The same difference : Jesusa Palancares and Poppie Nongena ’ s testimonies of oppression

Two women's texts from postcolonial1 countries, Mexico and South Africa, on different continents show surprising correspondences in subject matter and style. Elena Poniatowska’s Hast a no verte Jesús mio (Till I meet you, my Jesus) and Elsa Joubert's Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (The journey o f Poppie Nongena) examples o f testimonial writing, both address issues o f gender and politics in an innovative way. They combine autobio­ graphy and biography to render a dramatic account o f social injustice despite their disparate backgrounds'cultures and subtle differences in style. In comparison, the texts not only affirm the validity o f women’s writing and contribute to its enrichment, but also constitute a valuable contribution towards the formulation o f a general feminist aesthetics. In fact, they illustrate conclusively that comparative literature fulfils a vital function in the exploration and interpretation o f women's literature from different cultures. 1. G ender and difference W hereas the traditional perception o f difference as a binary opposition2 under­ mined the significance o f underlying relations between concepts, the validity of 1 Postcolonial denotes the proccss of decolonization taking place in countries formerly under colonial rule and does not imply a final state of liberation if such a concept is possible. 2 In keeping with the postmodernist concept of the dissolution of rigid boundaries, several feminist critics (Haggis, 1990:114, Meesc, 1990:100; Newton & Roscnfclt, I985:xxvii; The Personal narratives group, 1989:19; Scott, 1988:44) have claimed that difference should be seen in a relational sense, that is, as difference in degree which would imply the accommodation of difference instead of its elimination Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54 ISSN 0258-2279 41 The same difference: Jesusa Palancares and Poppie Nongena's testimonies o f oppression traditional power structures is questioned in the postmodernist context where difference is perceived as a relational concept which no longer implies exclu­ sivity. Consequently, the initial cultural discrimination, or difference, committed in the name o f imperialism has been revised and attempts made to redress the cultural imbalance. In this endeavour, women have also been recognized as an oppressed and marginalized group, and have become aligned to colonialism/ ra­ cism. Because o f this association, their cause has unfortunately, in many in­ stances, been subsumed under a general politics o f liberation.3 In principle this seems quite justifiable, but in practice feminist issues have been neglected because their quest for social equality has still not been sufficiently addressed or resolved by political organizations. This is evident in the persistent concern with oppression as expressed in women’s writing during the last two decades. To avoid a repetition o f the marginalization o f women’s grievances, and to address gender discrimination constructively, it is necessary to distinguish it from other forms o f oppression. However, it should also be explored within its historical context. What a number o f women have attempted to express in writing is their right to be accommodated on account of, and despite their differences. Consequently, they have relinquished their former aggressive stance and have appropriated a more subtle approach in an attempt to counter and expose dominant ideological structures o f power which manifest a deliberate ignorance o f the ‘other’ dimension o f experience. As difference not only exists between genders and cultures but within sexes, classes, and languages, I would suggest that women concede differences among themselves but also acknowledge the correspondences in their situations. In this respect, Latin America and South Africa share a colonial heritage, autho­ ritarian regimes and male-dominated, patriarchal societies where the indigenous women bear a double burden o f oppression. Thus women’s oppression can be regarded as a cause o f common concern or a “commonality” which Barry (1989: 572) correctly identifies as a crucial prerequisite for women’s social advancement because: Whenever differences are emphasized without first recognizing collectivity, commonality, and unity among women, gender power is depoliticized. In other words, we are asked to suspend our consciousness of the structure of domination its dyadic formation to find or impose differences among women, which are actually the consequence of dyadic domination. 3 Meese (1990:65), for instance, dismisses feminism as an emanation of imperialism and accuses Nadine Gordimcr of a “misdirected segregation of feminism from political resis­ tance”, thereby implying that Gordimer deems feminism as inferior to the political struggle for liberation. 42 ISSN 0258-2279 Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54


G en der and d ifference
W hereas the traditional perception o f difference as a binary opposition2 under mined the significance o f underlying relations between concepts, the validity o f 1 Postcolonial denotes the proccss of decolonization taking place in countries formerly under colonial rule and does not imply a final state of liberation -if such a concept is possible. 2 In keeping with the postmodernist concept of the dissolution of rigid boundaries, several feminist critics (Haggis, 1990:114, Meesc, 1990:100;Newton & Roscnfclt, I985:xxvii;The Personal narratives group, 1989:19;Scott, 1988:44) have claimed that difference should be seen in a relational sense, that is, as difference in degree which would imply the accommodation of difference instead of its elimination Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54 ISSN 0258-2279 traditional pow er structures is questioned in the postm odernist context where difference is perceived as a relational concept which no longer implies exclu sivity.Consequently, the initial cultural discrimination, or difference, committed in the name o f imperialism has been revised and attem pts made to redress the cultural imbalance.In this endeavour, women have also been recognized as an oppressed and marginalized group, and have becom e aligned to colonialism/ ra cism.Because o f this association, their cause has unfortunately, in many in stances, been subsum ed under a general politics o f liberation.3In principle this seems quite justifiable, but in practice feminist issues have been neglected because their quest for social equality has still not been sufficiently addressed or resolved by political organizations.This is evident in the persistent concern with oppression as expressed in w om en's writing during the last two decades.
To avoid a repetition o f the marginalization o f w om en's grievances, and to address gender discrimination constructively, it is necessary to distinguish it from other forms o f oppression.However, it should also be explored within its historical context.W hat a number o f women have attem pted to express in writing is their right to be accom m odated on account of, and despite their differences.Consequently, they have relinquished their former aggressive stance and have appropriated a more subtle approach in an attempt to counter and expose dominant ideological structures o f pow er which manifest a deliberate ignorance o f the 'other' dimension o f experience.
As difference not only exists between genders and cultures but within sexes, classes, and languages, I would suggest that women concede differences among themselves -but also acknow ledge the correspondences in their situations.In this respect, Latin America and South Africa share a colonial heritage, autho ritarian regim es and male-dominated, patriarchal societies where the indigenous women bear a double burden o f oppression.Thus w om en's oppression can be regarded as a cause o f common concern or a "commonality" which Barry (1989: 572) correctly identifies as a crucial prerequisite for w om en's social advancement because: Whenever differences are emphasized without first recognizing collectivity, commonality, and unity among women, gender power is depoliticized.In other words, we are asked to suspend our consciousness of the structure of domination -its dyadic formation -to find or impose differences among women, which are actually the consequence of dyadic domination.
3 Meese (1990:65), for instance, dismisses feminism as an emanation of imperialism and accuses Nadine Gordimcr of a "misdirected segregation of feminism from political resis tance", thereby implying that Gordimer deems feminism as inferior to the political struggle for liberation.

ISSN 0258-2279
Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54 Although contemporary w om en's literature is then characterized by a subversive strategy, it cannot be claimed as the 'trade m ark' o f feminist literature because, as Felski (1989:34) points out, it reflects a postmodernist approach common to most contemporary literature.However, it should be kept in mind that w om en's wri ting would require an alternative reading strategy to reveal the full complement of meaning.Within this context, a comparative approach also introduces new dimensions o f interpretation which contribute to an understanding o f disparities in race, culture and gender. In

W ritin g as experience
The popularity o f autobiographical writing in contemporary literature and in particular in w om en's writing, seems a natural consequence o f a social and his torical condition.In fact, López G onzález et al., (1988:14) regards it as a mani festation o f an attempt to integrate the individual and personal into the social and the collective; to define personal and social identity.The writing o f Rigoberta 4 Bloom (1991:12) coins a sim ilar concept which she calls "auto/bio/history" and describes it as "the close collaboration between the author o f an autobiographical docum ent and the scholar w ho com pletes the original text with a com plem entary and equivalent text o f her ow n" .The tw o authors are interdependent and their contributions arc sym biotically integrated (Bloom , 1991:13).M enchú (1985) illustrates how the personal is expressed in terms o f the social.6H er testimony breaks the silence7 to define the personal in terms o f the collective, w hereas South African women such as Ellen K uzw ayo (1987) and Phyllis Ntantala (1992) have exposed and immortalized the injustices and effects o f apartheid in autobiographies, but have not indicated a sense o f solidarity as w o men.8 3. W om en and (auto)b iograp h y Friedman (1988:34) claims that the main difference between traditional and w om en's autobiographies lies in the concept o f the autobiographical self.W here as the former stresses individualism, the latter aspires to the individual's inter dependence with the collective and should be read as an attem pt to create the self in relation to others (Friedman, 1988:56).Barry (1989) in fact, identifies bio graphical writing as the ideal vehicle for expressing the progression from the personal to the political in w om en's experience/subjectivity because as she claims (1989:561), it "can becom e a study o f social interactions" .She indicates that such an approach ... is meant to collapse the dissociation of personal life from work and po litics, and it rejects the tradition in scholarship which dichotomizes political and social history as well as macro-and inicrosociology.
Apart from their autobiographical framework, both texts have facilitators or interpreters which characterize them as biographies.D espite subtle differences in style -the stronger, more overt presence o f irony in H ast a no verte Jesu s mio also identifies it as a picaresque novel -I would, how ever, suggest that both texts belong to testimonial literature.I have opted for an amalgamated form, (auto)biography, to denote this significant deviation in autobiographical style.96 Her account of social oppression includes the individual aspect which Friedman (1988:43-44) perceives: "... many women's autobiographies create the female self by exploring her relation with a fully rendered Other".

7
A term used by Tillie Olsen (1980) 8 Latin American women arc acutely aware of the therapeutic and cathartic value of testimonial literature: Allende testifies to historical events in her writing as a means of commemorating injustice so that a repetition of similar injustices could be avoided in future; Prada Oropcza (1986:16) interprets testimonial literature as the affirmation of a personal impression of reality as opposed to a contradictory/official one, while Fernandez Olmo (1981 75) views it as a literature of democratization.The socio-political situation o f both Jesusa and Poppie -who are based on actual historical figures -necessitates the services o f facilitators to articulate their respective experiences effectively, partly because o f their defective education and partly because o f their failure to grasp the political and social significance o f their respective dilemmas.The differences in socio-historical context between the facilitator and the interviewee could either be regarded as unbridgeable, rele gating any attempt to record them as a presumptuous and patronizing ac t10 or, as a positive gesture tow ards intercultural understanding, viewing it as a com plem entary dimension o f experience.
In keeping with the perception o f difference as a relational concept, I would suggest that the additional nuances o f interpretation introduced by the facilitator only create a different angle o f interpretation which renders a more compre hensive understanding o f experience.In her discussion o f the work o f the anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff, Riv-Ellen Prell (1989:255) points to an important factor in the interpretation o f a life when she claims that ... Myerhoff argued that seeing oneself in the eye o f the other is an essential core of human interaction.In her production of life histories, one is aware of the double gaze of both subjects.They were seen, and she was seen.
That mutual respect and witnessing were as apparent in her relationships with subjects as in any normative social interaction.(My emphasis.) This statem ent clarifies an important criticism usually directed at 'translated' or facilitated experience.Like Poniatowska, Joubert's interviewing o f an historic victim o f oppression from a different race and culture could incur criticism of presumption.However, she (Joubert, 1984:61)  Her assertion is significant in several respects: it not only prom otes cultural understanding and implies a broadened perspective but it "breaks the silence" (Lenta, 1984:147) o f the oppressed, and it implies a bond o f sisterhood despite differences in culture and race.Barnet (1986a:299-300) does not regard the difference between the facilitator and the interviewee as an obstacle because he maintains that taking up position with the informant in trying to understand his point o f view does not imply agreement with his stance, but should rather be seen as an act o f engaging in a dialogue with the period.This perception not only em phasizes the cnicial significance o f context in any interpretation, but also implies an aw areness o f an appropriate reading strategy/approach.Both Poniatowska and Joubert wish to speak for the oppressed, to expose their plight and claim social responsibility for them.They subscribe to Barnet's (1986b:313) assertion that "Tenem os que ser la conciencia de nuestra cultura, el alma y la voz de i o s hombres sin historia'" .11

T he dual perspective: iron y as corrective
The risk that facilitation could result in either the distortion/m isinterpretation12 or over-simplification o f facts creates an aw areness o f the narrow margin separating fact and fiction.Any imposition o f order or act o f selection implies a creative impulse to interpret reality.When a person in a more privileged position, such as either Poniatowska or Joubert, feels bound to relate these experiences and conse quently acts as 'interpreter' to order and reconstruct experience, she inevitably informs the text with an additional dimension o f meaning not previously appre hended by the subject o f the tale -thus creating fiction and irony.For instance, although Jesusa's views on life are tinged with the cynicism o f experience, she seems to accept that certain injustices are related to her condition as a woman.She relates the conditions o f her marriage with resignation when she claims that "forzosamente el oficial se casó conmigo, pero no por mi voluntad ... Que les interesa a los soldados el consentimiento de una mujer?Q uisiera uno o no quisiera" .13Consequently, Jesusa deduces that it is better to be a man than a woman and does not for one moment contemplate that her situation might be rectified (Poniatow ska, 1984:181).
Poppie is also resigned to the fact that she is dependent on the whims o f a white official to have her w ork permit extended and she never questions the negation o f her rights as an individual.To compound the injustice o f the situation, she is classified according to her husband's ethnicity and consequently denied any rights to her status as a coloured and as a woman (Joubert, 1978:116).Consequently, the system remains unchallenged and it is this aspect which the mediator, on account o f her privileged experience and her status as a woman, perceives as an avenue worth exploring and elucidating.Dorfman (1986:170) regards this task of facilitating/editing as a positive contribution to testimonial literature, because the facilitator/editor is uninvolved and therefore more critical and able to unite disparate perspectives and fragmented impressions into a meaningful text.
The presence o f irony in both H asta no verte Jesú s mio and Poppie N ongena, also attributes these texts with an additional dimension o f meaning which transcends the direct statement o f the autobiography and the openly accusatory tone o f the testimonial.Dorfman (1986:187) specifically calls attention to the function o f humour expressed through irony in testimonial literature.He claims that retrospection provides a means o f survival (Dorfman, 1986:196) because it implies the interpretation o f experience.I would propose that irony transmutes a personal experience into a political one, thereby creating a perspective which transcends individual experience and attains meaning for the collective.The testi monial is then intended for the collective to learn from individual experience.
This situation is illustrated in Die swerfjare van Poppie N ongena by Elsa Joubert and H asta no verte Jestts mio by Elena Poniatowska, which are both seen as per sonal but politically significant texts.In her rendition o f Poppie N ongena's life, Elsa Joubert acts as an observer and she establishes connections between see mingly unrelated incidents in Poppie's life which spell oppression without naming it.14 The 'I' protagonist in testimonial literature performs a triple role as witness, actor and judge (Jara & Vidal, 1986:1).This disparity in perspective informs the text with qualities o f objectivity, de-heroization and the alienation o f individuality 14 Margaret Lenta ( 19X4:15I) also notes the ironic edge inherent in Poppic's situation "Joubert is obviously conscious throughout the novel that her readers must under stand that Poppie, like all other women in her predicament, is a woman who in normal circumstances would be compelled to remain silent partly bccausc she understands only partially and gradually her own experience and rarely if ever relates it to political and social events in the country as a whole."' Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54 ISSN 0258-2279 (Dorfman, 1986:183).W hile Lenta (1984:148) perceives Joubert's use o f the third person narrator as a strategy to avoid the monotony o f direct reportage and to perceive the underlying pattern o f events, it should also be identified with the testimonial -and almost picaresque -character o f the text.

5.
T he w om an as subject: personal and/as political Barry (1989:569) is very aware o f the inherent political intent o f w om en's writing when she points out that When intentionality is marked by consciousness, women's subjectivity is political.To the extent that women reclaim their history through their own intentionality, their history will be socially constructed and self-determined.
In the best sense biography should be a profound interaction of the twothe self and her history in the widest possible sense for which it can be re constructed.
The two texts under discussion manifest a consciousness o f w om en's subjugation within the political context o f their respective countries.As testimonial literature derives from a Latin American context, I shall use Hast a no verte Jesú s mio as a 'm aster text' and refer to Poppie Nongen a in counterpoint.

Poniatowska's Jesusa
As I pointed out above, female identity is closely interwoven with social identity and when Poniatow ska gives voice to Jesusa and her particular account o f oppression,15 she also launches an indictment o f M exican society and its disregard for w om en's rights.As a person, Jesusa can testify to male abuse and social marginalization and yet her indomitable spirit16 refuses to bow before tradition.Her views on men are clearly expressed when she claims that " Para ser 15 Jesusa is an illiterate Mexican peasant woman who grows up without a mother in a poor and unstable environment Condemned to a peripatetic existence by her father's constant search for work, she suffers under her various 'stepmothers' and is cocrccd into a marriage against her will Her husband is a cowardly soldier who treats her brutally When her stoic endurance finally comes to an end, she kills her husband and roams from place to place doing any job she can find When Poniatowska finds her, she is a laundress, old and worn out from hard labour She has become cynical of society and has taken recourse to reincarnation as the only explanation for her earthly existence.(Poniatow ska, 1984:168).17 A notable characteristic o f Jesusa, commented on by various critics (Femández Olmo, 1981:72;Jorgensen, 1988:112;Roses, 1981/82:60), is her nonconformity to the image o f the female stereotype usually represented in literature -in fact she inclines tow ards the anti-heroine.Hancock (1983:353) Pope (1990:251) is quite clear about Poniatow ska's indictment o f the patriarchal and class systems and she points out that despite Jesu sa's apparent difference from the general women o f her class she also exhibits, to a large extent, the feelings o f impotence and frustration experienced by most women.In this re spect, her personal testimonial assumes universal implications.
Therefore, although Jesusa remains a character in her own right she also re presents the plight o f women and other marginalized people to the same extent that T ess o f the D 'Urbervilles (Hardy, 1978) is a tragic figure as a person but be com es representative o f womankind in general.Thus the use o f the testimonial m ode enables the author to gain the empathy o f the reader and yet, at the same time, to criticize society.
By enabling Jesusa to break the silence o f her doubly marginalized existence, as a woman and as a member o f a marginalized society (workers), Poniatowska pro vides her with a means o f restoring her faith in herself as a person/individual -a motivation for expressing herself in writing -w hose experience merits attention and as a member o f society, thereby making a political statement for women and minorities.In assessing two contrasting stances on female experience in H asta no verte Jesus mio, H ancock's concept o f Jesusa as a liberated woman and Tatum 's concept o f Jesusa as a victim o f circumstance respectively, Jorgensen (1988:112) points out that it is exactly this tension between new and traditional values which constitutes the significance o f the text.In fact, it is the concept o f change which Hancock (1983:354) identifies as a recurrent m otif in the text, which is both criticized and exemplified by Jesusa.She is a rebel without being a revolutionary because she resists oppression in all forms "para realizarse como individuo" 18 (Jorgensen, 1988:112) and yet she is forced to conform to social values.It is this aspect which finds resonance in the picaresque strain which has surfaced in texts by Isabel Allende and Nadine G ordim er.19 It is clear, however, that both Jesusa -the protagonist -and Poniatow ska -the author -subvert male authority to assert their female independence: Jesusa by assuming control o f her life (Kushigian, 1987:676) and Poniatow ska by inscribing Jesusa's life as a testimony to abuse.

Joubert's Poppie
Although Poppie is represented as an individual with a potential for love and caring,20 she also experiences the typical suffering and the same hardships as the rest o f her race and gender (Lenta, 1984:151).Lenta (1984:149) also perceives her as a representative o f a w oman-centred culture which seems to have deve loped in postcolonial countries where colonial powers have debilitated black male authority and responsibility has consequently shifted to the women.Interestingly enough, this reversal o f authority is often the cause for the abuse o f black women by their men.Both Poppie and Jesusa display an inordinate amount o f courage and endurance against the onslaughts o f adversity, qualities which are characte ristic o f women as a marginalized group.
In a similar vein to Allende, Lenta asserts that by maintaining the silence, women only perpetuate their own suffering.She (Lenta, 1984:147) claims: One of the strongest suggestions implicit in the book is that it is because women like Poppie cannot speak to the world, indeed, often cannot plead their cause effectively before the minor officials who are their immediate oppressors, that they continue to suffer injustice.In her discussion o f Elena Poniatow ska's work, Starcevik (1982:65) claims that silent complicity is also a transgression and thus em phasizes the value o f testi monial literature which provides a challenge "to a populace that may be unaware and to a leadership that is deliberately silent" .Her silence from this moment will be that of an individual who has no wish to communicate with the world, who no longer believes that she can do so, rather than that of a woman who lacks information of facility in written language.
As Lenta (1984:152) also points out, Poppie's unaw areness o f the irony o f her situation causes the text to be devoid o f any propagandist^ tone.She does not indulge in analytical reflection but relies on sensory experience .
How ever, it must be stressed that the apathy she finally experiences is not a resignation to authoritarian structures but rather resignation to the inevitability o f the revolution.This stance can clearly perceived in her final thoughts: As die Here gewil het dat Jakkie moet gaan, moes hy gaan, dink sy.En as my kinders in die ding gesleep moes worde, dan is dit waartoe hulle gebore is.En wie kan uit hulle pad neem dit waarvoor hulle gebore is? (Joubert, 1978:276.)Van der M erw e (1992:72) points out this deceptive quality by claiming that "waarin sy nou berus, is nie meer in die onderdm kking van die w etgew ers nie, m aar in die onvennydelikheid van die opstand" .It is left to the reader to make the necessary ironical connections.
The individual's constant oppression and marginalization either invokes a kind o f apathy -in P oppie's situation -or rebellion and cynicism -in Jesusa's case.Si milar to the intent expressed in the Latin American text, the South African text also undermines the patriarchal tradition in various ways.In fact, Van der Merwe (1992:75)  deur die verteller w at vir Poppie ondersteun en deur die vroulike outeur, wat die 'dominant' manlike terrein van die politiek betree" .Furthermore, their uncertain existence on the periphery o f society and the abuse o f their basic human rights, endow s the prota gonists with a picaresque quality which implies a scathing indictment o f society.

C onclusion
In conclusion, the main significance o f this com parison lies in its affirmation o f a feminist 'com m onality' and the part it plays in the political collective.Despite many black and indigenous w om en's claims to be different from w hite women, the facilitators in these two texts have illustrated that 'outsiders' can prom ote a different, less subjective perspective on experience.Consequently, although M eese (1990:98) admits that feminism cannot be generalized, she stresses the unlimited potential o f comparative literature when she asserts that Nonetheless, the need to elaborate similarities and differences in the world community of women represents feminism's most compelling human and theoretical project; it is the project required to open Feminism toward the possibility (which can only ever be a possibility) of global feminisms.

5
Testim onial w riting can be described as the expression o f personal experience in denunciation o f oppression or.presenting the experience o f a people through an individual w ho represents the collcctivc consciousncss (B arnet, I986a:288).This definition which closcly correlates w ith B loom 's (1991:13) definition o f a u to 'b io 'h isto ry , is illustrated in the testim onies o f ordinary w orking women such as R igoberta M cnchú and Domitila B arrios de C hungara who denounce the system through an account o f their personal experience Literator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:41-54 ISSN 0258-2279

11
Translated: We have to be the conscience of our culture, the spirit and the voice of the people without history' 12Fernandez Olmo (1981:72) correctly points out that a clash in ideology could lead to the distortion of facts; yet I believe that showing an interest in a different ideology implies tolerance in attitude.13Translation: ' the official married me by force, but not with my conscnt What do sol diers care about a woman's consent9 They cither like one or they don't '

22
As a protagonist, Jesusa displays an acutc knowledge of human nature which enables her to distinguish between appearance and reality in many instances She is especially aware of the hypocritical attitudes assumed by government institutions and the church 52 ISSN 0258-2279 I.iterator 15 (3) Nov. 1994:-41-54
The texts represent a combination o f autobiography and biography -(a u to b io graphy4 -because the protagonists (Jesusa and Poppie) are historical personages from marginalized postcolonial societies who are interviewed/interpreted by women from European cultures.These texts represent a more subtle form o f fe minist assertion than testimonial writing which is accusatory in tone.5 regards her as "a step tow ard the delineation o f a new female image or role m odel" because instead of displaying traits o f submission and passivity, she shows preference for masculine characteristics intimating a more androgynous and defiant attitude.This be com es evident when she accom panies her husband to w ar dressed as a man(Poniatow ska, 1984:107)Lemaitre (1985:755) attributes Jesusa's sense o f independence and freedom to her upbringing.Due to the death o f her mother early in her young life, Jesusa identifies with her father and relies on him to be a role model.Furthermore, due to her illiteracy and peasant background o f poverty, Jesusa is relegated to the periphery o f society.Constrained by her plight, she leads an itinerant existence which is further characterized by political unrest and authoritarian regimes.In fact, she is the epitome o f how culture conditions perceptions o f gender.Lagos- Joubert seems to execute the same function within the South African scene.21Joubert dem onstrates how Poppie's goodwill is slowly eroded by social indif ference to her plight, infecting her with a similar attitude o f indifference.Her fighting spirit finally concedes defeat and Poppie passes into a kind o f apathy, a second more profound silence which Lenta (1984:156) describes as follows: By acting as facilitators, Poniatow ska and Joubert have managed to expose the ironic edge inherent in testimonial writing.Even if the 'victim ' is not aw are o f the irony o f her situation, the facilitator can contrive to articulate it through the fictional dimension.AsLenta (1984:153)suggests: Poppie, however, not only does not relate her experience to the whole social context, but she does not really protest; she cannot, since to do so would be to be possessed of the concepts needed to judge a system which deals un fairly with her.The reader therefore must register that what she suffers is appallingly unjust and must articulate her protest for her.This unconscious irony is supplemented in the picaresque by the 'victim 's ' con scious aw areness o f irony, a factor which makes H asta no verte Jesú s m io so difficult to classify as a m ode.22Although it has all the features o f Joubert's work, it is also a typical picaresque tale with a touch o f magical realism exempli fied in Jesusa's visions o f reincarnation where she is furnished with a tail and crown(Poniatow ska, 1984:11).