André Brink’s A Fork in the Road has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. Imke van Heerden asked him a couple of quick questions.
Wherein lies the value of literary prizes such as the Alan Paton Award?
For the writer it offers some satisfaction in knowing that the enormous effort that has gone into the writing is being officially acknowledged. The prestige built up by this prize over a number of years has established it as an award that carries considerable weight and that is confirmed by attaching the name of Alan Paton to it – a writer who was in many ways one of my early mentors and a worthy role model in his commitment and his resistance to institutionalised evil.
The mandate for this award is to look for the sustained narrative written by a South African that allows for a profound insight into the society we have lived through, are living through or will be living through. How does your book do this?
It is an attempt to look at the political, social and moral evolution of South Africa over the past 75 years seen through the prism of the life of one individual in his personal development from someone born into the system and breaking free from its constraints as he progresses from someone conditioned by apartheid to someone trying to liberate himself not only from apartheid but from all attempts at inhibiting the mind.
What inspired you to write this particular story?
Repeated attempts over many years by publishers, other writers and friends who helped persuade me that a personal life story might become emblematic for anyone who dares to say "No".
What was the most challenging part of writing the book?
Trying to remain true to the initial pact with myself: that if the book were to be written at all, it would have to attempt to stay as close as it possibly could in its account of the world as I saw it and lived it and came to believe it – without ever yielding to easy ways out.
What do you think of the state of non-fiction writing in South Africa?
I find it amazingly, often even shockingly, illuminating in its various attempts to probe and explain a diverse and widening engagement with the country, the continent, and the world.
Who is your favourite South African author – and why?
JM Coetzee, for his searing honesty, his stylistic mastery and his lucid understanding of an immensely complex (and constantly developing) scene.
If you were deserted on an island, which book would you take with you?
The Don Quixote de la Mancha.
- Born in 1935 into a traditionalist, apartheid-supporting Afrikaner family, breaking away after studying in Paris (1959-1961) and Sharpeville. Lectured in Afrikaans and Nederlands at Rhodes University, later in English literature at UCT, while writing fiction, literary criticism and political and other essays. Published some twenty novels, translated into 35 languages; lectured at numerous universities around the globe.
Title: A Fork in the Road
Author: André Brink
Publisher:Vintage
ISBN: 9780099527039
Price: R124.91