I think I managed to thank everyone,butsome are more equal than others;such as Mike and Sheila Griffiths who kept sane through most of it; Paul Daniels who smiled sweetly through some of it, and the man who designed the marvellous revolving platforms who refuses to be named and wants none of it anymore. In the end I think thatAdrian Mole burrowed under eve ryone's skin, tickled the funnybone and became, for a few short days,a mountain on the Kearsney calendar. R. CANDOTTI Cardo and Buchanan shine at the Alan Baton Two highly-talented English pupils, Richard Cardo and Andrew Buchanan,entered the Alan Baton Competition this year. This involved the preparation of a ten minute paper on a chosen aspect of English literature and pre senting it to an audience as well as a group of adjudica tors. The competition drew over250candidatesfrom all over Natal, and was of an exciting standard. Although both boys presented excellent papers, Andrew's"A Duality ofConscience-Riaan Malan's Struggle Against Apart heid, in his book 'My Traitor's Heart'" was outstand ing. I am enormously proud of Andrew who wasjudged in conjunction with seven of the finest literary minds in Natal at the prestigious finals at the Natal Technikon. Although he did notachieve a place with the three final ists, he is to be congratulated on his superb effort, his passion for literature and his penetrating insights. R. CANDOTTI A Duality of Conscience-Riaan Malan's Struggle Against Apartheid in his hook, "MY TRAITOR'S HEART" by Andrew Buchanan "What I do, I do because I'm an Afrikaner. In the name of my Afrikanerhood. I've got to try and re deem something before it's too late." Good afternoon adjudicators,ladies and gentlemen and fellow pupils.The quote you havejust heard comesfrom the well-known author Riaan Malan. In his controver sial book,"My Traitor's Heart", he risked alienating friend and foe by openly rejecting apartheid and recount ing his attempts to come to terms with the duality in himself. He explores the dilemma of how to reconcile his life and his conscience as well as how to come to terms, not only with white cruelty, but with black apa thy and violence. Eor this reason my topic is: "DUALITY OF CONSCIENCE: RIAAN MALAN'S STRUGGLE, AS AN AERIKANER AGAINST APARTHEID, IN HIS BOOK 'MY TRAITOR'SHEART'. "■ By mentioning "duality",Iam implying that the author experiences a sense of having betrayed his people i.e. white Afrikaners; at the same time he experiences feel ings of guilt because of apartheid. Opinions vary as to who or what exactly is an Afrikaner. Many Afrikaans South Africans associate "Afrikaner" with the likes of Eugene Terreblanche et al. To me, although this defini tion is dated, an Afrikaner is typified by conservatism. He is generally someone with Afrikaans as home lan guage andit is assumed that he supports apartheid.Malan considers himself an Afrikaner and refers to himself as such repeatedly, but his liberal views clash with the defi nitionIhave just given. There are many famous names connected with white protest literature. Not the least of these is Breyten Breytenbach, whose poetry and prison writings show that he is an authority on apartheid; there is AndreBrink whose books like "A Dry White Season" and "An Act of Terror" use powerful fiction to explore police brutal ity and the morality of the armed struggle; as well as others like Elsa Joubert and Jan Rabie. It is difficult to compare Malan's work with that of the authorsIhave just mentioned since "My Traitor's Heart' is essentially autobiogaphical. Nevertheless,Iwill discuss the book's message in order to judge whether its impact merits in clusion amongst the best work of the dissident Afrikaner writers of the apartheid era. Malan's duality of conscience lies between his family history andrelatively conservative upbringingon the one hand, and the liberal leaning of his education and social life on the other. But as Malan grew up he developed a distaste for the liberals who campaigned for equality, secure in theknowledge that this wouldnot impingeupon their lifestyles. He used the following metaphor to illstrate the point: he compares white liberals to passen gers in a glass-bottomed boat atop a stormy ocean of political turmoil. Although they can see the violence tak ing place in their very own land they prefer to remain detached, avoiding involvement. In explaining why he did not support the liberal. Progressive Federal Party which espoused many of his own values, he says the following in "My Traitor's Heart:" "Asfar as theBlack resistance were concerned, lib eral democrats ofHelenSuzman's ilk andracists like P.W. Botha were just different teeth in the same white mouth" Malan was adamant that he would not play a different role in achieving the same old purpose: the crushing of black resistance in the metaphorical jaws of white su premacy. He would have us believe that as his political options diminished, his sense of guilt and helplessness increased to the extent that his writingbecame a release. Inevitably, he became involved with black left-wing politics, a natural result of his work as a journalist for the English press. First-hand experiences of apartheid inactiongivehis writingbothclarity and sincerity.Malan tries very hard to see eye to eye with black people, but he knows that he will not be acceptedbecause he cannot change what he is, andIquote, "But in truthIwas always one of them (i.e. an Afrikaner) Iam a White man born in Africa, andall else flows from there." This somewhat vague statement poses the question: 'Why does Malan consider himself trapped as an Afrikaner?' Having rejected apartheid, why can he not unshackle his conscience?Ibelieve he tries to answer the question when he says: "A dozen generations hadpassed, but the question Kearsney Chronicle 1994 57
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