The Covenant (1980)

Read many years ago...

A work of historical fiction concerning South Africa. Touches upon paleolithic beginnings, through Zimbabwe, and the invasions of Arabs, Hugeuenots, Trekboers, Zulus, and Puritans.

The author, James A(lbert) Michener (1907-1997) is an American novelist, essayist, journalist and travel book writer, best known for his massive and detailed novels, many of which were made into musicals, films, and TV series. E.g. South Pacific.

The story of South Africa, in Michener's inimitable style. ( )

I really enjoy historical novels and I think Michner's are generally very well done. At some points, I thought he dwelled on the European background more that I would have liked, especially since the book is over 1200 pages, but in the end I thought it was a great read. Our tour director said there were some minor historical inaccuracies that would only be noticed by a South African. ( )

James Michener built his reputation as a writer with his histories of contested lands: Israel (The Source), Korea (The Bridges at Toko-Ri), Hawaii, Mexico, Poland, Afghanistan (Caravans), and so on. By examining the land from the first—often before men had even come into the country—he was able to bring a perspective to these conflicts. By writing history as fiction, he communicates these perspectives in a very accessible way.
In 1978 I spent six weeks in South Africa living in Johannesburg for business. So I was intrigued when two years later Michener's historical fiction about South Africa was published and I read it. The Covenant is Michener's novel of South Africa, from the time when only the nomadic San peoples (later called "Bushmen") lived there; to the coming of the Zulu tribes from the north at the same time as Dutch Huegenots settled at the southern tip of the continent; the arrival of the British colonial settlers; the passive rebellion of the Boers (Voertrekkers who left their rich colonial coast farms for the stony inner provinces) and their active rebellion (the Boer War, which the British nominally won); the clever way in which the former Boer general Oom Paul Kruger and his staff managed to wrest victory from that defeat, imposing apartheid on the nation; and the multicultural society that developed in the 80s when the fence between blanks (whites) and nie-blanks (non-whites) was finally broken.

So in The Covenant, we meet the San and learn their depth of understanding of this land and its animals; this is their land by virtue of their command of its powers. The Boer is described with his forthright assumption of the covenant of Adam and Moses; this is his land by virtue of his willingness to invest the sweat of his brow in it. And the Zulu tribes and their drive south to acquire grazing for their cattle are presented; it is their land by virtue of their blood and the blood of their children shed for it. Michener also discusses some of the motivations for British colonialism and the savage investment English-speaking settlers made in the Boer War; for these people, "British" is what their grandfather was—what they are is South African, and this is their land, too.

I enjoyed the book and learned more about the history of the land I had visited but was not impressed enough to become a Michener fan. ( )