A Chain of Voices
by André Brink
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On a farm near the Cape Colony in the early nineteenth century, a slave rebellion kills three and leaves eleven others condemned to death. The rebellion's leader, Galant, was raised alongside the boys who would become his masters. His first victim, Nicholas van der Merwe, might have been his brother.As the many layers of Andre Brink's novel unfold, it becomes clear that the violent uprising is as much a culmination of family tensions as it is an outcry against the oppression of show more slavery.Spanning three generations and narrated in the voices of both the living and the dead, A Chain of Voices is reminiscent of William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!; it is a beautiful and haunting illustration of racism's plague on South Africa. show lessTags
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Wonderful story, told from many perspectives. Based on a true story.
> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Brink-Un-turbulent-silence/30215
> UN TURBULENT SILENCE, de André Brink, Le Livre de poche. — La comparaison s’impose avec le Nat Turner de Styron. Chez Brink, la révolte d’esclaves se déroule en 1824 dans une région reculée de l’Afrique du Sud. Contre deux fermiers blancs se dressent une poignée de travailleurs noirs avec à leur tête Galant qui est — coïncidence heureuse que tout romancier rêve de rencontrer un jour — frère de lait d’un des jeunes Blancs. Avec une parfaite maîtrise. Brink, un des grands romanciers afrikaans actuels, noue en alternance les témoignages des divers acteurs de ce drame historique.
De ce long récit d’une brutalité souvent insoutenable show more émergent deux silhouettes inoubliables dans leur révolte ; Galant bien sûr, mais surtout Hester, la femme blanche, dont la condition est sous bien des aspects semblables à celle de l’esclave noir. Leur brève rencontre fait jaillir l’étincelle de l’espoir de la liberté. (Gilbert GRAND)
—Le devoir, (134), 11 juin 1983, (p. 20) show less
> UN TURBULENT SILENCE, de André Brink, Le Livre de poche. — La comparaison s’impose avec le Nat Turner de Styron. Chez Brink, la révolte d’esclaves se déroule en 1824 dans une région reculée de l’Afrique du Sud. Contre deux fermiers blancs se dressent une poignée de travailleurs noirs avec à leur tête Galant qui est — coïncidence heureuse que tout romancier rêve de rencontrer un jour — frère de lait d’un des jeunes Blancs. Avec une parfaite maîtrise. Brink, un des grands romanciers afrikaans actuels, noue en alternance les témoignages des divers acteurs de ce drame historique.
De ce long récit d’une brutalité souvent insoutenable show more émergent deux silhouettes inoubliables dans leur révolte ; Galant bien sûr, mais surtout Hester, la femme blanche, dont la condition est sous bien des aspects semblables à celle de l’esclave noir. Leur brève rencontre fait jaillir l’étincelle de l’espoir de la liberté. (Gilbert GRAND)
—Le devoir, (134), 11 juin 1983, (p. 20) show less
Feb 20, 2024French
bespreking in 2 boekenkringen gedaan.
Nov 7, 2024Dutch
Sydafrika, 1825
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May 4, 2020Danish
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ThingScore 100
I came away from this powerful and disturbing book thinking all manner of things: that the persistence of white slaveholding so far into the ''enlightened'' 19th century must have laid the ground for the concentration-camp systems and slave-labor projects of the totalitarian nations at war in the 20th century; that organized religion by and large played a shameful role in offering show more rationalizations for slavery; that no one is free so long as anyone is subjected and abased; that women will appreciate this last point more readily than most men.
''A Chain of Voices'' makes most of the fashionable junk that parades as advanced fiction today look bad. It is the best novel I've read since Robert Stone's ''A Flag for Sunrise,'' and I don't imagine it will be soon before we see a better one. show less
''A Chain of Voices'' makes most of the fashionable junk that parades as advanced fiction today look bad. It is the best novel I've read since Robert Stone's ''A Flag for Sunrise,'' and I don't imagine it will be soon before we see a better one. show less
added by charl08
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Stories set on African soil
183 works; 2 members
Author Information
94+ Works 4,911 Members
André Brink was born on May 29, 1935 in Vrede, South Africa. He studied English and Afrikaans at the University in Potchefstroom and comparative literature in Paris. He was a South African writer and educator. He became a part of a group of writers known as Die Sestigers upon returning to South Africa in the 1960s. The group aimed to broaden show more Afrikaner fiction by writing about sexual and moral matters and the failings of the traditional political system. His books included Rumors of Rain, Looking on Darkness, A Dry White Season, and States of Emergency. Some of his books were banned in South Africa. He became a professor of Afrikaans and Dutch literature at Rhodes University and professor of English at the University of Cape Town. He has received the 1980 Martin Luther King Prize, the 1980 French Prix Medicis Etranger, and the 1982 Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize twice and nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature on several occasions. He died on February 6, 2015 at the age of 79. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Goldmann (8857)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Die Nilpferdpeitsche
- Original title
- A chain of voices
- Original publication date
- 1982
- People/Characters
- Galant; Hester van der Merwe; Barend van der Merwe; Nicolaas van der Merwe
- Important places
- Houd-den-Bek; Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Great River, South Africa
- Dedication*
- Für Tim
- First words*
- In der Strafsache des Daniel Dennysen, Esquire, Seiner Majestät Fiskal am Kap der Guten Hoffnung, in Ausübung seiner Vollmacht ratione officii, gegen
1. GALANT (26 Jahre alt, geboren im Kalten Bokkev... (show all)eld), vordem Sklave des verstorbenen Nicolaas van der Merwe; - Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)In meiner Gegenwart.
(Gezeichnet) D. F. Berrange, Sekeretär. - Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 344
- Popularity
- 91,429
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- 9 — Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 35
- ASINs
- 5
