- The Covenant (novel)
"The Covenant" is a
historical novel by Americanauthor James A. Michener , published in 1980.Plot summary
The novel is set in
South Africa , home to five distinct populations:Bantu (nativeBlack tribes), Coloured (the result of generations ofmiscegenation between white and Black populations), English,Afrikaner , and Indian, Chinese, and other foreign workers. The novel traces the history, interaction, and conflicts between these populations, fromprehistoric times up to the 1970s.Michener writes largely from the point of view of the Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers, French
Huguenot immigrants who traveled to South Africa to practice freedom of worship in theCalvinist tradition, and other European groups, all of whom were absorbed by theAfrikaans -speakingDutch Reformed Church . The Afrikaners, whose Dutch ancestors first established a trading and refueling stop at Cape Town in the 17th century to service ships moving between Holland and Java, and whose ranks were augmented by Huguenot and other northern European immigrants, considered themselves the "NewIsraelite s". They found in theOld Testament verification for their belief that God favored their conquest of the new land. Their strict,fundamentalist interpretation of theBible supported them through theGreat Trek of the 19th century; battles againstZulu and other Bantu tribes, who also laid claim to lands to the north; the Anglo-Boer War (when small guerrilla bands of a few hundred Afrikaner farmers were able to hold off tens of thousands of British regulars); and their institution ofApartheid in the 20th century, when they insisted on racial purity, separatism, andwhite supremacy , per the moral expectations of the God of Israel in theOld Testament and their own determination to keep political power in the hands of Whites of European descent.Michener demonstrates that the Afrikaner oppression of Blacks was partly due to Dutch animosity towards the English, who assumed political and financial control of southern Africa in 1795 and fought against the traditional way of life, including
slavery , pursued by Afrikaner farmers, orBoers . As one Bantu character observes, "no matter whether the English or the Dutch win, the Blacks always lose." Both historical and fictional characters appear throughout the novel. The experiences of the fictional van Doorn family illustrate the Dutch andHuguenot heritage of South Africa, and in the 1970s also illustrate the differences between liberal and conservative Afrikaners. The fictional Saltwood family represents the English settlement of the area. The Nxumalo family illustrates the area's black heritage and culture. AfricanZulu leaderShaka appears in the novel, during the chapter on theMfecane .External links
* [http://www.erroluys.com/WorkingwithJamesA.MichenerIndex.htm The Making of the Covenant]
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