Cape of Storms
The First Life of Adamastor, A Story
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
He is the chieftain leader of the Khoikhoi, a nomadic people derogatorily called “Hottentot”’ by European colonists. She is a white woman left behind by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s crew when they rounded Africa’s southern tip in 1498. Their romance is the core of this powerful novella.
According to Portuguese myth, Zeus turned Adamastor into the rocky cape of the South African peninsula. André Brink’s parable suggests that white Europeans have punished native Africans in the same way. With this novel, Brink takes us to the heart of the relationships that define South Africa’s
modern history.
“Peter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Solzhenitsyn: André Brink must be considered with that class of writer.” —Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this searing novella, acclaimed South African novelist Brink tells the tragic love story of a Khoikhoi chieftain leader (a nomadic people, the Khoikhoi were derogatorily called ``Hottentots'' by European colonists) and a white woman left behind by members of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's crew when they rounded Africa's southern tip in 1498. The romance between T'kama (Big Bird) and the castaway he names Khois (meaning ``woman'') forms the touching core of an often ribald tale, narrated by the chieftain in lilting prose. T'kama, who learns to mistrust the murderous European invaders, feels terrible pain when a fleet returns and drags off Khois, mother of their infant son--the possibility that she voluntarily abandoned them only compounds his grief. In an introduction, the author relates T'kama's story to that of Adamastor, a giant in Greek mythology who fights the armies of the sea and yearns for the nymph Thetis. Just as Zeus turned Adamastor into a rocky cape, Brink's parable suggests, so have white Europeans punished native Africans. Readers who were wary of tackling Brink's previous novel, An Act of Terror , because of its length, will find this short fable a stunning introduction to his work.
