Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World

by Hedley Twidle

'Firepool' is a chronicle of South Africa in the 'second transition' - one in which the foundations of the post-apartheid settlement are being shaken and questioned in all kinds of ways. Deeply personal, and spanning culture, elemental landscape and ideas, Twidle gets under the skin of South Africa in fresh and unexpected ways.

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 14, 2017

Reviews

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 5 out of 5]

[South Africa Month]

Splendid collection of essays and memoir. I loved the piece on Demitrios Tsafendas (I mean what a fascinating character; I would entirely share the writer's morbid curiosity about that itinerant life, actually). He's made a jazz pianist (Moses Molelekwa) almost something I'd look out for on Spotify (no mean achievement).

There's fine coming of age material in 'A History of Adverse Reactions' and he squeezes more interest out of walking the N2 to the airport (hats off, Edgelands) than Iain Sinclair can manage in 500 pages of psychonimby wittering). The interaction in 'A Cold Country Where the Sun Shines' is precisely the scenario I've wondered about (what happens when an old timer just comes out with it?). Well, there's my answer.

Perfectly pitched, really.

[thewolfisreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked out this essay collection from the university library after writing my last exam.

In first year, a tutor told me that Hedley Twidle’s advice for essay writing was to avoid trying to sound “wise”. In Firepool, he manages to do this by writing in a way that is clearly considered, not overly academic, and grounded in experience. As he says:

One way of understanding the personal essay is as a form that allows the writer to give not only her or his thoughts but also a narrative of how she or he came by them.

The reader is taken on a journey, sometimes alongside the N2 or on the Otter Trail, of how Twidle came to discover some things. Because of this, the essays are inflected with personality, which, I think, is what kept me interested in topics that might usually go over my head.

“Twenty-Seven Years”, about pianist and composer Moses Taiwa Molelekwa, is probably the most skilful essay in the collection. I am no musician, nor a serious music-listener. But, while grappling with how to write about music, Twidle manages to keep the uninitiated on board. There is a kind of rhythm, a pattern, to it. Certain phrases set us off on one train of thought, we learn a little about Molelekwa’s life or what was said about him, his influences. The phrases repeat and spark new trains. Autobiographical details of Twidle’s upbringing, how South Africa shaped his experience of music, weave in. Other artists make appearances.

The details of Molelekwa’s death add a haunting discordant note, as predicted, to what has largely been a composition of majors, albeit used to speak about a difficult environment – characteristic of South African jazz. Then, fittingly, but unsatisfyingly, the essay is concluded with the same problem: Molelekwa’s question of how music can be possibly be described in writing.

The connections Twidle draws are another strong point. He moves from EFF disrupting parliamentary proceedings in the past few years, to the assassination of Verwoerd in 1966 by Demitrios Tsafendas. Tsafendas is one of the more enigmatic figures in South African history. He is also one of the people who, as Twidle discusses, make you think about what kind of behaviour is really abnormal in an abnormal society.

The titular “Firepool” awaits us as the final chapter. It kept reminding me of a short story, “The Swimmer”, by John Cheever. It was probably the first thing I was required to write an essay on at university. And it was Twidle who lectured on it and gave us the assignment. However, instead of swimming through the pools in aristocrats’ backyards, he dips into municipal and tidal pools, as a momentary, not-quite respite from the fires (literal and political) that started burning a few years ago around UCT.

Twidle says that he envies today’s students who “are living through interesting times”. I have to admit, I never really thought that way about the protests while they were happening. I mainly felt as if I was in over my head, and rather than learning to swim, I just, perhaps selfishly, wanted to get out. I should probably have sooner accepted the feeling of not knowing what to do or think as a given in an abnormal world.

Uncertainty and the process of learning are experiences (I won’t say themes), which emerge frequently in the collection. I’m glad that I checked it out. It’s written well and carefully researched. The inter-textual references, particularly in “Nuclear Summer”, have given me some future reading material to help with the English major hangover I’m currently nursing.

[Marie-Louise Rouget · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been slow to the party on this title, but rather late than never. The essays within chew the 'cud' on a country that is still developing, remaining very much in a state of becoming. They illuminate the beautiful and the ugly and the confounding aspects of South Africa. While certainly written from a particular, (white) academic perspective, there are generous vignettes that hint at the author's own fallibility as a universal narrator on the broad, unknowable times that we live in and the spaces that we (sometimes) share. The intermingling aspects of looking back, looking around and looking forward are deftly handled. Truly brilliant. I will reread it and look forward to getting into Hedley Twidle's newest release as well (published 2024).

[Kathy Gradidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible!
this was one of my best books ever! I usually don't read a lot of non-fiction but this was so good. the writing was beautiful and evocative. I kept saying to Philippe that I wished I could write like that.
The essays are all so south African and familiar but with a new twist on the overly familiar. I love that cos it really makes me think outside my norm.
I will def re-read it! and cannot encourage others enough to read this. so so so good

[Alex Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pretty inspiring. It makes me want to pick up my pen right now and write. (Especially seeing as Hedley taught me creative writing last year and I can see so many of his tips and tricks in this collection.) His attention to detail and research is amazing and his essays follow a twisting logic of their own. Would definitely recommend.

[Bensobeleone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, incisive, witty with a deep love of literature and history. Essays that are thought-provoking, poignant, sharp and outright funny in places. One of the most skilled books about 21st century South Africa I have read.