Looking On Darkness

This celebrated novel by Brink explores the contradictions, oppressions and inequalities of apartheid like no other novel. Brink paints an elaborate portrait of South Africa and its tragic evolution into a philosophy as corrupt and inherently evil as either communism of fascism. Joseph Malan, a talented actor feels compelled to return from the comfort and liberalism of Europe to his native Cape Town where he forms a theatre group of fellow coloureds, adapting their plays to demonstrate the totalitarian and oppresive nature of South African society and to keep alive hope - without hope where are we? We are shown glimpses of the different races, the tensions between them and their differing goals while we follow Malan's reminicences from death row and his quest for recognition, security and most importantly freedom, set against the stark natural beauty of South Sfrica. Andre Brink exposes the absurdities and brutal realities of apartheid such as the immorality act, detention without trial, torture, state murder and censorship with an accomplished and often elaborate prose that leaves the reader aghast that this cancerous society was cossetted by the West for so many decades. The author's courage in publishing this and other condemnatory works while himself under observation by the Security Branch is as important now as a warning to the future as a denouncement of that era.