Multiphrenic Identities and Cultural Theory in Post-Apartheid Literary Adaptations: Reflections on Ramadan Suleiman’s Film Version of Njabulo Simakhale Ndebele’s Fools

Abstract

In both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, literary texts have been important sites of cultural enquiry. They both historicise culture and allow new theoretical frames. However, they are also sites of fragmented, overpopulated, multisensorial memories and the difficulties of their articulation. This article focuses on Ramadan Suleiman’s, Fools, an adaptation of Njabulo Ndebele’s novel by the same title, as an important site for examining cultural theory occurring at the juncture of apartheid literature and post-apartheid literary criticism. We argue that while the film is a figurative cartographical sketch of the apartheid ‘world’ narrated in the novel, its protagonist functions as an avenue of ‘discharging’ specific ideas of identity crisis in the post-apartheid cultural world. It angles towards multiphrenia as a productive frame to theorise the protagonist’s jumbled identity, drawing from the existing critique of both the text and the film. We conclude that, through this overwhelmed identity, Fools offers a sui generis paradigm of new possibilities in post-apartheid cultural criticism that is usable in both literary and film criticism.

Keywords:

• Njabulo Ndebele
• Ramadan Suleiman
• Fools
• South African cinema
• post-apartheid culture
• multiphrenia

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ‘Iph’ Indlela?’ in isiZulu literally translates to ‘Which way ahead?’ (own translation).

2 Such as Alan Paton, R R R Dhlomo, Nadine Gordimer, Alex la Guma, Zakes Mda, Achmat Dangor, André Brink, Lewis Nkosi, Marlene van Niekerk, Nadine Gordimer, Harry Bloom, Miriam Tlali, Ivan Vladislavić, J M Coetzee, Peter Abrahams, Lewis Nkosi, Es’kia Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane, and Christopher Hope.

3 Henceforth referred to as Fools. In this novel, which won the 1984 Noma Award, Ndebele compiles five short stories: ‘The Test’, ‘The Prophetess’, ‘Uncle’, ‘The Music of the Violin’, and ‘Fools’. It is among the author’s other works which include Fine Lines from the Box (2007), The Cry of Winnie Mandela (2003), Death of a Son (1996), Sarah, Rings and I (1993), The Prophetess (1992), and The Rediscovery of the Ordinary (1991).

4 Down Second Avenue (1959) and Blame Me on History (1963), respectively.

5 To Every Birth Its Blood (1981) and Mhudi (1930), respectively.

6 Stimulations here include the concurrence of oppression, artistic enterprise, and strict censorship rules which suppressed such practices (see for instance Tomaselli 1999, 139).

7 There is a flurry of new writers in post-apartheid South Africa’s literary efforts post-1990s such as Phaswane Mpe, Mutuzeli Nyoka, Farrida Karodia, Zakes Mda, Niq Mhlongo, Sindiwe Magona, Kgebetli Moele, Kopano Matlwa, among others.

8 See, for instance, Ramadan Suleiman, Khalo Matabane, and Teddy Mattera.

9 A National Day in South Africa celebrated on December 16. Originally designated for the Voortrekkers’ victory at the ‘Battle of Blood River’, where, led by Dingaan, they defeated the Zulu army; it also motivated Afrikaner Nationalism, being designated as the ‘Day of the Covenant’ in 1952. It is celebrated as the Day of Reconciliation between Blacks and Whites.

10 Doublement is attributed to Mikhail Bakhtin (see, for instance, Bakhtin 1981, 1984 [1963], 1986, and 1994).

11 The #MustFall were student-led movement targeting education and monuments in South Africa. The two prominent fronts were #FeesMustFall, which started at the University of the Witwatersrand, and #RhodesMustFall, which started at the University of Cape Town.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Addamms Mututa

Addamms Mututa is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. Previously, he held an AW Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Cape Town. He holds a joint doctorate from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Keyan Tomaselli

Keyan G. Tomaselli is distinguished professor in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, and professor emeritus and fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is editor of Critical Arts and founder and co-editor of Journal of African Cinemas. He is co-editor of a three-book series for UNISA Press, University of Toronto Press and Michigan State University Press.