Some notes on further readings of Wilma Stockenström’s slave narrative, The Expedition to the Baobab Tree

Abstract

This article considers some aspects of Wilma Stockenström’s novella of 1981, Die Kremetartekspedisie, in its English translation by J.M. Coetzee of 1983, The Expedition to the Baobab Tree. After isolating the formal aspects which are characteristic of the structure of the work, as explained by the author in the text, it reviews and identifies a general reluctance in the responses to date to engage with the text in terms it sets for itself. Arising out of this deadlock situation, the article suggests some approaches which could more appropriately be applied in further readings of the work. These are with regard to the author’s use of: (a) received South African history and (b) narrative mode, both of which contribute to the beginnings of the formation of a new, particularly female, consciousness and scope in South African fiction.