La maledizione di Kafka

by Achmat Dangor

South African poet Achmat Dangor's first novel is a rich blend of fairy tale and reality. At the heart of Kafka's Curse lies an Arab myth about a gardener who dared to love a princess and was turned into a tree for his presumption. A similar fate seems to have befallen Oscar Kahn, a Jewish South African architect. Abandoned by his wife after contracting a mysterious malady, he dies alone and his body is undiscovered for many months. By the time the neighbors call the police, "there wasn't much left of the body to bury. It was as if it had crumbled to dust." In the bedroom where Oscar breathed his last, a tree has sprouted up through the floor. But the riddle of this man's death is superceded by the secrets of his life: born Omar Kahn, he was, in fact, an Indian Muslim, not a white Jew. In the days of apartheid, these things mattered and Omar/Oscar, who had the temerity to disguise his ethnicity and to marry a white woman, had apparently paid the price for his subterfuge.

Omar's secret may be shocking to his friends and family, but his is by no means the only one. His wife, his nephew, his brother, even his therapist, all have things they'd prefer to keep hidden--but like pulling a loose thread on a very old and fragile seam, the revelation of Omar's past begins an unraveling of secrets and lies going back generations, with tragic results. Dangor tells his story with economy and grace, offering up love, madness, and betrayal in language as lovely as the themes are grim. --Alix Wilber

Genres: Fiction, South Africa, Novels, African Literature

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achmat_...

Reviews

[Bob Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Magical-realism is a very effective form of writing, but there is one caveat. It still ought to be understandable, otherwise it becomes totally abstract. I bought Achmat Dangor's novel in the UK some years ago with high hopes. It looked interesting. When I plunged into it recently, however, I found that I was going nowhere fast. It is an involved family saga, it is perhaps an allegory about South Africa before and after apartheid, and it is full of weird, largely-sexual images. In the USA, when segregation flourished, very light African-American descendants sometimes used to "pass", that is, claim to be white and live their lives by passing as white. This practice was no doubt widespread in South Africa too. In KAFKA'S CURSE, everything that is not black or white (an `absolute', that is) survives by passing. A Muslim of Indian descent passes as a Jew, marries a white woman. Crime passes as respectability. Dictatorship passes as democracy. Loneliness passes as marriage. And so on. Everyone is "ducking and diving", but what does it mean ? "Conventionally exotic", a phrase gleaned from the book, comes to my mind. Exoticism is used to wrap a very average product. I don't consider myself a literary idiot, but this one really had me puzzled. Like the art of Jasper Johns or Barnett Newman, if such work grabs you, you may like this novel a lot. If you remain sceptical, you may feel that it is a case of the Emperor's having no clothes. I suggest you try something else in that case and leave the muddled KAFKA'S CURSE for the aficionados of blank novels.

[K M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I just finished reading this book, and am having some rather ambivalent feelings about it. I really wanted to like this book- the cover looked so intriguing, and the description on the dust cover sounded wonderful. There was some beautiful writing in the book, some stand-out sentences like "He smelled the omens of life and death beneath the surface of things, the calcified lumps in the skin of the psyche." (p. 99) But, the ugliness of some of the topics (incest, etc.) was rather unsettling. There was also an overabundance of words that I needed to look up in the glossary in the back of the book- often not finding them there. I wondered why the author decided to include some words and phrases but not others in the glossary. Some of the characters and story lines were quite interesting...I still can't decide how I feel about the book.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Told in alternating viewpoints, which helps at times and others hinders. There were some interesting points, but overall with the many Afrikaans words passages it made for more confusion. I discovered late in reading the glossary in the back, that helped, but not much. Not everything was included. Online translation sometimes helped, but overall it just pulled me further out of the story. In the end nothing too revelatory or ultimately saved the book. Some good writing, lyrical and it is a fable extended. Also, I've lately discovered I generally don't like "magical realism" and most of those books I generally don't enjoy as much as others more grounded in "realism" period.

[Eve]

The story mainly tells about the Khans, a Muslim family living in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. It's also a retelling of an Arabic fairy tale, whose moral seems to be that people mustn't step away from their "station in life" and stay there to keep themselves safe.

Almost all the characters have chosen to refuse the positions they have been assigned to since birth. The female characters tend to react to the consequences with defiant anger, whereas the male characters are more contemplative - not always effectively so.

One thing that bothers me during the reading is the sprinkling of Afrikaans words and phrases, which tend to be unnecessary at times. Not all of them are included in the glossary, either. Local flavor is one thing, confusion is another.

[Erica Eller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied this at University and was fascinated by the overlay of literary allusions in the book such as Layla and Mecnun and Kafka's Metamorphosis, combining from diverse Arab by way of Indian and Jewish roots into a synthesis that results in a richly odd fruit, the product of South African culture. The motif of the tree in the book was also striking as a symbol of colonialism, since British people brought and planted their oak trees, which were an invasive species to make the landscape appear more familiar. The novel is set at the time when people were waiting and waiting for the end of Apartheid. It is a vastly interesting approach to this intriguing literary topic.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful writing, I learned a great deal about apartheid, but Oh, my, I must have missed some important messages because I do not read well for symbolism. Further comments at

[elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea what happened in this book. And I loved every bit of it. Brilliant.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

De roman bevat niet een doorlopend verhaal, alleen situaties, die erg nuchter beschreven zijn, vanuit wisselend perspectief; als roman heb ik het als een slecht boek ervaren.

[Nancy]

The writing in this book is achingly beautiful. I recommend it to anyone who loves good literature with a South African multicultural perspective.

[Wittch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was magical. Despite its African setting it could be an American story where light skinned blacks would "pass" leaving their relatives behind.

[Shadman Sakib · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book had many them

[Karen]

a modern reinterpretation of the Arabic legend of the gardener who loves a princess and, for his transgression, is transformed into a tree. #fiction #irish #british