perhaps the last sample
of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus. As one can surmise from the fact that none of the
passengers on board survives the tragedy, and, indeed as we are told “el ultimo ejemplar
de la grenouille du sang, debidamente preservado, se perdio con ellos en el mar” (241).
The novel therefore, serves as an illustration of how the extinction of the
Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus actually comes about. Interestingly one may assume that
the story of Victor and Thierry is based on a historical occurrence: the story of a triple
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deck ferry that capsized off the southern peninsula of Haiti killing everyone on board on
February 16, 1993 is widely reported.*
Yet, on another level, the ten entries can be considered a scientific log on the
disappearance of different frog species from around the world at different times. We
are given information on these different frog speeies sometimes from the time they are
discovered through their complete extinction; sometimes on species in danger of
extinction, and sometimes on those which have completely disappeared. Data is
presented from all parts of the world about these events, including the Colorado
Mountains; the protected Lassen Volcanic National Park in Southern California; and the
Connondale Ranges in Queensland, Australia. Also included is information on
disappearances from the following: the lagoons of northern Switzerland, the
Monteverde in Costa Rica; the tropical forests of Puerto Rico; the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta in Colombia; the Parque Nacional Cusuco in Honduras; the island of
Kauai; the mountainous regions of the island of Espanola; the Dominican Republic and
Haiti. These geographical locations actually exist and the declinations and extinctions
actually take place within the period covered, from the mid seventies to the mid
nineties. We are given a lesson on different frog species and reminded of the ever
growing ecological problem of animal extinction.
However, in presenting all this scientific data—factual events—the underlying
sense is one of mystery. Even science remains speechless in the face of the gradual but
unavoidable disappearance of the amphibians. When describing the disappearance of
the frogs, the author uses expressions such as “inexplicable” (71), (207); “envuelta en el
misterio” (71); and “nunca se sabra” (41). The question therefore remains as to the
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effectiveness of science in explaining the world, seeing that it appears to fall short of
accomplishing its mission of finding and preserving the frog species. As signaled by
the author in the ten entries that describe the various disappearances of frogs, there is a
conscious, concerted effort on the part of different kinds of scientists—herpetologists
and biologists, even curators of national museums—to “save” the frogs. In a sense, the
work of these scientists mirrors the “noble mission” of the missionaries in Ndongo’s
novel analyzed in the first chapter of this project. In effect, the image of Victor Brigg
traveling to Haiti and soliciting the help of the native hardly differs from the image of el
padre Ortiz in Equatorial Guinea employing the help of a native in his dissemination of
Catholicism. In both instances the importance of the native and his values to the
implementation of the European’s mission is underscored.
The scientists, and specifically Victor, act as saviors whose intervention is
deemed essential in changing the natural course of things. Nevertheless, with the aura
of mystery that surrounds the object of their scientific endeavors, their lack of
understanding of the phenomena being played out, and ultimately their failure, the often
superior echelon with which Westem science is almost always characterized is called
into question. We are reminded in the novel that sometimes even science proves to be
inadequate a tool for explaining the world. In effect it could be argued that text
suggests that the world of mystery and the inexplicable is as much a reality as the
concrete, material world which forms the basis of rational science. In his Pattems of
Thought in Africa and the West: Essavs on Magic, Religion and Science. Robin Horton
undertakes a comprehensive study of Afiican thought-systems. After years of living
and undertaking extensive research in Afiica, Horton sees a fundamental commonality
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between African traditional systems of thought and Westem ones, what he terms
African cosmologies and Westem cosmologies respectively. He asserts:
The gods may sometimes appear capricious to the unreflective ordinary
man. But for the religious expert charged with the diagnosis of spiritual
agencies at work behind observed events, a basic modicum of regularity
in their behaviour is the major premise on which his work depends. Like
atoms, molecules and waves, then, the gods serve to introduce unity into
diversity, simplicity into complexity, order into disorder, regularity into
anomaly. (199)
In Tu la oscuridad the efficacy of science in explaining natural phenomena is
also called into question by Emile Boukaka, a doctor who also studies herpetology as a
hobby. According to Boukaka: “Ustedes se inventan excusas: la lluvia acida, los
herbicidas, la deforestacion. Pero las ranas desaparecen de lugares donde no ha habido
nada de eso” (132). This comment signals the fact that the essentialist claims of science
cannot be applied to all forms of world phenomena. It also signals the need to develop
theories peculiar to specific realities. It appears for Boukaka there is no basis for
scientific hypotheses at all for he only sees them as “excusas.” He communicates how
far removed these congresses are from actual events when he further reiterates that:
Ustedes, los herpetolologos profesionales. O ustedes los biologos que
celebraban sus congresos en Canterbury, en Nashville, en Brasilia, los
celebraban a puertas cerradas y salian de alii mas perplejos de lo que
habian entrado. Ustedes, en fin, gente atemorizada, quisquillosa, incapaz
de mirar el lado oscuro, insumiso, seguramente atemporal de las
declinaciones. (132)
Boukaka seems to suggest that the era of using scientific data to explain events, seeing
that they serve rather to baffle than enlighten, is over. He also suggests that a closer
consideration needs to be accorded “el lado oscuro,” a world governed by the “duenos”
and “los misterios” mentioned by Thierry. Indeed Boukaka provides the only
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explanation given in the novel to the disappearance of the frogs. He observes that the
frog declinations have already been predicted in a voodoo song which directs: ‘“Dale,
sapo tu voz a la serpiente, las ranas te mostraran la ruta de la luna, cuando Damballah
quiera, comenzara la gran huida.’ Ya empezo la gran huida” (132). In his view the
declination and gradual extinction of the frogs is actually the great escape the song
mentions as by decree of Damballah the only diety which does not speak.
Then again, although in the novel science is portrayed as being unable to neither
prevent nor adequately explain the declinations, Boukaka’s theory seems totally
unacceptable (to the scientific mind) and may even be considered as bordering on the
absurd. This is made evident in part by Victor’s retort that “Nadie sabe lo que pasa”
(132). The premise that science is the only discipline able to provide answers seems to
be firmly embedded in Victor’s reasoning. And, since science, in this particular
situation, proves to be ineffective then other modes of explanation seem equally
ineffective and thus unacceptable to Victor. As we see at the end of the novel, the
extinction of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus actually takes place; the prediction in the
song comes to pass. In view of the scientific underpinnings of the novel, by providing
the only answer to the declination of the frogs through the irrational, the text seems to
subscribe to the idea that more attention needs to be paid to the claims of the “lado
oscuro” to which Boukaka refers in the quotation above. This serves as a means by
which the author delivers a more powerful means of undermining the hegemony with
which science has often been associated. Here the “lado oscuro” may be seen as the
world of the other, the world outside scientific jurisdiction and control.
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As if to textually mark the relevance of the irrational or “lado oscuro,” the novel
begins with Victor musing about a prediction: “Un astrologo tibetano le predijo a
Martha que yo moriria en un incendio” (13). This declaration, at the beginning of the
novel, serves the strategic function of confronting the reader with the esoteric while
pointing to the seminal role it plays in the novel. No scientific or logical explanation is
cited as a basis for this prediction. And, as Victor himself observes, it seems highly
improbable that he would die in a fire, given his line of work:
yo conclui que era bastante ironico que alguien me vaticinara aquel final,
teniendo en cuenta el tiempo que pasaba sumergido en charcas y lagunas,
duchandome a la brava bajo los aguaceros de la cienega, arrastrandome
por las orillas de los rios con la boca llena de lodo y los parpados
borrados de mosquitos. (14)
Nevertheless we see that this prediction becomes embedded in the subconscience of
Victor, and surfaces at crucial moments of his expedition. An example of this can be
found in an incident during which Thierry advises they leave the Mont des Enfants
Perdus in fear of being killed by people who, according to the Haitian guide, “usan este
monte para guardar sus cargamentos y desaparecer a los incordios”(67). In flight for his
life Victor muses:
De una muerte hiimeda y lejana en un monte de ninos perdidos y ranas
esquivas. La muerte miserable del que no sabe quien lo persigue ni por
que lo atacan, quizas ese era el unico fliego deparado, el descabellado
incendio donde el astrologo tibetano me habia visto arder. (68)
Behind the irony with which these thoughts above are communicated can be discerned
the hold the prediction acquires in the American scientist’s thoughts. Further, key
words that appear in the utterances Victor makes include “me parecio de buen augurio”
(37); “brillaba con la fuerza absoluta de un presagio” (228). Victor even explains his
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participation in his chosen profession as the result of an occurrence that has its basis in
the intuitive. According to him, his mother, an artist, began painting the frog specie
Alytes obstetricans on finding out that she was pregnant with him, a painting that was
not finished until the very day he was bom. In the figure of Victor, we see that Montero
finds a subtle yet effective way to undermine the very scientific premise by which the
hegemony of Westem culture is established. We are shown that the figure who
embodies the institution of science in the novel draws incessantly from the well of the
irrational. This figure to a large extent depends on the world of the intuitive to explain
his experiences. Like Victor, we the readers are made to wonder if by the end of the
novel the prediction comes to pass or not.
That the novel is set in the space and time of Haiti, and by extension, the
Caribbean, is significant, for Montero could have chosen any of the other sites of frog
extinctions as the basis for her novel. After all, they all tell the same story— the
disappearance of frog species despite, or perhaps as a result of, scientific endeavors.
The Caribbean is described by Roberto Gonzalez Echeverria as a space where major
historical occurrences, whose repercussions resonate to this day, first took place:
colonialism, anti-slavery revolts, racial mixture, revolution, independence and the very
origins of Latin American literature.^ Haiti particularly is often portrayed as a land of
natural and historical catastrophe, and its image as a receptive space for altemative
forms of knowledge cannot be overemphasized. In the Hispanic literary tradition and in
the field of Afrohispanic thematics especially, Haiti is portrayed as a world of mystery,
the supematural, violence and freedom.
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It is important to examine perceptions of Haiti as presented in Tu la oscuridad.
This will show how Montero draws from, participates in and extends the image of Haiti
already developed in the Hispanic literary tradition. But perhaps more importantly it
will show the means hy which Montero uses science as a pretext for underscoring the
relevance of the irrational. In the novel, the first character who expresses an opinion
about Haiti is Martha, Victor’s estranged wife. When she finds out his next expedition
will take her husband to Haiti, she leaves him a note to the effect that: “No te parece
que Haiti es un lugar peligroso para las expediciones?” (19). With Martha’s query we
are given a hint, right from the start, as to the conditions that may exist in Haiti. The
reservations that Martha expresses with regard to Haiti are echoed in the novel by
another character, Sarah, an American botanist from Iowa, also in Haiti, in search of the
cactus Pereskia quisquevana in danger of extinction, when she remarks: “Nadie corre el
riesgo de venir a Haiti si no esta buscando algo importante” (160).
For his part Victor’s perception of Haiti is based on his joumey there and the
experience he undergoes. Unlike Martha, when told of his expedition to Haiti, the
thought as to what dangers my lie in wait for him never crosses his mind. We see the
figure of a scientist bent on accomplishing an objective, one that would ensure his
ability to undertake further research. Thus even after he is beaten unconscious for his
forays into the Mont des Enfants Perdus, his inclination is not to abandon his mission
but to move forward. Although Victor is an outsider in Haiti, he maintains a single-
minded interest in finding the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus. For him, this involves
exploring and even getting to know another reality better. This is significant especially
as this reality, in his system of values, is portrayed as inferior. Although he is
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constantly told about the dangers that his work into the mountains of Haiti may hold, he
sees the place as a source of further knowledge. He thus acknowledges the importance
of Haiti and its contribution to the world in general. Indeed Haiti holds a form of
knowledge that he cannot find in his country but which will help put his field into
perspective.
Arguably the notoriety of Haiti as the bedrock for the mysterious was
established by Alejo Carpentier in his El reino de este mundo. B y setting the novel in
Haiti—the world in which he establishes the theory that “lo real maravilloso”
constitutes the defining characteristic of Latin American reality—Carpentier brings into
relief the cultural, ideological, religious and historical importance of that country. In
turn, by situating the action of her novel in Haiti, Montero can be seen to be drawing
from and participating in this image. But, more importantly, she transforms the image
of Haiti from being just a space of the marvelous to one that holds a key to the
explanation of phenomena that baffles even Westem science. Besides, Montero sets up
Haiti, and subsequently the Caribbean, as an open space where answers can be found if
one is open-minded and prepared to be objective. It is important to recapitulate
Carpentier’s theory in order to highlight its treatment and transformation in Tu la
oscuridad. In my estimation the principal concept that Montero co-opts fi'om Carpentier
is his theory of “lo real maravilloso.” As we show, she expands the scope of this theory
to make it responsive to elements that may appear to mn contrary to it.
Carpentier, who lived for eleven years in exile in France, explored the literary
trends of the 1920’s and 1930’s, especially surrealism. After a brief association with
the surrealist movement headed by Andre Breton, Carpentier became disenchanted with
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the universalizing and European prism from which the movement’s ideals were
expounded and turned to Latin America as a natural source for the marvelous. For
Carpentier, the very reality of Latin America is brimful with the marvelous which can
be found in the everyday life of the continent. Thus, in developing his theory of the
marvelous as an integral component of Latin American reality, the Cuban writer lists its
nature, history and man as the main elements by which it is made manifest.
Specifically, and pertinent to our discussion, he states in the prologue to El reino de este
mundo, where the concept is explicated at length:
Pero es que muchos se olvidan, con disffazarse de magos a poco costo,
que lo maravilloso comienza a serlo de manera inequivoca cuando surge
de una inesperada alteracion de la realidad (el milagro), de una
revelacion privilegiada de la realidad, de una iluminacion inhahitual o
singularmente favorecedora de las inadvertidas riquezas de la realidad,
de una ampliacion de las escalas y categorias de la realidad. (3)
By Carpentier’s estimation one need not look further than the reality of Latin
America to find deeds, elements that are awe-inspiring. Carpentier’s own expression of
the real marvelous in El reino de este mundo draws heavily not only from Mackandal’s
knowledge and use of the mythologies but also the flora and fauna of Haiti. Thus for
him nature is seminal in communicating the sense of the marvelous he describes. To a
large extent, Montero appears to share this view, for she in turn portrays the flora and
fauna of Haiti as crucial sources of wonder and even physical paralysis. Writing
decades after Carpentier, but nonetheless just as effective in communicating the potency
of “lo real maravilloso,” Montero’s production confirms Carpentier’s visionary view
that:
por la virginidad del paisaje, por la formacion, por la ontologia, por la
presencia faustica del indio y del negro, por la Revelacion que constituyo
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su reciente descubrimiento, por los fecundos mestizajes que propicio,
America esta muy lejos de haber agotado su caudal de mitologlas. (7-8)
Drawing on elements of nature and the interrelationship between the black native and
the white scientist, Montero gives credence to Carpentier’s assertion above. As already
indicated Montero’s novel creates a Haiti and a Caribbean that come across as a site for
the enigmatic. This is created in part by elements of nature whose effects are so
overwhelming, that they are difficult to explain by any rational means. Thierry’s first
encounter with the grenouille du sang (as the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus is known
locally) occurs up in the mountains and the sensations he experiences are, to say the
least, magical, overpowering and even frightening. According to Thierry on hearing
and finally finding the frog:
Se me erizo la piel. La ultima vez que lo habia oido yo era un nino, y al
otro dia me cogieron aquellas fiebres, vi la muerte venir: un cerdo
marron con tres patas al frente,[...]. Ni a ml ni a nadie en mi familia nos
ha gustado nunca oir el canto de esa rana. Le juro que empece a temblar,
algo en la noche no iba bien y decidi buscar al animal para callarlo a
zapatazos. [...]. La rana se callo cuanto sintio que la buscaban, desvie la
luz para que volviera a cantar y entonces, en la oscuridad, vi aquellos
ojos, o mejor dicho, dos medias lunas plateadas que se movian delante de
mi. Me acerque un poco y le eche la luz encima para cegarla: tenia la
mitad del cuerpo oculto debajo de una piedra, pero vi que era tan roja
como una fhita, o como el corazon de un animal. [...]. Con el brillo del
agua me parecio que si, que estaba como banada en sangre, daba gusto
verla y daba miedo. (50-51)
From the above quotation one can discern that as a child Thierry’s illness and near
death experience are presented as a consequence of hearing the grenouille de sang the
previous day. Still, as an adult although the effects of hearing and seeing the frog are
not as life threatening as was the case in his childhood, the power it has over him is
equally crippling. A question that bears addressing is the following: what about the
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frog affects Thierry to such an extreme extent just by hearing it? Also do the sounds of
the croaking frog emit some invincible malediction that physically affects the native?
Could these reactions be caused by Thierry’s fear of the unknown up in the mountains?
Could his reaction be unavoidable seeing that his experience by all accounts constitutes
“una revelacion privilegiada de la realidad” to which Carpentier alludes? Although one
cannot provide an answer that can be considered rational, there is no gainsaying that
these reactions, experienced by one native to the region where the frog is found, are real
in the novel’s fictional logic.
Given the fact that for Carpentier a key component to the existence of the
marvelous is human perception, therefore, it is interesting to note how Victor is in turn
affected by his sighting of the frog. As a foreigner, a scientist and of a cultural
background grounded in the rational, one would be far from committing a fallacy in
arguing that Victor should be unsusceptible to the frog’s “marvelous powers.” But as
we are shown in the novel, for his part, Victor’s encounter with the “grenouille de sang”
up in the mountains is equally overwhelming. Like Thierry, his first experience of the
frog is by hearing it croak. He asserts that: “nos quedamos inmoviles sobre un declive
incomodo, quise agacharme y Thierry me lo impidio; fiie en el momento en que volvio
a cantar, cerre los ojos y la escuche con tanta nitidez que estuve a punto de gritar”
(180). In spite of the urge he feels to shout, Victor continues “en ese momento, y aun
despues, durante varias horas fui incapaz de pronuneiar palabras” (180). When finally
he perceives the frog, he describes his incredible experience in the following terms:
La luz se detuvo. Habia una piedra junto a un pequeno tronco, un poco
de hierba al pie de ese tronco, me incorpore para mirar y me quede
paralizado. Lo que no me conmovio su aparicion, ni su color abundante.
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ni su quietud, me lo provocaba ahora esa linea, ese pequeno resplandor
de espejo alrededor de su interior abismo: una pupila que brillaba con la
flierza absoluta de un presagio. (227-228)
The question still remains as to why the frog has such a powerful effect not only on
Thierry hut on Victor as well. Could it he that Victor is paralyzed out of sheer delight
on finding the frog? Is it just on account of its appearance, that is, its physical
attributes? Does the frog draw this reaction as a result of its uniqueness? Is the frog
endowed with some form of magical power or other that physically affects everyone
who comes into contact with it? While it is difficult to bring out the reasons underlying
the protagonists’ reaction to the frog, the fact still remains that it speaks to the idea of
“lo real maravilloso” described by Carpentier. With the reactions of the protagonists to
the frog, an element of nature, Montero effectively communicates the wonders of
Haiti’s fauna. However let us not forget that Carpentier also cites, as a precondition for
understanding or experiencing “lo real maravilloso,” faith or belief:
Para empezar la sensacion de lo maravilloso presupone una fe. Los que
no creen en santos no pueden curarse con milagros de santos, ni los que
no son Quijotes pueden meterse, en cuerpo alma y hienes en el mundo de
Amadis de Gaula o Tirante el Blanco. (3)
There is no doubt that Victor goes to great lengths to find and capture the frog
and it is reasonable for him to he oveijoyed, nevertheless it is highly unusual for an
American scientist to see in the frog an omen. That is, Victor appears to resort to the
same system of explaining the world as Thierry does. He appears to participate in the
same system of beliefs that underlies Thierry’s mode of thinking, what Carpentier refers
to as “fe” in his theory of the marvelous. By this, Montero seems to expand the scope
of “lo reall maravilloso” to encompass and affect the Western mind. If in El reino de
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este mundo only the slaves saw that Mackandal is saved, that is, they had the faith and
experienced the miracle, in Tu la oscuridad Victor is equally affected by the “charm” of
the frog. Clearly Victor must have the “fe” in the ability of the frog to affect him, for as
we are shown in the novel he does not remain impervious to it. In essence he is equally
susceptible to the charms of the frog as much as Thierry is. For one brought up in
Western culture, for a scientist, one whose career is grounded in the rational, the
concrete and the provable, one realizes that the irrational constantly plagues Victor.
The “marvelous” seems to affect Victor in the same way as it affects Thierry, unlike the
case is between the slaves and colonizers in El reino de este mundo. Whereas for the
slaves Mackandal is saved from burning at the stake thus “permaneciendo en el reino de
este mundo” (67), for the slave owners he actually dies. What constitutes a miracle, a
manifestation of the marvelous for the slaves, is oblivious to the Europeans. This
effectively sets Montero’s text apart from Carpentier’s. Tu la oscuridad intimates that
although Victor may not subscribe to the marvelous he is susceptible to it.
The belief in the relevance of the supernatural world serves as another level on
which an intertext is established between Tu la oscuridad and El reino de este mundo.
The supernatural has often served as an element by which the literature of the Caribbean
in general is often characterized. And in both novels the belief in the supernatural
world of the gods with origins in Africa are depicted. In Tu la oscuridad the character
who effectively communicates this world is Thierry. His knowledge of the flora and
fauna of Haiti is complemented by a corresponding knowledge of certain laws based in
the supernatural but which directs his actions and serves as his means of explaining the
material world. Thierry presents the supernatural world in a matter of fact manner and
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not only shows the extent to which it is embedded in the culture of Haiti but also how
real and to an extent how almost palpable that world is. In his interaction with Victor,
Thierry’s evocation of the edicts of the gods who govern the supernatural world is
constant. For example, he recounts that the first time he comes upon the grenouille de
sang, “podia aplastarla cuando quisiera, tambien podia meterla en el frasco y
guardarsela a Papa Crapaud” (51). In spite of the importance of the frog to the scientist
he worked with at the time, and in spite of the fact that he was in a position to do so, he
neither kills the frog nor captures it. Instead, he reasons that “dejandola vivir, quizas
fuera donde los loas, que son duenos naturales, y los aplacara diciendoles que yo la
habia tratado bien” (51)." From the cited passage one discerns the importance of these
gods of the natural to Thierry; somehow, for him, it is important that they are made
aware of his good deeds. This is important for the native who also thinks that the bad
luck associated with the frog is as a result of the fact that everyone sought to kill it.
According to Thierry’s reasoning, the actions one takes in his day-to-day activities have
repercussions not only in the physical world but also in the supernatural. In this
instance we see that Thierry’s belief in a system, which for the Western mind lies
outside of this world, governs the course of action he takes. That his action or inaction
in this situation, mandated by the irrational, subscribes to an ecological phenomenon
that preoccupies the scientific world shows one way in which Montero accords the
irrational a legitimate place in the order of things. Consciously or unwittingly, the
irrational participates in the phenomenon (of the gradual extinction of frogs) that is
being played out globally. By this treatment the irrational, is depicted as being as
conscious of the trends in the society as the rational is. If we consider the fact that the
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episode with the frog just described occurred sometime before the present of the novel,
that is, before Victor undertakes his expedition, we can easily say that perhaps Thierry
is given another chance at actually capturing the frog as a result of his clemency
towards it earlier. Such is the power of the supernatural world over him, that when he
finally captures the frog Thierry has to perform a ritual before leaving the scene of the
capture. Victor relates: “Thierry advirtio que habia que celebrar y pagarle su tributo a
Papa Loko, el dueno de los arboles, de las bromelias y de toda la hierba viva o muerta”
(229).
It is pertinent to note the properties accorded the supernatural world, which give
it a kind of palpability parallel to the one the protagonosts live in. In the first place we
observe that the unseen “duenos” or “misterios,” as Thierry sometimes refers to them,
have names - Papa Loko, Damballah, Agwe Taroyo, etc. They are given human
attributes such as the ability to listen; they are governed by laws; they have the capacity
to explain different phenomena, are able to provide cures for diseases; and they even
“tienen sus caprichos” (115). By all appearances this world does not differ very much
from the physical one the protagonists live in. In Thierry’s view perhaps the unseen
world of the supernatural sometimes proves to be more potent and more effective than
the real world of doctors and scientists. For example, when describing the events that
lead to the eventual death of his former master caused by poisoning, Thierry makes
some keen comparisons. When Papa Crapaud dies poisoned by his own common law
wife’s lover, and ironically by frog poison, the doctor who examines him proclaims the
death was by heart attack. Unconvinced by the doctor’s pronouncement, Thierry
observes: “Eso tambien tienen los polvos, son invisibles a la ciencia, a la poca ciencia
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de los medicos, quiero decir. Divoine Joseph, que era tan vivo y tan ilustrado, hubiera
descubierto a los culpables con solo oler la cabeza del difunto” (120). In this quotation,
Thierry compares the doctor to Divoine Joseph, a witch doctor whose vocation
predicated on the supernatural is governed by the “duenos” and “misterios.” In
Thierry’s view, science proves to be woefully inadequate as communicated by his use
of the adjective “poea.” According to Thierry’s logic, science cannot be complete nor
effective if certain aspects of life remain invisible to it. As he claims, that which is
invisible to science is almost effortlessly apparent to the supernatural mind. What is
more, Divoine Joseph is described as being “vivo,” that is full of vitality. If we will
recall, these are the same terms in which Thierry has been described by Victor. Seeing
that both Thierry and Divoine Joseph are native to Haiti and have a common belief
system, one could argue that to a certain degree the supernatural has a hand in their
perceived vitality.
In examining Montero’s novel, an assertion made by Bill Ashcroft with regard
to the place the Caribbean occupies within world literature proves to be very pertinent.'^
According to Ashcroft, “The Caribbean has also been a productive site for the rereading
and rewriting of the canonical texts of English literature” (81). Perhaps key to the
notoriety of Heart of Darkness are the issues that that novel raises, the most hotly
debated of which focus on racism, violence and imperialism. On close examination one
finds out that Montero’s novel appearing over a century later engages Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness on various levels. The parallels found within the two novels that will be
examined relate to the metaphor of darkness and the question of agency. An
examination of these issues will tease out the ways in which negative visions of Africa
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(and by extension, cultures having origins in Africa) are evoked and undermined in Tu
la oscuridad.
With the appearance of the word “darkness” in the titles of the two novels set in
Africa, or in a society having its origins in Africa (as the case is with Tu la oscuridad),
the old question of the construction of the image of Africa and its diaspora are raised.
Allusions to Africa as the Dark Continent, and all the negative connotations associated
with it, are called up. Richard Adams provides a sweeping overview of the meanings
that the word “darkness” acquires:
“Darkness,” on the other hand, distinctively has negative overtones. In a
whole host of world mythologies, it is associated with chaos, disorder,
the condition to combat which light and life were created. The term
‘“Dark Ages’” was coined to identify a period of relative
unenlightenment in the cultural and intellectual life of early medieval
Europe. Because human beings do not naturally fimction well in the
dark, it came to be thought of as the home and haven of all those things -
intangible as well as tangible - of which people were unsure or fearful or
suspicious. It suggested the unknown, the unknowable, the
unintelligible, the ignorant, the sinister, the secret. (2)
In spite of the overall negative connotations that the word “darkness” evokes, as the
quotation above eloquently explains, differences can be noted in their use within the
two novels.
In Heart of Darkness allusions to darkness appear to indicate evil, ignorance and
even underdevelopment, characteristics which cast the native people of Congo in a
totally unfavorable light and underscore their perceived inferiority. With Conrad’s
novel appearing before hers, the word “darkness” in Montero’s title invariably calls up
all the negative connotations Adams describes above, as well as the debates surrounding
Heart of Darkness. Nevertheless upon close examination one realizes that the focus (in
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Montero’s treatment of the notion of darkness) is not the same. A penetrating look at the
novel reveals that in Tu la oscuridad, Montero moves beyond this picture to present
“darkness,” among other things, as indicative of death, an enigma which to date remains
unexplainable. The novel begins with the subject of death and at the end the main
protagonists do indeed die. The most striking reference to darkness in the novel which
also includes the title of the novel is made by Ganesha, Papa Crapaud’s Indian common
law wife. It is important to note that the title of the novel derives from a prayer that
Ganesha makes when Thierry arrives to tell her of her companion’s death. In her prayer
made no less to Mariamman, to whom Thierry refers as “la virgen de los muchos
brazos,” Ganesha exclaims in French; ‘“O toi, lumiere... Toi, I’lnmaculee, toi,
Tobscurite qui enveloppe Tesprit de ceux qui ignorent ta gloire’” (113). When the
expression is repeated at the end of the novel its significance is made the more relevant
and the meaning of “darkness” that Montero seeks to establish becomes the more
apparent. Ganesha first makes reference to the expression “toi Tobscurite” in a prayer
for her dead companion. At the end of the novel, in the very last episode narrated by
Thierry the very last words he utters are ‘Tu la oscuridad...’ (239) Given that in the last
“scientific” entry of the novel we are informed that Thierry, Victor and the preserved
Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus all die in a shipwreck, the association of “Tii, la
oscuridad” with death could not be more discernible. Thus, although the title of
Montero’s novel (a novel which is set in a society of African origins) calls up all the
negative connotations that have been associated with the black, her use of “darkness” as
the events of the novel show, is in reference to death, a phenomenon not limited to the
black or the white nor the flora and fauna, but indeed one with a universal reach.
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As we can see from the novel, representatives from the West, the native and
nature - Victor, Thierry and the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus respectivelv - all die by
the end of the novel. Seeing the lengths to which Thierry and Victor go to achieve their
objective of catching the frog only to all perish in the end, it appears that even in death
the three are interdependent on each other. The frog, the last of his specie, becomes
extinct only after it is captured. Thierry, once struck with an inexplicable illness on
hearing the frog croak, actually dies after capturing it. Victor, on the other hand, once
left momentarily paralyzed by the frog, becomes permanently paralyzed (as symbolized
in his death) after capturing it. We see here that Montero calls us to look beyond
accepted notions, stereotypes and the obvious (as indicated by the negative cormotations
the word “darkness” calls up) to find other values, which may not be readily obvious or
may even be obscure. Even in this, one can see the interplay between the physical,
rational world and the irrational, supernatural world.
A key issue in postcolonial studies which Montero’s and Conrad’s novels bring
into sharp focus is the question of agency and its implications. Even though agency has
as much to do with action as well as speech we will mainly center our discussion on the
latter. In Homi Bhabha’s view:
The enunciative position of contemporary cultural studies is both
complex and problematic. It attempts to institutionalize a range of
transgressive discourses whose strategies are elaborated around non
equivalent sites of representation where a history of discrimination and
misrepresentation is common among, say, women, blacks, homosexuals
and Third World migrants. (176)
Given the power relations that are invariably called up in Western hegemonic discourse
in the interrelationship between the black and the white, a pertinent question that should
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be posed is what plaee the protagonists occupy within the context of the novels?
Specifically, it is of interest to note the “space” accorded each protagonist in the
construction of the narratives concerned. Being that Heart of Darkness and Tu la
oscuridad are narrated, the voices that are heard, that is, the articulating subject or what
Bhahha refers to as the enunciative position, and his point of view become seminal.
And as we will make clear, once again Montero revises the precedent set by Conrad.
The narrative of Heart of Darkness, apart from being framed by one of the men
present on the yawl, is presented in its entirety from the point of view of Marlowe, a
European. Thus neither the perspective nor the voice of the native is accounted for.
That is, the native is accorded no agency whatsoever in a story that is as much about
him as about the Europeans presented. It is Marlowe who describes the geography of
the Congo; he tells the stories and also retells the stories of the other protagonists
mentioned. Here, the position of the native is only known through what Marlowe
communicates to us, that is, through what Marlowe perceives it to be. Seeing that he is
a stranger to the land he describes, and that his impressions of the Congo are through
the eyes of a stranger, to what extent can one fully accept Marlowe’s point of view as
being comprehensive? Although to a certain degree Marlowe strives to achieve some
form of objectiveness, the fact that the Congolese are not given a voice is suggestive of
their denigration and serves as a powerful argument in favor of those who believe in the
racist underpinnings of Heart of Darkness. As Peter Edgerly Firchow notes, “After all,
in the West the Congo was usually thought of as an ‘animalistic’ place not only in the
sense of harboring multitudes of strange and exotic animals but also in the sense of
being populated by ‘savages’ and ‘primitives’ whose way of life struck many
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westerners as resembling that of animals” (33)/^ Given that perhaps the characteristic
that most distinguishes man from animals is the faculty of speech, the “silence” of the
natives in the novel goes a long way in giving credence to the observation by Firchow
above. Various instances in the novel attest to the fact that perhaps Conrad subscribes to
the opinion expressed by Firchow cited in the above quotation. Constant references to
the natives as “savage” (37, 61,62) by Marlowe coupled with the fact that the natives
are described in animalistic terms—“howling and leaping” (36); “one of these creatures
rose to his hands and knees, and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink. He
lapped out of his hand” (18); “a violent babble of uncouth sounds” (19) and uttering
“short grunting phrases” (19)—no doubt supports the view that the natives are relegated
to the level of animals. Chief among the critics who have argued about the racist
underpiimings of Heart of Darkness, and who have made reference to the “silence” of
the Africans in the novel to buttress their point, is Chinua Achebe, renowned Nigerian
writer and literary critic.In his view, Africa is perceived as “a metaphysical
battlefield, devoid of all recognizable humanity” (788).
For its part Montero’s novel reworks the issue of agency in Tu la oscuridad and
effects what Homi Bhahha refers to as “a process by which objectified others may be
turned into subjects of their history and experience” (178). Given that one of the main
protagonists is black, a race that has often been cast as subaltern, passive, one could
argue that in accordance with that discourse, there exists a strong possibility for him to
be “objectified.” In other words, of the two—^the white and the black—if anyone of
them is to be “objectified” it will most likely be the black, the native. However,
contrary to this common practice and expectation both Victor and Thierry are given
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narrative voices. It is worthy to note that their narratives alternate, and of the thirty
sections of the novel, each protagonist accounts for ten with the other ten dedicated to
the (factual) information on the disappearing frog species. Victor has the first word (his
voice begins the narrative) but Thierry has the last (he ends it). It appears as though this
particular narrative can only be possible when the voices of both protagonists are heard.
Indeed it reaches a point when the stories, opinions or musings of one protagonist are
introduced into the narrative of the other. A key example of this practice can be found
in a conversation that occurs on the day the protagonists capture the Eleutherodactylus
sanguineus. The general narrative is presented from the point of view of Victor.
- Una vez sorprendi a Ganesha eomiendo ancas de rana
Le pregunte a Martha si le habia gustado el avestruz y respondio que si,
que era agradable y punto...
- Papa Crapaud nunea lo supo, pero ella a veces le robaba ranas para
comerselas...
Mi madre siempre le echo la culpa de su separacion a ‘esos malditos
pajaros’
- Hoy es un gran dia - recalco Thierry, cerrando el termo-. Nunca
pense que me alegrarla de oir a la grenouille du sang.
Nunca pense en la posibilidad de que ese rancho, tarde o temprano, iba a
ser mio. (183-84)
In the above citation Thierry talks about Ganesha, Papa Crapaud and the frog, while
Victor talks about Martha, his mother and the ranch. As we can see, the musings of
Victor are intertwined with Thierry’s comments to create a hybrid narrative. We see
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here a cross between speech and thought, man and animal, natives and foreigners. The
oscillation in the enunciative position creates a situation where the values that each
protagonist represents are given equal representation and validation.
In this Montero’s novel achieves the balance that Conrad’s lacks. We see that
Victor and Thierry are presented as having a dialogue—^the voices of both of them are
heard—and this is in spite of the fact that they each represent different value systems
and seemingly might not be in harmony. There is no doubt that in the scientific and
Western world that Victor represents, which also happens to be the world of the
mainstream, the discourse of the irrational which undergirds Thierry’s system of values
is highly transgressive. By giving it representation, Montero’s novel takes a stance that
is crucial in the post-colonial venture of giving agency to the traditionally undermined.
She shows that the subaltern can, and indeed, should speak and—^what is more, the
white should listen. In Montero’s treatment of agency in her novel, she seems to
address the question posed by Gayatri Spivak, whose famous article sought to establish
the inability of the West to communicate the realities of the Third World. If for Spivak
the subaltern cannot speak, a fact made patent by her remark “The women want to die’’
(93), for Montero he can and even on equal term s.A s we can surmise in the novel,
the expedition is successful (to the extent that the two are able to capture the
Eleutherodactvlus sanguineusl in large part only with the help of Thierry. The
importance of his input to the venture is effectively expressed by Victor when he
remarks: “Thierry era un hombre de la zona, anadi, tenia experiencia en este tipo de
trabajo y sus consejos debian tenerse en cuenta” (159). This admission on the part of
Victor serves as an acknowledgement of the dependence of science on the values that
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Thierry stands for, values steeped in the irrational, and this acknowledgement surely
serves no less as a validation. In spite of its non-scientific hase, Thierry’s irrational
knowledge base provides the final “authorization” for Victor’s project.
The first thing Victor does on arriving at Haiti is to find a native to assist him in
his endeavors. Thierry, the native he employs, is one whose outlook on the world is
shaped beliefs having origins in African cultures, and usually characterized as
supernatural, not in the realm of science. By employing Thierry, Victor acknowledges
that in order for him to make any headway in his work he needs help not from another
scientist, someone who may be considered well educated (in the traditional sense), but
rather from someone who perhaps may not be as “learned” as another scientist may he,
but who possesses a different form of knowledge to complement his learning. It is
important here to make a distinction between the uses of “learning” and “knowledge” in
the novel. This distinction is made salient in the novel by Emile Boukaka. A surgeon
by profession and a herpetologist as a hobby, Boukaka asserts: “Lo que he aprendido lo
aprendi en los libros. Pero lo que se, todo lo que se, lo se del fiiego y del agua, del agua
y la candela: una apaga a la otra” (133). Boukaka here juxtaposes what one learns from
books to what one acquires from natural experiences that are lived. While learning of
the type that Victor manifests, specifically with regard to the frog he attempts to save,
requires a conscious effort it is also remote, removed from reality. Knowledge on the
other hand, of the kind that Boukaka refers to, involves a dynamic relationship with the
experience on hand and can be acquired even unconsciously. There is no doubt as to
which one, in Boukaka’s estimation, is more valuable. As a herpetologist, Victor
learns about the frogs he carries out his research on. Here “leam” is understood as
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“discover, study, and be trained in.” Victor is first told about the Eleutherodactvlus
sanguineus bv Vaughan Patterson, the Australian herpetologist too old to undertake the
expedition himself. His acquaintance with the frog exists only from a drawing
Patterson makes of the frog and what he has read about it. On the other hand, Thierry
knows ahout the frog in question, that is, “know” in terms of “experience, understand,
be acquainted with.” Thierry tells us of his first encounter with the frog in the Mont des
Enfants Perdus, during a search for a madwoman who had taken to the mountains.
Thierry’s knowledge of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus is a result of hearing, seeing
and heing affected by it. He describes that on that eventful night he was thinking ahout
a place to sleep for the night when he heard the frog: “escuche el canto de la grenouille
du sang; no es un canto normal el de ese bicho, es una especie de glugluglu, como el de
una gran burbuja que va subiendo desde el fondo” (50). By his accounts, Thierry’s
encounter with the amphibian is filled with intrigue and is nothing short of frightening.
I will elaborate on the magical effect the frog has on Thierry later on in my discussion,
but there is no doubt that hearing and seeing the frog left an indelible mark on Thierry
which is unmatched by any experience Victor may have had with the frog before
arriving at Haiti. The distinction between the two words is made the more concrete
within the context of the experience of the two protagonists. We see here the
importance of Thierry to the success of the expedition. And although Victor initially
has doubts about Thierry, in time he comes to a realization that perhaps the native is his
only hope through the dangerous mountains that hold the object of his research. We see
that Thierry possesses a form of knowledge that baffles and even sometimes annoys
Victor, nonetheless, he has to lead the American herpetologist to the Eleutherodactvlus
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sanguineus. As we see the relations between the two characters demonstrate the
incursions of the scientific into the irrational and vice-versa, in the process, quite subtly,
the one renders the other contingent. The scientific knowledge of Victor, emblematic of
Western civilization, superiority and rationality, is acknowledged and admitted but also
subjeeted to the “law of the jungle.”
Although perhaps Thierry is the person who has the most impact on Victor,
there exists a faceless protagonist whose influence on the outcome of the expedition
cannot be ignored. This is the group of natives whose activities take them to the same
mountains that Victor undertakes his search in. Unknown to Victor, a secret society in
Haiti had chosen the Mont des Enfants Perdus as the site for disposing of dismembered
cadavers and did not want any interference. Thus on their very first attempt at locating
the frog, Victor and Thierry are forced to leave the Mont des Enfants Perdus sooner
than they had planned to. This faceless but real protagonist proves to be powerful,
dangerous and intent on driving all out of the mountain. Victor’s contact with them
proves to be a harrowing experience. In the first meeting with this group up the
mountains, Victor has to bring his search to an abrupt halt and is filled with puzzlement.
This is more so as he does not actually see these people, but is made aware of their
presence on discovering a cadaver and on arriving in his camp. Victor discovers his
camp has been raided and rgnsaeked and is told by Thierry that the mountain is
oecupied, and the raid is their cue to move out or be killed. His perplexity turns into
fear when hears “unos susurros, el ruido enrareeido de unas voces” (68). Soon after this
incident Victor is waylaid and beaten into unconsciousness by a pair of men whose
faces he never sees. Subsequently, when he is finally able to capture the frog in
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question, he barely has time to move out of the mountain Casetaches before the faceless
pursuers reach him. By all accounts, although he can never identify these men, they
make their presence felt and their message is unequivocal. Victor’s experience with the
men of the secret society highlights a force that is hidden but whose influence affects
and even directs the daily activities and actions of the people. The aura of mystery
surrounding Haiti is accentuated by the presence and activities of these men.
The inscrutability of Haiti is further expressed in the terms by which Victor
describes the country. Victor often describes Haiti by intangible characteristics such as
the smells that envelop him. According to him, “For una razon u otra en las calles de
Port-au-Prince siempre habia humareda” (86). It appears that his sense of smell is
sharpened in Haiti to the extent that he is able to smell not only the perspiration on
himself but also that of people on the street, vendors and waiters: “Aquella miasma
intensa, personal, seguramente inesperada, gratificaba algo impreciso en mi interior, me
espahilaha los sentidos, presiento que me enriquecia” (39). When Victor mentions that
the smells of Haiti began to enrich him, he draws attention to the fact that in Haiti he
becomes more aware of his surroundings and perhaps more attentive to his instincts.
Victor sees the vitality that he derives from his surroundings duplicated in the figure of
his guide. Although in Victor’s opinion Thierry seems older than the fifty-six years he
claims to be and is ill-looking, Victor also realizes that the native is “inexplicablemente
agil, incluso algo fomido; la luz del mundo le daba esa vitalidad.” (39) It is not clear
exactly what Victor means by “la luz del mundo,” hut one could argue that it constitutes
a peculiar feature of Haiti.
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From the foregoing one could contend that in the same way that Haiti heightens
Victor’s senses, it imbues Thierry, the old native, with verve. As mentioned before it
serves as a source of enrichment for Thierry both a professional and personal level.
Still it has another kind of effect on others, specifically women who come into the
country for one reason or another. Thierry remarks:
No se imagina usted la de mujeres que se desquician en cuanto ponen pie
en Haiti, mujeres de sus casas, que vienen a tomar el sol y terminan
trep^dose a los burros de patas torcidas que suben a la Citadelle. Ese es
el mayor error porque despues de ese paseo, no se por que, bajan
revueltas, con los vestidos sucios y los ojos brotados (46)
From Thiery’s description above, one could argue that the reality of Haiti proves to be
too powerful for the women to deal with and causes them to lose their mind. On
stepping foot in Haiti, these women are drawn somehow into the mountains. The
mountains ean be said to be the environment within which one can fully come into
contact with the flora and the fauna of Haiti. Also, historically, the mountains of Haiti
are well known as the site for events that border on the supernatural. Let us not forget
that Alejo Carpentier’s theory of “lo real maravilloso” lists nature in Latin America as
one of its major components, and much of El reino de este mundo takes place around
the Citadelle. While up in the mountains, these women are in direct contact with nature
and go through an experience that leads to an overflow of powerful emotions, feelings
and sensations, and are ultimately driven out of their senses. When we consider that
women are viewed as the weaker sex, it could be said that their experiences on the
mountain, the same as the ones that Thierry and Victor go through, and which make
both men paralyzed even if momentarily, totally deranges the women in question. We
see from the descriptions above that the characters in the novel perceive Haiti to be a
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dangerous place but nonetheless endowed as a source of knowledge and filled with
vitality.
An equally arcane element that one finds in examining Tu la oscuridad is the
prevalence of violence. One cannot overlook the fact that violence seems to be
presented as a feature endemic to the Haitian society depicted. From the burning of live
animals to the skinning of persons; from people dying as a result of poisoning (as is the
case of Papa Crapaud, the Australian herpetologist with whom Thierry first worked) to
the appearance of dismembered cadavers, this society seems to be filled with senseless
acts of violence. Seeing that in Western hegemonic thinking the black race has been
characterized as barbarous, savage and incapable of self control, will one be wrong in
assuming that Montero in presenting Haiti in this light concurs with this mode of
thinking? We see that where the issue of violence is concerned rather than effecting a
systematic refutation of the stereotypes Montero appears to subscribe to them. This
gesture could be described no less than as a gesture of complicity with Eurocentric
hegemonic thinking. Nevertheless, the argument can be made that Montero, in
presenting the kind of violence that one sees in the novel, actually strives to maintain
some objectiveness. She seems to acknowledge the place violence occupies in the
society, thus desisting from any form of hypocrisy. She seems to force us as to consider
whether violence is limited to Haiti, and by extension other non-Westem cultures. The
grotesque nature of Montero’s descriptions resonates with a narrative form embedded in
the literary history of Spain. I am referring to the narrative style termed “tremendismo”
which appeared in the writings of Spanish authors after the Civil War. The novel that
readily comes to mind is La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942) by the renowned Camilo
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Jose Cela/^ Indeed the same telluric “forces” that drive Pascual Duarte to the heights
of inexplicable violence seem to be at play in Tu la oscuridad. Thus while the level of
violence depicted in the novel serves as another level on which Tu la oscuridad and El
reino de este mundo speak to each other, a precedent can also be found in the very
bedrock of literature from the Iberian Peninsula. Thus the very idea that violence is an
inherent nature in the black and the native is effectively undermined.
One observes that while in El reino de este mundo and La familia de Pascual
Duarte the actual acts or process of perpetuating the violence are presented, in Tu la
oscuridad the actual acts of extreme violence, those that invariably lead to the death of
the victims are for the most part not shown. What we are presented with are the
manifestations of the acts themselves. For example we are not given a description of
the course of action that leads to the appearance of the body of a schoolteacher on the
outskirts of Jeremie. What is more, the body is discovered with the face mutilated and
the left index finger severed. The events that lead to the mass burial of about seven
victims in a shallow grave, bodies whose remains are discovered by Thierry and Victor
in the Mont des Enfants Perdus, also remain a mystery. While perhaps the violence
described in Carpentier’s novel may be justified seeing that it is presented as a direct
and legitimate consequence of the inhumane treatment received and as a means of
overthrowing the tyrannical rule of slavery, it is unclear what drives the violence seen in
Montero’s novel. Nevertheless, as the case may be, both novels show how violence is
perpetuated among members of the same race. In Carpentier’s novel the perpetuators of
the violence described are figures named in the novel. In Montero’s, on the other hand,
we are told that those who carry out the gruesome acts that culminate in the appearance
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of dismembered and even skinned cadavers are “tontons maeoutes.” This group of
people intends to use the very mountains where the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus can
be found, for their clandestine drug trafficking. The only means by which these men
make their presence felt is by the discovery of their victims. These people can be said
to constitute an underworld, if you wish, that although remains faceless makes its
presence felt. This invincible world no doubt bears a remarkable resemblance to the
realm of the irrational and by extension the supernatural.
Another issue that the novel takes up, albeit subtly, is the question of
homosexuality and its “transgressive” undertones. Once again the figure Montero
employs to drive her point home is none other than Victor. We are taken through the
whole process by which Victor reflects on his relationship with his wife and arrives at
the realization that she may be having an affair with another woman. If we still
subscribe to the view that in the novel the figure that represents the position
traditionally imbued with authority is Victor - apart from being a scientist, he is white,
male and heterosexual - this action by his wife serves as a very powerful means of
subverting his authority. Although the novel does not disclose Victor’s religious
affiliation, if one considers the fact the main religious institution of the United States is
Christian, one could argue that Brigg, being of the racial majority, is Christian. The
institution of marriage is one of the most sacred in the Christian tradition and perhaps
the most important aspect to maintaining its sanctity is fidelity.
Moreover, if we bear in mind that women have often been considered the
weaker sex and are traditionally cast in a position of subservience and passivity, Martha
not only breaks a key religious edict but also takes a very active role in determining her
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life. Furthermore if we consider the fact that it is a woman (the weaker sex) who seeks
to occupy the position Victor originally has in Martha’s life, Montero could not have
contrived a more effective means of undermining male patriarchal authority. We see
here the gradual empowerment of traditionally marginal elements of society - women
and homosexuals. From the above, a strong case can be made to substantiate the view
that Tu la oscuridad casts homosexuality in a favorable light. As we have already
indicated Victor’s marriage is in serious jeopardy and he does not see any means by
which he can save it. This is communicated when he tells Thierry “Mi mujer me
abandono, Thierry. No quiero hablar del agua” (109). Indeed, by the end of his
expedition it is clear to him what he deems to be most important in his life; “yo no
tenia mas mundo que las ranas, y las tripas de las ranas, como bien me decia Thierry,
[...]. Thus, one can infer that his life henceforth will be dedicated to his work rather
than his wife when he proclaims: “Decidi que al regresar a casa, antes de partir hacia
Adelaida, dejarla de una vez resuelta mi situacion con Martha” (230).
Indeed in Tu la oscuridad marriage appears stripped of its sanctity and leads
only to disaster. Thierry talks at length about his father’s extramarital affairs first with
Frou-Frou (his maternal aunt) and Yoyotte Placide (his sister’s godmother). Upon his
father’s death Thierry has no qualms about engaging in sexual relations with Frou-Frou,
who was once his stepmother, when his mother dies. His own marriage to Maude does
not prevent him from having sexual relations with Frou-Frou, Blanche, Suzy and even
Ganesha, the wife of his mentor, Papa Crapaud. As can be expected Thierry’s marriage
ends in a separation. Ganesha’s extramarital affairs lead to the murder of her husband,
Papa Crapaud, by a jealous lover. With the infidelity, separations and violence that
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characterize the marriages in the novel one can conclude that Tu la oscuridad does not
cast it in a favorable light. On the other hand, Martha’s relationship with Barbara, with
its homosexual overtones is portrayed, as more in line with what a traditional marriage
should be. Barbara aecompanies Martha on her trip to Tibet and even plays a much
more aetive role organizing and consoling Martha upon the death of the latter’s mother.
Nevertheless it crucial to consider that Martha’s infidelity and implied homosexuality
inserts itself within the broader context of frog extinetions. If we eonsider extinetions
to be occurrences that need to be avoided, then homosexuality like marriage, in the
novel, does not bring about favorable results. Tu la oseuridad therefore desists from
taking a stance with regard to the issue of marriage and homosexuality.
Upon close examination one cannot overlook the fact that the novel deals with
more than the extinetion of frog speeies. Events narrated in the novel show that the
extinetion of Victor and Thierry’s “speeies” (as symbolized in their final demise on the
Neptune) are equally foreshadowed. In essence the novel gradually builds up to the
moment of the complete eradieation of the main protagonists. The proeess of the
extinetion of Victor’s species is set in motion with the faet that his wife is shown to be
having an affair with another woman. What is more it shows that his marriage to all
intents and purposes is over, a fact which precludes any possibilities of him having any
offspring. We see that when Thierry asks Vietor, in view of the dangers they face in the
mountains, “Usted querra volver sano a su casa, querra ver a sus hijos.” Victor’s failure
to answer this direct question leads him to further inquire rhetorically “^no tiene hijos?”
(64) As the end of the novel shows, Victor’s genus becomes extinct with his death on
the Neptune. On the other hand, the extinction of Thierry and his offspring is through
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death. He reveals in answer to his own question posed to Victor “ - Yo si los tuve... -
pero se me murieron todos” (64). His own death is preceded by an observation by
Victor to the effect that: “Me di cuenta de que el mismo era una especie en agonia, un
animal acorralado, un hombre demasiado solo” (233). From the events recounted in the
novel, Victor could be making this observation in description not only of Thierry but
also of himself. And, as we see at the end of the novel, he comes to the same end as
Thierry. In Tu la oscuridad we are shown how the two protagonists, representatives of
traditionally disparate values are brought together and become inextricably linked even
in death. With the death of Victor at the end of the novel, could one say the Tibetan
prediction with which the novel begins comes to pass? To a large extent it could be
argued that it does for Victor indeed dies through a disaster.
In conclusion one can safely say that Montero proposes the means by which one
can and should write about Hispanic literature taking into accoimt the multifaceted
elements that form the basis of Hispanic cultures. In addressing itself to a key aspect of
Western hegemony - scientific ingenuity as the ultimate means of explaining world
phenomena - Tu la oscuridad calls up other key issues of debate in the interrelationship
between the black and the white in particular and within the general context of world
issues. This seems to suggest that Montero believes and attempts to open up the
Caribbean as a site for the expression of the heterogeneous. As we can see from the
novel, science is not privileged over the irrational; the white is not favored over the
black; the local inserts itself within the global; contemporary issues evoke times of yore
and even fiction and real life occurrences are meshed together. This sets Montero apart
from authors such as Alejo Carpentier and Joseph Conrad even though they all treat
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interracial issues. Ashcroft’s view that “There is no post-colonial discourse which is
not complicit in some way, and extremely little which is not oppositional, but all of it is
about change in some form or other”(19), finds true illustration in Tu la oscuridad.
With Tu la oscuridad Montero is able to capture the fluidness that invariably occurs in
the interaction of the various elements found in the hybridized Hispanic cultures.
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' We cite from the version published by the Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, vol. 117.
^ In 1991 Montero’s La ultima noche quepase contigo was published and became the
finalist for the Sonrisa Vertical award. She later won the award in 2000 with her novel
Purpura profunda (2000).
^ Together with Tu la oscuridad Montero’s first novel, La trenza de la hermosa luna
(1987) and her Del roio de su sombra (1992) are situated in Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. These novels explore to different extents the mysteries of Vodoo.
In 1735 Linnaeus published the Svstema Naturae which aimed to classify all plants,
known and unknown by the traits demonstrated by their reproductive parts. He was to
further publish the Philosophia Botanica (1751) and Species Plantarum (1753) in which
he refined his theory. See Mary Louise Pratt’s Imperial Eves: Travel Writing and
Transculturation. (23-37).
^ Pliny was a Roman erudite bom in AD 23. Natural Historv brings together material
of, what he describes, “encyclic culture” from over a 100 different sources. He is
credited with compiling the very first encyclopedia of the world. J. Natalicio Gonzalez,
in a preface to the 1944 edition of Oviedo’s Historia natural de las Indias, makes the
observation that “Oviedo escribio su Historia tomando a Plinio como modelo. Se
propuso componer en lo que se refiere a America lo propio que realizo el emdito autor
latino con relacion al mundo antiguo” (15).
^ This description is provided by John Gascoigne in his introduction to Science in the
Service of Empire.
^ Interestingly, as Gascoigne notes, voyages of exploration served as a source of rivalry
among the French, Dutch and even Spanish in the 18*^ century. This in tum spurred
interest in the scientific as a source for economic advantage.
* Although it is widely acknowledged as one of the most disastrous shipwrecks of the
20*^ Century there are varying accounts as to the number of deaths that occurred on the
Neptune. The caption in the Los Angeles Times talks about 2,000 deaths, Matthew
White of Technological Disasters reports 500 dead and on its website Blacksheep
reports over 1,000 passengers drowned.
^ See his A leio Carpentier: The Pilgrim at Home. 25-26.
10
The novel based on the slave uprising that toppled the dominion of the French in
Haiti in the late 18* century.
Textual emphasis.
See his On Postcolonial Futures: Transformations of Colonial Culture.
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It must be noted that this observation by Firchow seems odd seeing that he subscribes
to the notion that Heart of Darkness is not a racist novel as many are inclined to believe.
In his view critics who see Conrad’s novel as propaganda for Western racism and
imperialism merely echo arbitrary preconceived notions about how the West is believed
to have conceived of Africa.
Achebe’s arguments on the issue are expounded in his “An hnage of Africa: Racism
in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”
This observation is made in reference to the practice of Sati, the Indian ritual whereby
widows are burnt together with the remains of their dead husbands on funeral pyres.
Camilo Jose Cela who died last year, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989. He
is widely credited with reviving Spanish literature after the Spanish civil war and
creating the narrative style known as “tremendismo”.
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CHAPTER THREE
Foreign (Ex)changes: Mzungo on Africa.^
For every native of every place is a potential
tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere.
Every native everywhere lives a life of banality
and boredom and desperation, and every deed,
good and bad, is an attempt to forget this.
An ugly thing, that is what you are when
you become a tourist, an empty, ugly thing,
a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish pausing
here and there to gaze at this and taste that,
and it will never occur to you that the people
who inhabit the place in which you have
just paused cannot stand you [...]
A Small Place^
Travel, and consequently, travel writing, has constituted a crucial means by
which European imperial projects are enabled and brought to fruition. It is by means of
travel that the West was brought into contact with its others, and has, consequently,
helped shape the discourse by which it has come to characterize non-Westem peoples.
Specific to the Hispanic world, Columbus’ initial commercial venture in search of
spices opened up a whole new world to Spain.^ Surely Columbus’ accounts of his
journey, his description of the people and resources helped, to borrow David Spurr’s
words, “to produce knowledge about other cultures” (11), in this case about Latin
America."^ Therefore it is through travel and travel writing that the discourse, by which
the European sought to interpret, represent and eventually dominate other cultures, first
found expression. As we have already discussed in previous chapters, key aspects of
the European’s hegemonic discourse are religion and science, but equally influential if
not more is the economic aspect of this discourse. The economic gains the New World
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Columbus discovered offered encouraged further incursions and arguably, actually set
the wheels that led to Spanish colonization of the Americas and other lands, into
motion.
Our objective, in this chapter, is to examine in Luis Goytisolo’s Mzungo the
eeonomic basis of European hegemony, as manifested through travel. Prompted by the
journey of three Europeans on cruise through East Africa, we analyze Mzungo as a
semantically charged space, which evokes the historical and socio-economic precedents
of the encoimter between Europe and its other. At the same time the novel points to
new trends by which they seek to be maintained. More importantly, the novel provides
a critical space for examining strategies that help mediate, contest and subvert the
claims the European may have to hegemony based on economic factors.
After having lived through the repressive era of Franco’s rule, and having
endured personal tragedies as a result of it, one can safely say that Goytisolo has
become especially conscientious of the reach of authoritarianism.^ A look at his literary
production reveals that questions surrounding issues of power form a driving force and
are explored both thematically, stylistically and structurally in such works as Las
afueras (1958); Las mismas palabras (1962); the four works that constitute his
Antagonia: Recuento (1973), Los verdes de mavo hasta el mar (1976), La colera de
Aquiles and Teoria del conocimiento (1981); Estela del fuego que se aleia (1984); and
La paradoia del ave migratoria (1987).^ Published in 1996, decades after Franco’s
demise and at a time when Goytisolo’s literary production had undergone significant
development, the narrative of Mzungo explores power issues further, but, unlike
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Goytisolo’s earlier novels, its treatment transcends the immediate scope of Spain into a
broader context of Europe (and the West) in general.
In signaling the perspectives postcolonialism contributes to debates surrounding
travel and its impact on European and non-European peoples, Steve Clark makes an
observation which in part describes aspects of the issues we examine in Mzimgo.
According to Clark “Its powerful and innovative models of reading have made the
question of travel inseparable from that of power and desire: asking not only who shall
be master, but also what does the master want” (2)?’ These questions are invariably
addressed in this chapter. But in recognition of a much more complex scenario created
by travel we will go further to pose the following: What ideologies form the basis of
the European’s and native’s economic worldview and how do these condition their
interaction? Additionally how do these ideologies shape their assumptions and
expectations? What underlies the power relations established between the native and
the European and how are these negotiated? Apart from the obvious eeonomie
advantage the European brings into the non-European world, what inferences can be
made from the European’s need to travel? Is this need reciproeated in the non-
European’s reeeptiveness or laek thereof? To what extent does the native suceeed in
undermining and appropriating European eeonomic hegemony?
In our analysis we show that the very need for the European to ineur into other
regions, while creating instanees for him to assert his eeonomie hegemony, constitutes
the very grounds for its contestation and appropriation. Thus, in the interaetion between
the European and Afrieans (people of eolor), the very space that opens up for Western
hegemony to be affirmed serves as the very space for its negation. We first examine the
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workings of the author—with the choice of title, characters and storyline—to call
Western hegemony into question. We then examine the main protagonists around
whom the narrative is developed to show how they interpellate major players in the
establishment of Western hegemony in various regions of the world. This is with the
objective of bringing out the values that condition their actions and thought process
(with regard to Africans and people of eolor) in their interrelation with one another and
with the native. Our discussion of the enactment of the values that underlie the
Europeans thinking will enable us to show the process by which the native engages
contests and subverts their ramifications.
The title of the novel, Mzungo, is significant for its succinct and deliberate
allusion to color. This places the issue of race as a central one that indeed the novel
explores to various degrees within its seven chapters. If one will recall, in previous
chapters of this dissertation, the titles of the works examined contain references to color
but make allusions to the terms by which the West denominates Africans in general—
Las tiniehlas de tu memoria negra, Tu la oscuridad—“black.” In these titles racial
issues are induced from terms by which the West has sought to characterize and
dominate Africans and cultures having origins in Africa. Thus, in large part, they
portray the perspective of the West. With Mzungo. however, one can observe a
reversal. The subject of racial relations is evoked through a term used in denomination
of Europeans and what is more, it is a term coined by Africans, so-called subalterns,
mainly in reference to people of European descent. This signals an acknowledgement
of a non-Westem perspective and the influence it may wield within the status quo.
With his title Goytisolo promptly and effectively sets the tone for the pro-active role the
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native plays in his interaction with the European and thus, takes up the notion that the
native does indeed have a measure of agency. He signals that the so-called subaltern
does have a voice and can, indeed speak.
As indicated in the previous chapter the scientific naming of things played a key
role in placing the European in a position of power for he literally called the world into
being. Also Edward Said’s Orientalism has shown that the discourse the West has
created about non Western cultures has influenced, to a large extent, the way these
cultures perceive of themselves and are perceived. By using “mzungo” as the title of
his novel Go5disolo can be said to be exploiting its exotic appeal to a certain audience.
Nevertheless it cannot be denied that he also forces one to consider if the native cannot
have an impact on the image of the West in the same way that the West has affected his
(the native’s). Go5disolo suggests that the discourse by which one may assume a
position of power cannot be limited to the European and signals that equally important,
or worthy of consideration is the native’s expression of his point of view and the impact
it can have. As we see Goytisolo, in employing the word as a title, gives it a crucial
place in his novel. It serves as the door through which events in the novel are recounted
and in the process it also indicates the possibility of change in the power relations
between the European and the African.
The title is also significant because it carries within it a form of
misrepresentation. Literally translated as “red” in Swahili, and used by African natives
in reference to people of European origin, the word “mzungo” falls short of the meaning
it is meant to convey, for people of European origin are usually referred to as “white.”*
Does using “red” in denomination of a people perceived to be “white” mean that the
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Swahili language does not have any vocabulary that translates white? This does not
seem to be the case but, whether deliberate or otherwise, this act has very provocative
implications. If we consider David Spurr’s view, that “the very process by which one
culture subordinates another begins in the act of naming and leaving unnamed, of
marking on an unknown territory the lines of division and uniformity, of boundary and
continuity” (4), then we should see the use of “mzungo” (the word and the novel) as
very empowering. It signals a process where the African effects a kind of subordination
akin to what Spurr mentions in the citation above. In the context of the novel, however,
this subordination has more to do with leveling the playing field than actually reversing
the established order. This detail is buttressed by the fact that in denominating the
European “mzungo,” the native makes him a person of color—red. This subtle gesture,
while symbolic of the superficiality at the heart of the basic element upon which the
European has asserted his superiority and subordination of non-Westem cultures—skin
color—also points out far-reaching implications. Through this very act of naming, the
word effects what, in Derrida’s words, constitutes “a violence of the letter” (107). By
calling him “mzungo” the native discards the traditional means by which the European
has been referred to and accords him a whole new set of values. “Mzungo” in effect
seeks to transform “not simply the ‘image’ of [the European], but an interrogation of the
discursive and disciplinary place from which questions of identity are strategically and
institutionally posed” (Bhabha, 5).^ The word destabilizes the very system of values
based upon which the European asserts his identity and effectively becomes a tool for
throwing the European’s sense of himself out of whack. In the process, the word also
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signals a means by which he (the native) can re-evaluate his position vis-a-vis the
European.
In 1992 Goytisolo journeyed through the Western part of the Indian Ocean to
record a documentary for la Television Espanola, Spain’s national television network.
The script to the film, titled Indico. was published in 1992 with a chapter carrying the
title Mzungo. According to Fernando Vails, Goytisolo traces the origin of Mzungo to
his (Goytisolo’s) observation of the interaction among the passengers on board his ship.
From all indications Goytisolo picked the term, which later becomes the title of his
fiction, on this particular journey. In echoing it, Goytisolo expands the use of
“mzungo” to transcend the particular space of Africa. Ele introduces the word into the
reality of the European world. And although one may contend that this constitutes an
appropriation on the part of Goytisolo, its use also carries transgressive undertones.
For, by using the word, Goytisolo repeats the discrepancy between the word (signifier)
and the reality (signified). As Goytisolo himself is demonstrative of, by using
“mzungo” as title, the native’s discourse, to a certain degree, shapes the way Goytisolo,
and by extension the European sees himself. Goytisolo therefore demonstrates the
possibility for the native to change the order of things and to equally play a determining
role in his encounter with the European.
The discrepancy inherent in the title of Goytisolo’s novel underscores the
constructive and arbitrary nature of discourse, for, the African term attests to the
relativity of point of view. Fernando Vails, in his article entitled “Blanco o rojo,”
observes, in the title: “[. ..] lo mismo que llamar la atencion sobre lo relative de los
distintos puntos de vista, sobre la vision parcial y topica con que los blancos se
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enfrentan al continente africano” (10). Vails reiterates: “Pues lo que aqui es blaneo, alii
lo ven rojo” (10), “aqui” referring to Europe and “alii” to Africa (non-Westem space).
Although Vails intends to outline the relativity of point of view, in his excerpt can be
seen a performative of the West’s epistemic tendencies. The European’s position is
expressed in absolute terms—as his use of “es” above indicates—while the relativity he
seeks to talk about can be seen in his use of “ven” in reference to Africans. The spatial
terms (“aqui” and “alii”), by which Vails explains the difference in translation, is
noteworthy for evoking key elements that contribute to the establishment of point of
view—history, idiosyncrasies, values. In a sense, as Vails rightly points out, the native
assumes some form of agency to drive home the point that point of view and
consequently, tmth itself is relative to both the European and the African. In this and
other instances in the novel, Goytisolo seems to cultivate the notion that there is no
absolute tmth.
But, beyond the apparent empowerment of the African, the question must be
posed as to the nuances “mzungo” calls to mind especially since the terms the European
has used with reference to Africans, as we have explained, serve to denigrate him (the
African). Brittany Morehouse, in the Febmary 6, 2001 edition of The Observer Online,
remarks with regard to a visit she makes to Kenya: “We raced through dusty dirt paths
lined by market stands and mothers selling green oranges, past the village children
shouting affectionately, ‘Mzungo, how are you?”’ Being that the tourist is hailed
spontaneously and unexpectedly with these words feelings of bewilderment are
undoubtedly aroused. However, as Morehouse expresses hy the word “affectionately”,
the use of the term carries no malice, nor does it seek to demean the European. Rather,
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it serves as a form of greeting, a welcome to the foreigner. Thus, the term functions
mainly as a marker of otherness, verbally marking the boundaries between the native
and the European, without necessarily being antagonistic or deprecatory. Nevertheless,
although “mzungo” is not used within Goytisolo’s text itself the tourist is received with
a similar measure of enthusiasm as depicted in Morehouse’s citation above. The
services of no less than two tour guides are made available to Philippe on his trip to
Sabawa; on arrival at Rio Frondoso Philip has several baggage handlers clamouring for
his luggage; whereas in Agua Honda two bell hops attend to Felipe’s needs. The
obsession for attending to the needs of the three tourists, although sometimes wild and
unwanted, still attests to the heights the native is prepared to go to make the foreigner
feel at home. The impression one gets, from the foregoing, is that generally the
presence of the tourist is a welcome one. If we are to accept that “mzungo” expresses
affection or serves as a term of endearment then it is unproblematic to assume that the
native is unthreatened by the presence of the foreigner. As Morehouse’s observation
above shows, the native is eager to set the foreigner ease. This image of the tourist, as a
welcome presence, is in stark contrast to the one portrayed in Jamaica Kincaid’s A
Small Place and is an issue that we take up in our examination of the interrelationship
between the native and the tourist.
Another level on which the workings of Go)disolo call Western hegemony into
question is with his choice of protagonists. Through the narrative stance of these
protagonists Goytisolo is able to present a multi-faceted treatment of the
interrelationship between the West and its others. Mzungo develops around three main
protagonists an ex-priest named Henri Durand from France; an ex-mercenary called
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George Montrose from England; and an anthropologist named Alfonso Javieras from
Spain. In addition to the three main protagonists mentioned above, we also find
inserted in the narrative, the stories of three Philips touring Africa. A close look at
Goytisolo’s corpus of work suggests that his use of multiple narrators and repetition of
names may be symbolic. In his Teoria del conocimiento Goytisolo also employs three
narrators—Carlos, Ricardo and the Old Man to effect his reassessment of the authorial
figure.'*’ Robert Spires opines, with regard to the author’s use of multiple figures (in
Teoria del conocimiento!. that it constitutes a “deleterious blending of oppositional
personalities and political beliefs” (107).
In my view the blending of oppositional personalities and political beliefs far
from being “deleterious”, as Spires claims, constitutes a crucial means by which
Goytisolo challenges the essentialist tendencies that produce Western hegemony. We
find a tendency, in Mzungo. to provide different points of view, to give multiple
accounts and options for the same incident. This effectively precludes any claims one
may have as “the authority” on the particular event or situation in question. For
example we are told that a fourth passenger who tries to join the group comprising the
three main protagonists is “un tal Calvet, o tal vez Galvez o Grabs” (13). Furthermore,
an account of a problem with the radar system, an incident that ultimately determines
the fate of the ship, is rendered in no less than four versions. The omniscient narrator of
the novel, in a move to explain the motive for the passengers’ conjecture about a
problem on the ship, declares:
Los hechos que habian dado lugar a tanta conjetura eran los siguientes:
unas boras antes, sobre las 10.30 de la manana, un helicoptero gris de
tamano medio sin distintivo especial, habia aterrizado en el Puente de
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mando para despegar apenas un cuarto de hora mas tarde. Segiin
algunos, de el habian descendido unos cuantos hombres. Segiin otros,
por el contrario, lo que habia hecho era recoger a unos cuantos hombres.
(22-23)
Henri, one of the passengers whose opinions are expounded at length observes that
“Nada incomoda a la gente como la verdad’ (28). Thus, in a bid to render the incident
in terms which, to him constitutes a “lenguaje que la gente quiere oir” (28) he writes:
En la madrugada de hoy, 9 de marzo, a bordo del Ajax III se ban
producido algunos incidents cuando unas personas que se hallaban en el
barco, llevadas de su caracter vehemente se propusieron cargar sobre si
las responsabilidades del control del barco. Su propuesta no fue
aceptada por el comandante y algunos mediadores, probablemente
americanos de origen europeo, acudieron en helicoptero a contribuir con
su presencia a un mejor entendimiento entre ambas partes. (28)
For his part, George irritated by the speculations of Henri repeats another account of the
incident as told him by Henri.
Veamos: un comando armado, perteneciente a algiin movimeinto
revolucionario de la zona, preferentemente islamico, habia pretendido
secuestrar el barco a fm de pedir la libertad de algun lider retenido y,
mas en general, atraer la atencion del mundo sobre su causa, y el intento
habia sido fmstrado gracias a la intervencion de unos pocos soldados de
elite, posiblemente norteamericanos, llegados en helicoptero. (60)
In the final pages of the novel the log book on the ship reads:
La situacidn a horde del Aiax III es la siguiente: Sobre las siete boras de
hoy, domingo, diez de marzo, ima importantisima via de agua se ha
abierto en el casco del Aiax III ante las costas de Somalia, doscientas
diez millas al sur del cabo Guardafui. La averia en el radar resuelta por
los tecnicos llegados en helicoptero la pasada manana, ha distraido
nuestra atencion de otro defecto de fabricacion mucho mas grave. (167)
As we can see, each of the accounts provides different details although they refer to the
same occurrence. Did the helicopter pick up some men or bring them on board? Did it
transport American mediators, elite American soldiers or technicians onto the ship?
These are all possible scenarios. As a consequence, the reader is confronted with a
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situation where these versions from the narrator, Henri, George, and the log book of the
ship all vie for his consideration and acceptance. In view of the fact that the presence of
each version contests the validity of the others the reader is forced to make a choice,
and in effect create his own meaning. The variahility that necessarily arises with the
blending of the different narratives effectively communicates that discourse is
constantly in a state of flux. Even the use of three protagonists, on the ship and inland,
and the choice of their countries of origin while providing an indication of the multi
faceted nature of the interracial relations they engender also communicate the instability
of the discourse derived from their encounters. As we show, Goytisolo’s choice of
protagonists dovetails the whole project of the exploration of issues surrounding
Western economic hegemony in Africa.
With these protagonists Mzungo interpellates the English, French and Spanish,
perhaps the three most influencial players in the project of world colonization as a
whole, to confront themselves and the subject/object of their past and present deeds.
Specifically this calls to mind the occupation of Tangier between 1600 and 1958 first by
the Phoenicians, Visigoths, the Portuguese, Spanish, British and French individually,
and later, jointly by the Spanish, British and French (Gilman, 1975).*' According to the
narrator in Mzungo the three European passengers “sin conocerse previamente pero
acaso atraidos por la intuicion de que algo tenian en comiin, empezaron a tratarse no
bien el barco bubo zarpado de Civita Vecchia” (12). The inexplicable force that draws
together Henri, George and Alfonso can well be explained by the common history their
respective countries have in Afiica, the region which perhaps has suffered colonialism’s
most devastating effects, and which happens to be the destination of their cruise. As we
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find out in the novel, a major topic of conversation, among these three main
protagonists on board the Aiax III, is the present economic, and cultural standing of
Africa as a legacy of European colonization. To further underscore the historical
connection the three countries have with Africa, Goytisolo alternates the narrative of
George, Henri and Alfonso with accounts of three other Europeans—Philippe, Philip
and Felipe— also French, English and Spanish.
By giving the three, from different countries and traveling independently, the
same name Goytisolo creates a metaphor that speaks to the question of the self and
other. By all indications Philippe, Philip and Felipe reflect different realities and
undergo different experiences in Africa, but by the very means by which they are called
into being—their naming—they are cast as one and the same. We see this technique
repeated in the description of a native ritual Philippe and Henri describe at different
times and under different circumstances in the novel. While Philippe calls the ritual
“collarin’’ Henri refers to it as “lampette.” Nevertheless both words refer to the act of
gradually killing by fire drivers who knock down and kill pedestrians. The graphic and
phonetic differences do not take away the fact that the names of the protagonists and the
ritual mentioned describe the same realities. Thus, Goytisolo seems to ground
difference and sameness one within the other. Although there are differences in the
experiences of the three Philips, they all provide opportunities for examining the
interaction between natives and tourists. Shown to be in direct contact with the natives,
the three together present a more complete picture of the power relations that arise, are
negotiated, contested and even appropriated.
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When the experiences of the three Philips are considered in conjunction with the
dialogues between Henri, George and Alfonso on board the Aiax III, one can discern
that Goytisolo extends his obsession for different points of view even further. It
appears as though Goytisolo deems it necessary to bring “representatives” from the
three countries (France, England and Spain) together in dialogue for a more profound
treatment of the elements that mediate in the interrelationship between the West and its
others. In the same vein Goytisolo’s choice of non-Westem protagonists in Mzungo is
not limited to blacks or Africans. Rather, as one of the passengers notes, “Mas que de
color podria decirse que son de colores: negros, chinos, mulatos, mestizos, indios, de
todo” (9). The space of the novel can therefore be viewed as a mierocosm of the world
in this modem age of globalizing. It constitutes a kind of global village market where
ideas, ideals, impressions, hope and fears as well as goods and serviees are readily
negotiated and exchanged.
The story Mzungo tells in itself can be seen as a means of leveling the playing
field. Is the narrative partial to any one of the three main protagonists on board the
Aiax III or any one of the three Phillips? Does it privilege events occurring inland or
those unfolding aboard the Ajax? As one finds out, the narrative presents a challenge
for the reader who seeks to single out a central figure or group of people. Events on the
Ajax III and at the various sites the tourists stop at, in the various towns and villages the
three Phillips visit, encounters among the Europeans and with the natives are all
presented as complete stories equally significant to the general narrative of the novel.
Consequently the tourist site is set up as a means by which the native is drawn
into European capitalist economy and vice-versa. In Mzungo. Goytisolo shows that
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both the native and the European possess resources that the other seeks to obtain. And
these range from services, natural resources, money, shoes and even a pen. The
relationship of interdependence that is established between the two, as implied by the
one fulfilling the needs of the other, ultimately renders problematic any claims any one
of them may have to hegemony.
In considering what draws the West to its others, and to Africa, considering the
particular context of Mzungo. it is pertinent to take a close look at the first epigraph
with which we begin this chapter. Kincaid’s assertion, that every native is a potential
tourist underscores the point that the need for travel may not be a desire limited to the
European but a universal one. According to the logic of Kincaid’s affirmation, life in
general is characterized by an absence, a lack or a void which although common to all
peoples, few are able to fill. It is as a result of this that, the European’s journey abroad
(and to Africa), though in fulfillment of an ontological need felt by one and all, may
serve to put him in a privileged position. Ho wever, the fact that recourse to meeting
this need is sought outside the seope of the European’s immediate “world” underscores
his indebtedness to the other and therefore serves as a means by which his professed
hegemony may be questioned. Mzungo effectively illustrates this in the figure of
Philippe de Urg.
Philippe is described by Henri Durand as:
un chico que por sus cualidades hubiera hecho una carrera meteorica en
cualquier empresa multinacional. Pero su vocacion y su preocupacion
por el desarrollo del Tercer Mundo y, mas en concrete, del Africa negra,
son tan firmes que hasta cuando se toma unas vacaciones, como ahora,
las aprovecha para viajar a lugares de la zona que todavia no conoce.
(26)
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From this description one perceives Philippe to be a compassionate, altruistic
figure who, in spite of being an explorer of sorts, has had ample experience working in
third world countries and in Africa. Therefore it will not be farfetched to assume that
Philippe has a fair idea as to how things work in Africa. Of the three Phillips perhaps
the one who most conveys the undermining of European economic hegemony is the
Frenchman. Right from the beginning, his experiences in Africa give indications to
impending disaster. From the taxi driver, to the Chinese restaurant owner and finally to
his tour guide, Philippe encounters problems in one way or the other. Not surprisingly
the narrative about his experiences begins with the single worded sentence—
“Inconcebible” (31). We are not told where he is when the narrative begins but we
know he is on his way to el Lago Sagrado. Flowever, the very first word that begins the
chapter that recounts his exploration is “Inconcebible” Philippe sees as inconceivable
the late arrival of a taxi driver different from the one he had traveled with previously
and without explanation. There is the implication that this runs contrary to Philippe’s
expectations of the native. The basis of Philippe’s expectation and disappointment can
be explained on various levels. In the first place it could be that Philippe is used to
prompt service in his home country and expects the same to be true everywhere he goes.
This implies that although he is in a foreign country he does not make room for
modification of his values but seeks to transpose them on the reality of the foreign
country. Thus, although in a foreign space Philippe seeks the familiar. In the second
place, his expectation may actually be his desire that the native be on time and therefore
a way of exerting some form of influenee. Furthermore it could well be that the native
himself set the tourist’s expectation in a previous encounter. Whatever the reason one
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may ascribe to Philippe’s disappointment, the fact remains that his economic
wherewithal fails to guarantee him the satisfaction he seeks or accord him any
significant position of power. In effect Philippe’s whole experience, prime for asserting
power over the native only serves to expose his vulnerability.
Lai, his driver, takes about two hours to get a tire fixed only to have the same
tire go flat again. Lai’s driving skills, as described by the narrator, proves to be
“Verdaderamente inconcebible” (34).
[TJenia una irrepremible tendencia a conducir por la izquierda que, al
cruzarse con otro vehiculo que viniera en direccion contraria, solo
rectificaba en el ultimo instante pisando el aeelerador. Los
adelantamientos los realizaba preferentemente en las curvas, alargando la
maniobra por el procedimiento de reducir exasperantemente la marcha.
(34)
The similarity between Lai’s driving skills and those of the taxi driver described
in Kincaid’s essay is quite uncanny. “Your driver is reckless; he is a dangerous man
who drives in the middle of the road when he thinks no other cars are coming in the
opposite direction, passes other cars on blind curves[...] (5-6). But, while in Kincaid’s
view the tourist might feel wonderful (5) and excited (6) by this and other
inconveniences, Lai’s driving skills, or lack thereof, serve rather to aggravate Philippe.
In spite of setting out, around nine o’clock in the morning, for an excursion that usually
takes four hours, Philippe does not return to his hotel until almost midnight.
During the trip, Philippe does not find the service at the inn any more favorable.
If anything it further underscores the gap between what he expects and what actually
happens. In today’s age of globalization, the fact that a Frenchman is able to order
chow mein at an inn in a Central Afncan town may not come as a complete surprise.
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Nevertheless, as we see, after waiting longer than he would want to, he ends up being
served a half-cooked meal he did not order. We are told “Lo aparto todo de si y, sin
poder contenerse, se lo solto todo a la camarera: la espera, de mas de una hora, una
ensalada que no debia comer y un polio que no se podia comer porque estaba crudo”
(33). The significance of the fact that Philippe is unable to enjoy the “chow mein” he
orders or the chicken he is served may not be readily obvious. Nonetheless, within the
context of the power relations prompted by the tourist’s interaction with the native, this
mundane act speaks volumes. The native cannot have the meal Philippe orders because
he cannot afford it. But although Philippe can afford it he is unable to have it either.
Thus, within the context of the “contact zone,”'^ where a mark of the inequality
between the tourist and the native is manifested in the former’s ability to obtain certain
goods and services beyond the reach of the latter, that distinguishing “privilege” is
denied Philippe. In essence Philippe is no different from the native who is unable to
“live properly where they live” (Kincaid, 19).
The incidents Philippe encounters can be perceived as pointers to the acute
incompetence of the tourist industry in the African country and cast the services
provided, and by extension, the natives, as inferior. As Helen Gilbert notes with regards
to eco-tourism in the non-Westem world “In this world always already marked as
Other, bogus guides, faulty vehicles, and local mismanagement of the environment
seem not only possible but inevitable” (270). Even so when one looks beyond these
apparent shortcomings one can discem the more symbolic issue of the power relations
at play between the native and the tourist. The series of disappointments, which in large
part lead to Philippe’s botched excursion to the Lago Sagrado, can be viewed as the
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undermining of his economic superiority. Although he has traveled to a foreign land, to
the extent that he is unahle to fulfill the desires that impel his journey in the first place,
he still remains a “native.”
Another scenario by which Mzungo calls into question the supposed economic
superiority of the tourist is Philippe’s encounter with Lyn, his tour guide in Sabawa. In
his dealings with Lyn we see Philippe in a relatively passive role that, incidentally,
constitutes a continuation of the position he is forced into in his interaction with Lai and
the restaurant owner. Philippe seems to exemplify the situation where, as a result of
travel, many traditional areas of masculine authority are annulled (Clark, 20). As Clark
further explicates, this is made manifest in the “absence of control over the domestic
domain; removal from accustomed areas of work-expertise and vulnerability to
unpredictable encounters” (20). Philippe’s stated objective for taking his joumey
through East Afhca may partly explain the readiness with which he falls into this
passive role. “Queria conocer toda Africa: su arte, su cultura, su gente, sus paisajes. La
delicadeza, la fmeza de la vida africana, tan mal comprendida por los occidentales”(49).
Philippe’s admitted lack of knowledge and desire to leam accord whoever takes the role
of teacher a measure of control over him. As we see, he appears content to have others
decide for him what to do, where to go and, even with his life on the line, is unable to
act to save it. His assurances “No os preocupeis, que conozco el paflo” (42) falls far
short of his actions. Lyn, his tour guide takes the initiative in several situations denying
him any opportunity to assert himself. Indeed his economic superiority is rendered
irrelevant at every tum. For instance when he invites the two tour guides, Albert and
Lyn, for dirmer, Lyn declines and advises him to rest for the next day’s program. Lyn
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decides Philippe does not need two tour guides nor a rental car and indeed dismisses
Albert and his driver. Lyn practically takes over the affairs of his vacation—“ella se iba
a encargar de ensenarselo todo, de acompanarle a todas partes en su propio coche” (48).
One can infer from Philippe’s declaration cited earlier that while he
acknowledges the difference between his culture and that of Africa, he also underscores
his, (and by extension) the West’s, ignorance of its intricacies. This admission of
ignorance on the part of the European marks a deviation from the norm in terms of the
West’s attitude toward the African. In the colonial and Eurocentric contexts the
European is equally ignorant of the native if not more; nevertheless it is the native who
is usually portrayed as backward, ignorant and in need of education.'"^ This, in part,
often spurred the imposition of Western values and, in the interaction between the
European and the native, also accorded the former a position of power over the latter.
In Mzungo however, the move, at least from the standpoint of Philippe’s objectives, is
toward a comprehension of the native and the establishment of a relationship that
precludes the superiority of the European on any level. “Lo que el queria era entrar en
contacto con la gente, no comprarla, y eso no se conseguia con dinero” (51).
Be that as it may, this declaration proves to be paradoxical. While disavowing
any economic basis for his interaction with the natives, it is his economic resources that
make it possible for his joumey to materialize in the first place. What is more, although
he may not see it that way, the economic implications of his joumey, at least for the
natives and the country he visits are very real. Although his use of “no comprarla”
evokes and repudiates the slave trade, one could argue that in principle he actually
practices a form of slavery. If one considers that the slave is at the beck and call of the
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master, and performs different functions all in a bid to satisfy the latter, the slave’s
duties do not differ much from those of Lyn. One element that sets Philippe’s situation
apart from the usual slave-master relationship is the willingness of Lyn to assume the
position of tour guide and her exploitation of the circumstances that make it possible for
her to overturn Philippe’s authority.
Indeed Lyn shows how much influence the so-called suhaltem can actually exert
in his interrelationship with the West. Philippe is shown to be dependent on Lyn much
in the same way as, in El reino de este mundo. the French are dependent on the slaves.
If Mackandal is able to spread the poison that not only invades the stables but also the
houses of the Frenchmen, it is because given his line of work, his (and by extension the
slaves in general) input is crucial towards the functioning of the society as a whole.
Although the economic disparity between the tourist and the native may lead to this fact
being overlooked, by the very nature of their relationship, the tourist is dependent on the
tour guide. Lyn seems to remind us of this fact in the ease with which she contrives to
literally take over Philippe’s life.
A measure of ambiguity surrounds the events that lead to Philippe being killed
in Sabawa. Specifically the question arises as to who was driving when the accident
happened and why Lyn was so quick to point a finger at him. We are told a few pages
before the account of the accident that “lo insolito de la situacion —encontrarse en un
cacharro como aquel, conducido por una belleza china—le produjo una reaccion de
alegria y optimismo”(48). This shows that Lyn was driving and seems logical because
in the first place, as a foreigner to the town one does not expect Henri to know his way
around enough to drive, secondly, and on a more symbolic level, Lyn has been in
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control of Philippes’s trip all along. Lyn changes his original itinerary deciding where
he goes, how he gets there, what he does and even where and what he eats. Therefore,
it is in continuation of the precedent set in all other aspects of their encounter that when
the accident happens she takes control explaining the situation. In the process, not only
does L}ai speak for herself but also she speaks for Philippe. We can even go as far as to
say she practically takes the words out of Philippe’s mouth, for, in view of the fact that
she was at the wheel at the time of the accident, it is Henri who should point a finger at
her and say ‘i Aqui! [...]. jAsesinol’ not Lyn. Lyn’s appropriation of Henri’s position
is emblematic of a reversal in the traditional Eurocentric setting in several respects—on
the level of gender, race and class. As a woman of color, from the Third World and a
tour guide one does not expect Lyn to wield the kind of power she has over the
European tourist. Philippe is portrayed as docile, passive and even unresponsive in the
face of the disaster, and pointedly contravenes the perception, that “the heroic qualities
of the traveler - resilience, physical courage, intrepidity - would seem to categorize the
figure as implicitly male’’ (Clark, 18). Although Philippe is well aware that there is a
misunderstanding his thoughts are not verbalized, it is the narrator who communicates
them. Unlike Lyn’s outburst ‘ I Aqui! [...]. jAsesino!’ marked with quotation marks,
Philippe’s thoughts are graphically incorporated into the main narrative—much in the
same way that he is unable to give voice to them.
Margarita Pillado-Miller believes Philippe’s “decision esta afianzada en su total
devocion por todo lo africano, hasta el punto que esta obsesion anula su sentido critico’’
(174). To a degree one can see how Philippe’s obsession with Afiica may cloud his
judgement. Nonetheless, with his very survival at stake one expects Philippe to do
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more than “sonriendoles con embarazo, como a la espera de que se calmara y poder as!
aclarar el malentendido, hacer oir su voz ahora perdida entre las voces de la multitud
(55). As we see, his vacillation is interpreted as proof of guilt which, ultimately results
in his violent death. Ironically when Henri’s driver drives on the wrong side of the
road, overtakes other cars in curves and practically sleeps at the wheel there is no
accident. Rather it is when he is happy being driven by a Chinese beauty—to whom he
feels physically attracted—when he is full of optimism that an accident happens that
eventually leads to his death. Philippe’s situation, however, seems to give more
credence to Clark’s notion that “On a personal level travel implies not gratified desire,
but continuous sacrifice, even, one might speculate, a manifestation of the Freudian
death-drive (18). It is in pursuit of his desire to know the natives, the other and Africa
on a more profound level that Philippe meets his death. His desire, symptomatic of an
inherent lack in his own life, proves to be unattainable even at the same time that it
enthralls him. Philippe declares:
Aquello era el Africa real, no un lugar de catastrofes al que habia de
acudir como un boy scout que participa en un simulacro de emergencia.
Tenia que desprenderse de toda clase de prejuicios y aprensiones
imprompios, cuando no ridiculos, por solapados que fueran. Y, por
encima de cualquier otra consideracion, debia esforzarse en aprender las
sutilezas y fmuras de una cultura tal vez ni mejor ni peor que la suya, de
una cultura sencillamente diferente. (42)
This marks a defining moment in Philipe’s joumey. The citation conveys Philippe’s
realization of what he has to do in order to reach the level of familiarity that he desires.
It is important to note, though, that although he comes to this awareness, his intentions
do not materialize. The use of “Aquello,” a marker of distance, in the citation above
shows that although he is physically present, Africa is still beyond his reach. The use of
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“Tenia que” and “debia esforzarse” seems to underscore the point just made. Thus
literally and symbolically Philippe’s joumey becomes one of no retum. As if to ensure
that Philippe’s desire remains just that Philippe is killed just when he feels he is coming
to a better understanding of Africa.
In his “Ecologies of Desire: Travel Writing and Nature Writing as
Travelogues”* ^ Richard Kerridge submits that with the traveller,
The desire is to see and know, to convert the othemess of the world into
the familiar and homely, even to dissolve the boundaries between self
and world, so that there will be nothing menacing lurking in unexplored
places, and the world will not terrify with the things it permits to happen.
The anxiety is that the self will be captured, contaminated, absorbed,
unable to extricate itself [...]. (167)
From Henri’s perception of him, his own pronouncements and experience, Philippe
appears to be impelled by the kind of desire and anxiety Kerridge describes above. To
the extent that he declares “Creo que ya no sabria vivir sin Afiica” (48), Philippe
manifests an ontological need for the other that borders on the morbid.
Edward Said in his “Yeats and Decolonization.” makes the assertion that
“Eurocentric culture relentlessly codified and observed everything about the non-
European or presumably peripheral world, in so thorough and detailed a manner as to
leave no item untouched, no culture unstudied” (6). While he may be right about the
West’s obsession with its others. Said appears to reify the “peripheral world” and gives
the impression that the West’s codification and observation of its others is definitive.
But as Mzungo indicates, this “peripheral world” is in constant flux and renders
problematic attempts to achieve the kind of thoroughness Said refers to.
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Philip, the Englishman, undergoes an experience that indirectly raises questions
about immigration practices of most Western countries. Philip’s encounter with
immigration officials on arrival at the airport is one travelers and immigrants from non-
Westem countries to the West can identify with.
- ^Proposito de su viaje?
- Turismo
- Ya, conocer mundo.
- Y este pais en particular
- ^Podria decirme por que? (83)
It recalls immigration practices prevalent in the West where most nationals from so-
called Third World countries have to meet stringent requirements in order to obtain
necessary visas. The official’s assertion “Una cosa es que tenga pasaporte valido y otra
que le dejemos entrar”(84) is one that resonates with many visitors who despite having
required documents may be turned away if immigration officials deem it necessary.
With this, Mzungo seems to suggest that contrary to what one may assume, the
European in reality does not have unlimited access to wherever his desires take him.
Philip’s position is no different from that of the Third world tourist or immigrant whose
movements are restricted by immigration laws and suspicious immigration officials.
That Philip requires a separate permission to visit Rio Frondoso and to even buy
sunscreen, constitutes no less than an exaggeration, however, this serves to underscore
the degree to which the European is stripped of any elements with which he may exert
power.
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A key element that underlies Philip’s status as a tourist is the objective of
visiting and observing the foreign space. In this, what David Spurr proclaims in relation
to the western writer can be seen to apply to the western tourist as well. Spurr observes
that “as any visual artist knows, the gaze is also an active instrument of construction,
order and arrangement” (15). Further, he reiterates that the gaze in the form of the
panoramic view “offers aesthetic pleasure on one hand, information and authority on
the other) (15). In the foreign land tourists are able to feast their eyes on elements
unavailable within their own society. Invariably the information they gather on the
places they visit helps establish their status as authorities (one way or the other) on the
subject. After all thev (emphasis mine) construct the accounts they relate of their
journeys. The ideas tourists construct about the people and the places they visit are
usually based on their own set of values for even though they are within the foreign
space, tourists remain separate from the events and people around them. Hence the
injunction on Philip’s movements especially on his visit to Negombo pre-empts the
implementation of a vital aspect of the tourist’s activity. It appears Philip had
envisioned the visit to Negombo as the highlight of his joumey for it constitutes a return
of some sorts. As he admits, “Mi padre vivio alii unos anos cuando era nino” (84) and
also “Era hijo de militares” (84). Although Philip does not provide dates during which
his father and grandparents lived in Negombo, the assumption can be easily made that it
occurred during a period of colonial rule. To this end Philip’s proposed joumey to
Negombo can be viewed as one of recuperation. Philip recalls the kind of Westemers
who, according to Spurr, travel “across the African landscape in quest of a revelatory
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element, a primal scene, or a mythic origin” (89). In Philip’s case one can safely
declare his quest as one for the recovery of a lost life, and to an extent, a lost status.
The sense of powerlessness that Philip experiences, as a result of the restrictions
in his movements, is further compounded by his captivity of sorts. If the restrictions are
considered to be indirect ways of crippling Philip’s power, his outright debarment by
the ruler of Rio Frondoso constitutes a blatant undermining of even his basic rights. As
we see, his economic status is rendered irrelevant in this situation. His assurances that
“Puedo pagar un vuelo charter para mi solo” (105) does nothing to change his situation.
Interestingly it is as a result of an economic paradox that Philip finds himself trapped in
Rio Frondoso. As senor Ongo, the ruler explains “El pais es pobre, usted ya lo ve, y
necesitamos explotar esc aluminio. Y entonces los ecologistas van y empiezan a decir
que esa mina lo contaminara todo, que estamos devastando el pais y todo eso” (100).
Senor Ongo describes the predicament of many countries dependent on the exploitation
of their natural resources and suggests that the fulfillment of the needs of the country
economically takes precedence over any ecological concerns. It is key to note that
senor Ongo communicates the failure of the ecologists, who he describes as exerting
“presiones intemacionales,” to understand his country’s position. However, in their
exchange it is Philip who remarks that “Pues no tienen derecho. Ningun pais puede
entrometerse en los asuntos intemos de otro”(100). Further, he broaches the subject of
the need for cultural autonomy among nations in almost the exact words used by tio
Abeso in Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra: “Cada pueblo tiene sus tradiciones y los
demas deben respetarlas”(101). Philip demonstrates the kind of discernment tio Abeso
calls for; an attitude that takes into consideration the position of the native while
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desisting from imposing his own values on a reality that is totally different. From all
appearances Philip shows an understanding of the situation the native ruler expounds.
Furthermore there is nothing in the novel to show that Philip visits the aluminum
mining sites or witnesses the ecological problems senor Ongo is intent on blocking from
intemational scrutiny.
Philip’s adventures underscore the extreme vulnerability of the tourist in the
foreign land despite, and perhaps as a result of, the economic advantages he brings with
him. On the CD rom that accompanies the novel Goytisolo himself proclaims that the
tourist does not control nor even understand the ground he walks on and, as a result,
whether his experiences turn out to be good or bad is by pure coincidence. In view of
the conversation they have when Philip first arrives at Rio Frondoso, it may appear that
senor Ongo contrives to detain Philip in Rio Frondoso. But upon close examination one
finds that Philip had at least one chance to leave. He could have used the bathroom in
the airport instead of going away from the airport to relieve himself. Also, rather than
“demorar en lo posible su regreso al barracon de la terminal” (104) he could have
retumed promptly. Still, he could have waited to use the restroom on the plane. All the
events that lead to Philip missing the plane and the town being cut off from all outside
contact appear to be coincidental.
With Philip and Philippe we see how two different experiences yield the same
result of neutralizing the European’s economic superiority and also his status as tourist.
While Philip encounters blocks to his movements, Philippe is uninhibited. Nonetheless
they both meet the same end—they are unable to leave the places they visit. One
feature of a tourist is the transitory nature of his joumey, the ability to retum and
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recount experiences from the foreign land. In Mzungo. however, the European tourists
are stripped of this feature. It appears that not only the Phillips from France and
England are unable to retum from their joumey. With its immanent sinking, it appears
the passengers aboard the Ajax III will not he retuming home either.
The only tourist who is able to retum from the place he visits is Felipe. He
brings a measure of balance in the constmction of the image of the Europeans traveling
through Africa. However one can assume it will be difficult for him to tell his whole
story without incriminating himself as a murderer. In his “Images of Blacks and Africa
in Spanish Literature: Reflections on Recent Trends,” Andrew M. Sobiesuo describes
Felipe as “the character that openly reaffirms the theory of domination and control
prevalent in colonial Africa” (8). This characterization seems somewhat justified for, in
his interaction with the natives and even other tourists, Felipe is aloof, penurious,
belligerent, arrogant and outright unfriendly. For example he speaks Spanish with the
king of Nboko knowing very well the latter does not understand him. When his taxi-
driver explains he needs a safe-conduct for his visit to the aboriginals to ensure he is not
kidnapped he quips: iQue lastima! jCon lo que me hubiera encantado! Todo el
mundo preocupandose, y yo tan tranquilo”’ (135). When the workers who undertake
repairs in his motel room wait expectantly, no doubt for a tip, Felipe “abrio la puerta y
les senalo el pasillo. ‘Aire,’ grito” (138). To the request by the receptionist at his hotel
‘“por favor podria hacer de interprete unos minutos? Son compatriotas suyos y no los
entendemos ni nos entienden’” (144) Felipe replies tersely, “‘Gracias, pero no tengo
tiempo’” (144). His behavior is in stark contrast to that of the French and English
Phillips whose adventures are presented earlier. In comparison with the two, Felipe’s
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actions give credence to his characterization by Pillado-Miller as “un individuo
prepotente, desconsiderado e hipocrita que se mueve por Agua Honda guiado
unicamente por el interes puramente superficial de su entomo” (175).
In spite of the disagreeable figure Felipe carves for himself, he serves to point
out the praetice in postcolonial criticism, which sees the West as a homogenous entity.
Felipe’s persona shows that Europeans manifest diverse dispositions and experienees in
the same way that so-called subalterns and traditionally oppressed peoples do. The
move toward objectiveness is also manifested in the ability of the natives to point out
perceived negative aspeets of their society. With regards to Negombo, Philippe’s taxi
driver tells him “Alii hay gente de las tribus y podrian seeuestrarle y hasta matarle solo
para que se hable de ellos” (91). He does not group the natives imder one umbrella;
rather, he notes differences in their attitudes and behavioral patterns. He goes on to
admit that “Han praetieado el canibalismo hasta hace poco y podrian volver a
practiearlo” (91). It is interesting to note that this comment comes from the driver, not
the tourist. Here, Mzungo calls up the age-old image of Afiican natives as savages, let
us recall that Philippe is violently killed by natives. What is more, the taxi-driver
accords a certain measure of validity to the assertion, for he can be said to have a better
knowledge of his own people. It bears asking, however, if the killing of Philippe does
not parallel the murder of the little girl by Felipe. To all intents both Philippe and the
little girl are killed for no apparent reason. And, in both cases, involving natives and a
European, the savageness of the acts cannot be over-emphasized. Mzungo seems to
attribute the perpetuation of such savage acts to circumstances.
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In Felipe Mzungo reminds us of how volatile interactions between natives and
Europeans can be. The ease with which he murders the little girl seems to justify his
nickname “el Cafre,” nonetheless one can look beyond the actual act of killing the little
girl to point out what impels it. It appears it is a simple misunderstanding on Felipe’s
(and to a degree the natives who kill Philippe’s) part that leads to the murder. The
novel itself leaves up in the air the question of whether the little girl was trying to pull
Felipe to safety or was actually stealing his shoes. Given the lengths to which Felipe is
prepared to go to keep his boots one can contend that within the context of travel they
acquire a significance that one may not normally accord them. The boots can be viewed
as representative of Felipe’s status as a tourist. He needs the boots in order to travel and
explore. They can be seen as a symbol of his freedom and consequently, power. Thus
for Felipe the little girl’s interest in his shoes constitutes a threat to his status. He sees it
as an attempt to take away a distinguishing element of his being.
Together the experiences of the three Phillips demonstrate what Jennifer French
in her article “A Geographical Inquiry into Historical Experience; The Misiones Stories
of Horacio Quiroga” sees as “pluralist configurations of power” (95).^^ In their
encounters the natives and the European tourists negotiate and renegotiate their position
in accordance with their interchanges. This is a continual process which decentralizes
power from one particular group. Mzungo suggests that both the native and the
European need to reassess their worldview with regard to each other. As Robert
Bemasconi rightly observes, “decolonizing the mind is as important for the colonizer as
the colonized” (1997, 191).^^ To achieve any meaningful reassessment of their
positions, Mzungo portrays the encounter between the European and the native as
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necessary, however, the novel also intimates that the importance the discourse, or
philosophizing, if you will, are equally important.
Goytisolo suggests that factors other than the European’s interaction with
Africans and people of color in general also contribute to forming and expressing the
European’s position. Equally important in disseminating the European’s worldview is
his interaction with other members from the West. As we see in Mzungo an important
means, by which we are made privy to the worldview of the European, with regard to
the African and people of color in general, is through the interaction among the
European passengers on the Ajax III. This world view is garnered from the limited
contact they have with Africans and people of color within the context of the novel, but
mainly from their accounts of previous experiences. We do not see Henri in his
capacity as a humanitarian aid worker; George does not demonstrate his skills as a
technical expert or Alfonso as the anthropologist they claim to be. These aspects of
their lives, which the novel cites as key in drawing the three together and which
separates them from the other passengers on board the Ajax III, remain latent.
However, although they act and speak as tourists their pronouncements about Africans
and people of color are mainly informed by this previous latent source.
Right from the title and opening lines we are alerted to the seminal role
questions of race and difference will play in the novel. We see that the passengers
express misgivings on realizing that the crew of the ship consists mainly of people of
color. And, although in these opening lines, the identities of the speakers are not
revealed, one can easily surmise that they are of European origin. In this initial
dialogue, the position the as yet undisclosed passengers expect the non-Westerner to
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occupy within the hierarchy of managing the hoat gives a strong indication of their
Western origin. Nonetheless in this very act of the European ranking the African, and
people of color in general on a lower echelon, which constitutes a repetition of the
Western thinking that accords less intellectual ability to hlacks, Goytisolo creates a
situation where its repetition also brings about its revocation.
— Se ban dado cuenta de que la practica totalidad de la tripulacion es de
color?
— Los oficiales superiores no.
— No, claro. Me refiero a la marineria. Primero me fije en el servicio.
Pero luego me di cuenta de que la marineria tamhien. [...] Espero
que sepan su oficio.
- [ . . . ]
— Mas que de color podria decirse que son de colores; negros, chinos,
mulattos, mestizos, indios, de todo. (9)
The mere fact that there is a matter of concern stemming from the racial composition of
the crew suggests the limited view the European continues to have about people of color
even in contemporary times. The passengers in question, in articulating their
trepidation also enact their preconeeived notions as to the place people of color must
occupy within the Western system of division of labor. According to the values of the
passengers the position of “el servicio” (9), as a matter of course, should be and is
occupied by people of color whereas that of “oficiales superiores” (9) is held hack from
them. The retort, “no, claro,” indicates how readily the speaker associates a lower rank
to the people of color. So while showing the extent to which this thinking is embedded
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within the fabric of the European’s thinking and upholding the status quo on one hand,
its contravention, on the other hand, with the realization that a measure of status has
been accorded a crew made up of colored people, is enough to put in disarray the
European’s worldview. Thus, the nervousness expressed is as much as a result of the
destabilization of the very foundations of the European’s thinking as it is the validation
of the African’s (and all the other races mentioned in the quotation above) intellectual
capabilities. As our analyses shows, this dialogue sets the stage, for a constant pattern
of the subversion of the tenets that uphold Western economic hegemony even as they
are repeated in Mzimgo.
On a related note an incident aboard the Aiax III also serves to underscore the
point made above. Manuel Balsels, a waiter on the ship is found in the passengers’
quarters and immediately detained although to all intents and purposes he commits no
crime. According to the omniscient narrator, in reference to George: “Conto que hahlan
acusado a un camarero de robar en su camarote, cosa que era totalmente falsa” (77). He
further explains that “Y todo porque el camarero era un dominicano de color” (77). By
George’s own admission Manuel is detained just because he is black and a waiter who,
in the European mind, has no business in the passengers’ quarters. We see here a
manner of racial profiling for which law enforcement officials, especially the police in
the USA, have received a lot of backlash. With this incident the space of the ship
becomes segregated. Depending on whom you are or the color of your skin you are
able to move freely in all spaces without incident or you are constrained to a particular
place. This incident serves to draw attention to an aspect of the economic basis that
fuels the disparagement of people of color. Here, one can infer that the white
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policeman who detains the waiter makes certain assumptions which reflect the negative
perceptions often associated with people of color.
In the first place the assumption is made that he is poor, a condition, which
according to Western hegemonic thinking, is attributable to a score of factors, chief
among which are; lack of industry, intellectual ineptitude and lack of governance. The
point we have just made is substantiated, in the novel, by Alfonso who, in a discussion
with George and Henri, notes that the general opinion he has gathered about Somalis
(and by extension people of color) indicate that: “No tienen sentido del tiempo, es lo
primero que oyes. No les gusta trahajar. No les interesa formar un estado, ni tener una
administracion ni una economia modema” (27). The people of color in Alfonso’s
description, to the Western mind, lack the basic elements, which ensures economic
success and are therefore more likely to resort to robbery to meet their needs.
Altemately it is assumed that the colored Dominican’s inherently evil nature may drive
him to rob. We see that the person of color is punished not based on something he has
done but what the European fears he might do. This goes a long way to show that
beneath the apparent position of power the European occupies is a latent fear of the
person of color. In Spurr’s view, hegemonic discourse creates its own crisis of
authority:
The anxiety of colonial discourse comes from the fact that the
colonizer’s power depends on the presence, not to say consent, o f the
colonized. What is power without its object? Authority is somehow
conferred by those who obey it. That they do so under extreme forms of
constraint does not change their place in the balance, their indispensable
role in granting authority its proper value. Hence the uneasiness, the
instability, the frequent hysteria of colonial discourse. (11)
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Spurr’s opinion above signals, that in order for there to be a successful exercise
of power, a relationship of contingency needs to be in place between the one seeking to
exercise that power and the one over whom that power is to be exercised. Therefore,
although the subaltern may give “his consent,” by compliance, he may also withhold it,
thereby pre-empting the exercise of power over him. Once Manuel remains confined to
the servants’ quarters he poses no threat; it is his appearance in the passengers’ quarters
that proves problematic, for it signals a withdrawal of consent. Further compounding
the passengers’ trepidation on board the Aiax III is an aura of mystery stemming from a
lack of information about the irreparable damage to the ship. The vulnerability of the
passengers is indicative of the fact that heneath the apparent confidence of the European
lies fear.
In her “Goytisolo Beyond Antagonia”'* Terri Camey gives a succinct
description of the situation aboard the Aiax III: “The cruise ship full of civilized
Europeans, floating along the eastern coast of Africa, hints at the vulnerability of our
self-enclosed society when faced with another reality, another way of understanding life
and death” (496). Given the limited contact the Europeans on board the Aiax 1 1 1 have
with the natives, it seems problematic to say they are faced with another reality or
another way of understanding life. As already indicated, any meaningful contact Henri,
George and Alfonso have with natives occurs outside the scope of the novel. Rather,
aboard the Ajax III and on the stops they make, they seek European elements. In
Djibouti they have lunch “en un excelente restaurante frances donde, no ya el ambiente
sino tambien el burdeos, perfectamente salvado de los calores, llegaron a hacerles
olvidar que se encontraban en Djibouti,” (18). This recalls Philippe’s ability to order
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chow mein in a remote African town, but somehow for the passengers from the Aiax III
it is important to forget they are in Djibouti. This speaks to a feature of globalization
that enables the European to see manifestations of his values, and by extension, himself
in the foreign land.
Additionally a factor underlying the “fiiendship” Henri, George and Alfonso
share, if one can characterize their relationship in those terms, is their ability to express
their views about the natives and even the European with eandor. Some of the most
explicit condemnation of elements from African as well as the Western practices are
communieated with the interaction among the three. As stated by Henri
Nada como una temporada de misionero en Africa para ayudarte a perder
la fe. Lo que los africanos necesitan no es que les babies del mensaje de
Jesucristo ni del de San Ignacio. Lo que necesitan es ayuda en todos los
terrenos y ser tratados eon dignidad. (11)
This eehoes the view of the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra to the
effect that Afiica no longer needs priests. Incidentally like the protagonist of Ndongo’s
novel Henri makes this assertion after close association with the Catholic Church.
Henri’s indictment of Europeans and the Catholic Church on the count of undignified
treatments can be seen to be in effect, but on an extreme level, in Felipe’s treatment of
the little girl.
With regards to the European’s incursion into Africa, George cites a score of
factors that can make the experience unpleasant. He deelares that
Es cierto que todo el mundo teme, o debiera temer, las infecciones, el
agua, las serpientes, los mosquitos, los coeodrillos, las amebas, las
aranas, las enfermedades sexuales, los ritos magicos, los vagabundos y
pordioseros, esa cosa tan difusa que se llama salvajismo. No digo que se
tema todo eso, pero si algo de eso. O que la mujer le engafie con un
negro extraordinariamente dotado. Y, sin embargo, cuando realmente
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debiera desconfiar, cuando sus temores estan justificados, se comporta
como un incauto. De modo que todos sus temores y aprensiones
terminan por cobrar realidad, y lo que parecia una prediccion termina por
cumplirse. (62)
One can identify various elements from George’s list above which can be found in the
experiences either one or another of the three Phillips undergoes— snakes, bad water,
crocodiles, and beggars. However, in signaling these fears, George highlights the hand
the European has in their materialization. From his logic, one can safely say that
Philippe’s belief or fear, with regard to the “collarin,” comes to pass as a result of his
gullibility and carelessness.
In discussing tendencies within postcolonial criticism Terry Eagleton observes
that
The relations between the North and South are not primarily about
discourse, language or identity but about armaments, commodities,
exploitations, migrant labor, debts and drugs—economic realities which
most post-colonial critics culturalise away. (2003, 161)'^
From the preceding, it is clear that Mzungo forces one to take into accoimt the
economic realities that structure the interaction between the West and its non-western
others. In both practical and discursive terms, as seen in the adventures of the three
Phillips through various parts of Africa and the discussions among Henri, George and
Alfonso aboard the Aiax III, the novel demonstrates ways in which economic basis of
European hegemony is confronted, engaged and also undermined. The trip to Afnca, in
recalling the image of such explorers as Columbus, Mungo Park and David Livingstone
to non-Western lands, marks a retum to the past, indeed, a Westem search for origins of
some sort. The past is called up not to exhort or laud the so-called deeds of the
explorers, nor to continue the precedent they set. Rather it is called up for
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resignification. With the immanent sinking of the Ajax III filled with Europeans “en su
mayoria millonarios, jubilados ricos y gente entregada al autoagasajo por la simple
razon de que podia permitirselo” (13), Mzungo effectively signals a symbolic erasure of
European economic hegemony.
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^ The tenth novel in the works of Luis Goytisolo Mzungo derives from an Afiican word,
translated “red man,” by which natives refer to Europeans and whites in general.
According to the author, the novel is based on his observation of European travelers on
a joumey he took through the Indian Ocean to film a documentary for the Television
Espanola. The script for the documentary was published in 1992 with a title of Indico
and contains a chapter titled Mzungo. In the present study, references and citations to
the novel will he fi-om the edition published by Grijalbo Mondadori, Barcelona in 1996.
^ Originally published in 1989, the essay by the Antiguan, Jamaica Kincaid, addresses
various issues within the West Indian country including its tourist appeal; the
dilapidated state of its public library; corraption in government; and the prominence of
foreigners. We cite from the edition published in 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in
New York.
^ As we mentioned in the Introduction Margarita Zamora underscores the economic
motives that initiated and helped sustain Columbus’ venture. This view is taken up by
Tzvetan Todorov in his The Conquest of America: The Ouestion of the Other. The text
provides an insightful analysis of Columbus’ undertaking and comes to the conclusion
that “Gold is too human a value to interest Columbus to any real degree, and we must
believe him when he writes, in the journal of the third voyage: ‘Our Lord knows well
that I do not bear these sufferings to enrich myself,[...]’” (9). Nevertheless Todorov
admits that the prospect of gain played an important role in Columbus’ relations with
the Catholic Monarchs and also with the men in Columbus’ employ.
^ In discussing the importance of writing, whatever form it takes, in creating the
discourse by which cultures are characterized. See the introduction to his The Rhetoric
of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Joumalism. Travel Writing, and Imperial
Administration.
^ Goytisolo’s mother was killed in a bomb blast when he was only three years old. In
the early sixties he spent four months in Madrid’s notorious prison, Carrabanchel for his
anti-Francoist activities. See Miguel Dalmau’s Los Govtisolo, for a detailed biography
of Luis Goytisolo (269, 350-369).
^ See Terri Carney’s study of Goytisolo’s novel s of the 1980’s for a complete analysis
of the meta-fictional elements employed in undermining traditional notions of authority,
subjectivity and representation.
^ In his introduction to Travel Writing and Empire: Postcolonial Theory in Transit.
* Swahili is a language spoken by the people of Tanzania, Kenya and varidus Eastern
and Central African countries.
^ See his article “Interrogating Identity.’
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For a detailed discussion on the questioning of the authorial figure and notions of
truth see Terri Carney’s dissertation, The Transitional Novels of Luis Govtisolo:
Moving Beyond the DictatorshipThrough Literary Creation. 1998, 35-73.
” Quoted in Sobiesuo’s article “Images of Blacks and Africa in Spanish Literature:
Reflections on Recent Trends” that appeared in the Journal of Dagaare Studies volume
2, 2002. See page 6.
The repetition of names within the same novel is a technique Goytisolo has employed
in many of his novels including Las afueras (1958) his very first novel.
The term is borrowed from Mary Louise Pratt’s Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and
Transculturation. Pratt uses the term in reference to: “the space in which peoples
geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and
establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality,
and intractable conflict” (6).
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Shakespeare’s The Tempest offer ready examples of
this kind of treatment of the native. In Latin America Sarmiento’s Civilizacion y
barbaric manifests this kind of treatment in its encouragement of European immigration
into Argentina as a means of ensuring progress.
The article, which appears in Steve Clarke’s Travel Writing and Empire: Postcolonial
Theory in Transit. (See Bibliography) notes the parallels that can be found between
travel writing and colonial tendencies. Among them Kerridge identifies the rituals of
quest and departure, the anecdotal mediation of foreigrmess to readers at home and the
freedom of movement. He sees in travel writing (and environmentalism) the
persistence of colonial sensibilities in a post-colonial world (164-82).
French’s article discusses Quiroga’s anti-hegemonic writing in general.
In his “African Philosophy’s Challenge to Continental Philosophy” which appears in
Postcolonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader, edited by Emmanuel Chukwudi
Eze.
Camey studies the trajectory of Goytisolo’s literay output in the eighties and nineties
to “uncover two guiding factors: 1) his desire to carve out a space for human agency in
the wake of an oppressive dictatorship and 2) his recognition of the postmodemist
lesson of complicitous critique, which asserts that we must appropriate the dominant
methods of power in order to oppose them” (481).
In his Figures of Dissent: Critical essays on Fish. Spivak. Zizek and others. London:
Verso, 2003. Among other things Eagleton observes that “The line between post
colonial hybridity and postmodem anything-goes-ism is embarrassingly thin” (160).
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CONCLUSION
Accoimting for Shifts and Inconsistencies: The Case for Composite Post-colonialism.
Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra, Tu la oscuridad and Mzungo remind us that
issues regarding Westem hegemony persist to this day and still occupy a central place in
the literary imagination of contemporary writers. The novels demonstrate that over the
years, the interrelationship between the African and European components of Hispanic
cultures has yielded discourses, practices and experiences of all kinds. In their
interaction, the move toward the assertion of European hegemony whether deliberate or
otherwise, becomes visible in multiple forms and constitutes a process still in the
making. It follows then, that in contesting the various hegemonic discourses that are
produced within hybridized Hispanic cultures, strategies be adopted that take into
consideration the shifts and contradictions that characterize such discourses. While
challenging established and new formulations of European hegemony, these strategies
must also account for the inconsistencies and contradictions that invariably arise from
within such resistance. Additionally, in dismantling the axes of power, these strategies
must provide altemative spaces wherein the diverse components of Hispanic cultures
can make meaning.
It is clear, from the complexities that undergird the interaction between the
racially distinct but historically intertwined African and European components of
Hispanic cultures that “oppositional” post-colonialism may not adequately account for
some possible and equally tenable forms of resistance. In its categorical rejection of all
forms of Westem influence and meaning, oppositional post-colonialism overlooks
instances when, for example, the very contestation of hegemonic perceptions require
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162
that they be articulated. An example of this is found in Las tinieblas de tu memoria
negra with the description of the protagonist’s circumcision. To all intents and purposes
and in accordance with some forms of Eurocentric thinking the protagonist and his
family engage in an act of savage proportions. In line with this reasoning, the ceremony
and rituals that come with the rite of passage constitute no less than blasphemous acts
condemnable according to the tenets of Catholicism. In view of this, it may seem the
protagonist’s valorization of his circumcision, as the valor and dignity with which he
associates it attest to, means he sides with the form of knowledge that perceives this act
to be demonstrative of savagery. However, j uxtaposed to the protagonist’s eventful
First Communion, the subversive undertone of the rite of circumcision is made patent.
From the standpoint of oppositional post-colonialism it may appear problematic
that the native’s participation in practices by which a form of control can be secured
over him be perceived as part of a subversive strategy. In its unequivocal rejection of
the European and all he stands for, oppositional post-colonialism makes no room to
accommodate the gray areas that invariably arise in the encounter and interaction
between the European and the African. But, the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu
memoria negra makes it possible to visualize different stages and aspects of the natives’
response to European hegemonic influence. This often-overlooked aspect of the
natives’ reaction constitutes part of the spectrum of experiences and is duly heeded
within composite post-colonialism.
To drive home the point that “unorthodox” modes of contesting Eurocentric
hegemony, cannot be avoided in the still unfolding process of negotiation between the
European and the African, the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra gives up
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163
priesthood for a career in Spanish law. As is well known Spanish law is derived from
the Roman imperial model and, symbolically, the use of haughty Latinate expressions
discursively embody the kind of hegemonizing Catholicism makes manifest. In
substituting what may be perceived as one form of Westem control for another, the
protagonist of Donato Ndongo’s novel seems to point out the importance of, or even the
very need for probing, experimenting with, and taking on the institutions of power as
valid processes in their contestation.
With the protagonist of Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra and his family,
especially tio Abeso, Donato Ndongo creatively resolves the problems that may arise
with the substitution of one form of hegemony for another. Tio Abeso’s resistance to
padre Ortiz’s evangelizing endeavors is not translated into a cmsade to establish all
things Equatorial Guinean. Within the context of the goals of Catholicism—the
conversion of all natives, its establishment as the one tme religion—the subversive
undertones of tio Abeso’s stance, to create an atmosphere where Catholicism and
African traditional religions must coexist, is brought to light. Catholicism’s move to
eradicate altemate religious systems indicates a form of non-acknowledgment, a
nullifying. Forced to coexist with traditional religious systems, the status of
Catholicism as “Unica Verdad” (92) is clearly undermined.
The validity or need for altemate forms of reality is further underscored in Tu la
oscuridad in the treatment of the main protagonists and belief systems they espouse.
Thierry and Victor seem to take up tio Abeso’s call for co-existence between apparently
mutually exclusive worldviews. In Mayra Montero’s novel, not only do distinct beliefs
exist side by side; the novel takes a step further to establish a relationship of
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164
contingency between materiality, backed by Westem science and irrationality, impelled
by Voodoo ideology. With the interplay, fusion and engagement of distinct realities Tu
la oscuridad strives for and achieves a balance that is manifested on all levels—
thematically, stmcturally, discursively. Thereby it becomes problematic that the
Westem component of the “world” the two main protagonists “create” exercise its
perceived hegemony over the other. Subtly but convincingly, the authoritative
trappings often associated with Westem science is toned down and ultimately
undermined.
Further, one can go as far as to say that within the context of Tu la oscuridad.
Westem science, traditionally considered as the ultimate means by which phenomena is
explained, is charged with a responsibility to validate the importance and relevance of
other forms of explaining the world. As Tu la oscuridad makes evident, in spite of all
the “authority” behind him, Victor concedes to and even solicits the irrational to make
sense of world phenomena. Victor’s objective of finding the Eleutherodactvlus
sanguineus is only achieved when he joins forces with Thierry. The two clarify how the
world of the irrational parallels the privileged world of Westem science and even
provide answers where the latter remains confounded. Together, the two differing
systems of explaining the world effectively neutralize any pretensions to hegemony
while creating a space fi*om which both systems can operate meaningfully. Victor
makes a powerful statement in his acknowledgement that Thierry’s input is essential to
his endeavors. With this recognition Westem science debunks its own myth of self-
sufficiency and exclusivity.
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On a symbolic level the interaction between Victor and Thierry can be perceived
as a dialogue that derives sustenance from the input and viewpoints of the two. This
point is reflected graphically and structurally with the presentation of events from the
protagonists’ alternating points of view. Still, such is the protagonists’ dependence on
each other that sometimes, the thoughts of one are interjected into the statements of the
other. One gets the impression that Victor and Thierry, once they meet, become
inextricably linked. This notion is poignantly communicated in the sinking of the ship
on which Thierry, Victor and the last specie of the Eleutherodactvlus sanguineus is
traveling. The death of all the protagonists, attach a pessimistic note to the novel,
nonetheless it shows that there cannot exist the one without the other. To show the
extent of dependence of the one upon the other, they are united even in death.
As difficult as it may be for some to accept, the tragic experience of colonialism
forever connects all parties involved. What is more, the contemporary drive towards
globalization makes it necessary that peoples of distinct backgrounds—^ b e they cultural,
scientific, economic, or religious—interrelate. Thus one could argue that to a certain
degree Victor and Thierry’s encounter mirrors the one among the components of
Hispanic cultures, and by extension, the West and its others. Tu la oscuridad seems to
communicate though, that it should be possible for each culture to articulate its values
without being suppressed and in turn without suppressing others. In this Montero’s
novel advocates, even within the resistance to hegemonizing tendencies, for negotiation
not total eradication or substitution.
Perhaps of the three novels examined, Mzungo more persuasively reflects the
process of negotiation that leaves irrelevant the basis of Westem economic hegemony.
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166
From explicitly denouncing Westem economic impetus to more subtle forms of
appropriation, Mzungo puts the whole notion of the European’s economic supremacy in
question. It cannot be denied that the joumeys of the Europeans in Mzungo evoke the
voyages of discovery undertaken by Columbus and others, and the slave trade. The
extremely vulnerable situations the tourists in Mzungo face, and their reactions to them
makes it difficult to conceive of them as the catalysts for extending imperial economic
legacy, and power. If anything, the tourists elucidate an aspect of the European’s
comportment often glossed over—^perhaps he is not the all controlling, powerful being
he is portrayed to be. The novel is compelling in its depiction of the shifts, adjustments
and exchanges that characterize the contacts between the West and its others.
The three novels we study make it possible to explore the active process of
negotiation, contestation and, appropriation that can be found at the heart of the
encounter between characters of European and African origin. The novels evoke times
of yore when, to borrow Aime Cesaire’s words, “between the colonizer and the
colonized there is room only for forced labor, intimidation, pressure, the police,
taxation, theft, rape, compulsory crops, contempt, mistmst, arrogance, self-
complacency, swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses” (Cesaire, 177).^
Nevertheless, the texts also point out that there has reached a stage in the
interrelationship between the elements of African and European descent which requires
the cooperation of both parties as a precondition for achieving their own goals.
Rather than dwell on the painful experience of colonization and its aftermaths,
these novels seek to look beyond those moments to signal the contingencies that
Africans and Europeans are faced with. As far back as 1972, Aime Cesaire, one of the
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167
most outspoken writers and eritics of the effeets of colonization admits “it is a good
thing to place different civilizations in contact with each other; that it is an excellent
thing to blend different worlds; that whatever its own particular genius may be, a
civilization that withdraws into itself atrophies; that for civilizations, exchange is
oxygen” (173).
Granted colonization may not be the best way to bring different civilizations in
contact with each other, nevertheless given that one cannot change history all avenues
must be explored toward the contestation of its negative repercussions. In recognition
of this as well as the need for cultures to commune one with another or in the case of
Hispanic cultures where this communality constitutes its very essence, composite post
colonialism provides a more adequate means of addressing the issues that emanate from
therein. By making room for the articulation of inconsistencies such as the
aforementioned, even while challenging religious, scientific and economic hegemony,
composite post-colonialism illuminates positions otherwise ignored or overlooked.
The novels of Ndongo, Montero and Goytisolo examined here, have made it
possible to conceptualize and even re-signify the interrelationships between the Black
and European components of Hispanic cultures. This can be viewed as a basis for
examining the interrelationships between the Black and other marginalized groups. A
progression to the study we undertake here can be an examination of ways in which the
interrelationships among people of color are conceptualized in Hispanic literatures. A
study of the nature of the interrelationship between peoples of African origin and other
people of color, an example being people of Amerindian origin within Hispanic cultures
will serve to further illuminate the complexities that characterize Hispanic cultures.
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168
Bearing in mind the shifts and contradictions at the heart of interracial and intercultural
relations it is-pertinent to inquire as to how the encounter between peoples of African
origin and those of Amerindian origin differ from the one established between Blacks
and Europeans.
Furthermore, in view of the fact that both Blacks and Amerindians are perceived
as subalterns, is it possible to conceptualize relationships of power at play in their
interactions? If this is seen to be the case, it becomes necessary to look into the factors
that impel these issues of power and to ascer1:ain whether they follow the same
parameters that their interaction with Europeans mandate or, on the contrary, manifest
totally different dynamics. Additionally it will be insightful to examine the strategies
that each group employs to counter the hegemonizing gestures of the other if they exist.
For example the protagonist of Jose Hernandez’s Martin Fierro declares; “A los blancos
hizo Dios,/ A los mulatos San Pedro,/ A los negros hizo el diablo/ Para tizon del
infiemo” (Martin Fierro, 199).^ It appears that in Martin Fierro’s take on the creation of
man he employs a hierarchy that conforms to a Eurocentric world view. Graphically
“Dios” and “San Pedro,” with the use of capital letters, convey a sense of the superiority
Fierro attaches to them. It is implied that created by such superior beings as “Dios” and
“San Pedro,” the “blancos” and “mulatos” are somewhat superior. On the other hand
the inferiority of the Black is implied in the use of “diablo.” In addition, Fierro refers to
the Black in such derogatory terms as “vaca” (Martin Fierro, 195), “chanchito” (Martin
Fierro 204), “toro” (Martin Fierro, 205). Fierro’s participation in the discourse
employed by the West in its characterization of him (Fierro) and Blacks suggests his
acceptance of such characterization. A valid question to ask, consequently, is whether
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169
the Black sees the Amerindian in the same light as the Amerindian does. Still it will be
interesting to find out if there exist instances where, rather than echo received
Eurocentric notions, the Amerindian resorts to a totally different ideological standing.
Then again, is it possible to see at play instances when the Amerindian and the African
become allies in the pursuit of a common goal? In a situation such as the
aforementioned, one may want to look into what each group contributes towards the
achievement of this common goal.
The study we undertake serves to open our eyes to aspects of the interpersonal
relationships between the diverse peoples of Hispanic cultures that are easy to overlook.
It calls for us to heed the mundane with the heroic, be attentive not only to shifts and
contradictions found in others but to those found in the self as well. Clearly, these
lessons transcend the realm of Hispanic cultures to be of relevance in the wider context
of our world in the process of globalization.
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170
^ In his Discourse on Colonialism first published in New York by Monthly Review
Press. We cite from Williams, Patrick and Laura Chrisman. Eds. Colonial Discourse
and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. 172-80
^ Citations are from the edition published in 1986 by Editorial Biblos.
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Asset Metadata

Creator Boampong, Joanna (author)

Core Title From the ruins of empire: Afrohispanic writings of Equatorial Guinea, the Caribbean and Spain, 1980--2000

School Graduate School

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Spanish

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Black studies,Literature, African,Literature, Caribbean,Literature, Latin American,Literature, Modern,literature, romance,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Diaz, Roberto Ignacio (committee chair), Farenga, Vincent (committee member), Zubiaurre, Maite (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-504289

Unique identifier UC11335861

Identifier 3140439.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-504289 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3140439.pdf

Dmrecord 504289

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Boampong, Joanna

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA