The Power of One

Just got to the end of "White Messiah (with punching)", also called "The Power of One" and essentially a roman-a-clef with a little bit of magical realism, a lot of punching, and a whole mess of Avatar.

It was gripping, mostly. I mean, for the most part it was a story about surviving the depths of degradation and coming out stronger. And boy, did Protagonist Kid come out strong! Able to speak English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Shangan, and a half dozen languages fluently.  A flawless boxer, mathematician, and logician, and "angel" to about a zillion African tribes. However, based on the author's website, largely biographical. Hard to believe, and at times hard to swallow, but it's clear that if there were any opportunity to show PK failing or being further humiliated, we'd get it. It's not supposed to be a hagiography, really. But it gets laid on pretty thick.

And so here we have the dilemma.  In the wake of seeing Avatar, which came across loud and clear as a work of Colonial Literature or whatnot, and with a clear mandate of decrying apartheid, racism in general and colonialism, The Power of One read like a book that didn't know what it was trying to do. After a fashion it was Ashitaka-style "seeing with eyes unclouded by hate", sure. But you don't go around having every non-white character sacrifice their lives for PK's own life, for his education, for his comfort on a train ride, for his ability to impress a bunch of people with a concert, without sounding like you're writing about The Great White Hope.

The book exuded love for Africa, of course.  The landscapes, the tribal cultures and language (I really would like to learn to understand Zulu, after reading about its inherent poetry).  Still, for all the author's protest, there's a quiet tolerance and even quaint yearning for the braivleis and tiekkidrai and other aspects of Boer culture -- yeah, he's just a kid, but he doesn't go around saying "let's go full-on postcolonial and truly empower the Black Africans".  Maybe he's trying to suggest a kind of middle ground.  Maybe he's just naive.

Still, the characters were memorable, if a bit cartoonish.  The boxing matches were fascinating, as good as any I've read (which doesn't extend that far -- I may need to read more Hemingway, but certainly it stands up well next to Hammett).  The mysticism was potent and invigorating.  And the matter-of-fact tone was at odds with the slightly unnerving themes.

I recommend reading it.  But reading it, and then thinking about it.