- Nervous Conditions
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Nervous Conditions Author(s) Tsitsi Dangarembga Country Zimbabwe Language English Genre(s) Bildungsroman Publisher The Women's Press Publication date 1988 Pages 204 ISBN 0-7043-4100-X OCLC Number 21118465 LC Classification PR9390.9.D36 N47 1988 Followed by The Book of Not Nervous Conditions is a novel by Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga. Semi-autobiographical, it is set in the post-colonial Rhodesia of the 1960s. The title is taken from the introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre to Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth.
Contents
Publishing history
When Dangarembga first offered her novel to major southern African publishers, the response was a cool one. Her book, they declared, failed to capture the thoughts and language of the African woman and could not, therefore, connect with her. Raj Patel has since denounced this as a non sequitur.[1]
Plot summary
The story is told by and from the perspective of Tambudzai, a young Shona girl living in a small village in Rhodesia, whose own story begins with the death of her brother, Nhamo.
Nhamo is sent to live with his uncle (Babamukuru), a strict disciplinarian, and aunt (Maiguru), so that he may be educated by a mission school in the local city and later provide his family with economic support. He falls ill, however, with a severe case of the mumps, and dies suddenly, leaving his parents without a son to support them in their impending dotage. Tambudzai, who goes by the sobriquet "Tambu", is also keen to be educated, so much so that she works on her own mealie crop in a bid to pay her school fees. An elderly white lady takes pity on her and parts with ten pounds, so Tambu is able to return to the school that her father cannot and will not pay for.
The narrative's opening sentence is famously chilling. "I was not sorry," declares Tambu, "when my brother died."[2] Her reasons, many and varied, but mostly to do with her brother's arrogance, interference — at one point, he steals her maize —, chauvinism and teasing, are expounded over the next three chapters, culminating in a cold description of his death.
Tambu's uncle argues for her to go to the mission school after the death of her brother, for there are no other sons available. The novel then shifts to Tambu's observations of the conflicts between her cousin, Nyasha, who was raised primarily in England and has no foundation of Zimbabwean culture, and her uncle, who is steeped in such tradition. Nyasha and her father spar with increasing frequency over her behaviour and the way that she talks to him. Nyasha eventually develops an eating disorder, which is tied strongly to her struggle to deal with the conflict between English and Shona society. "The connection between the refusal to consume," observed Raj Patel, "and the refusals to behave as her father would wish, as her social position would suggest, and as her colonial masters would demand, suffuse the text."[3]
Critical reception
Nervous Conditions has been hailed both within and outside Africa as a stellar contribution to both African feminism and the postcolonial canon. Patel has been especially laudatory.[4]
Major themes
- The clash of cultures: the novel's primary theme is the clash between traditional African cultures and the cultures of the Western colonial powers. The clash covers social traditions, religious beliefs, the roles of women and children, racial distinctions, and the view that Western culture is more sophisticated.
- The role of women: Tambu herself struggles against the societal proscription on a role for women beyond housewife, as she wishes to be educated and move beyond the small and isolated world of her own village. She sees the results of similar struggles as her mother, cousin, and aunt all face consequences for their attempts to break out of the narrow roles society has given them.
- Retaining "traditional" culture: Tambu sees the void in Nyasha's life as she tries to re-integrate into Zimbabwean society without the knowledge of or respect for her country's traditions. Retaining culture and tradition as a part of one's identity even as a society evolves is a major conflict within the novel.
References
- Dangarembga, Tsitsi: Nervous Conditions (Ayebia, 2004).
- Patel, Raj. "Nervous Conditions." The Voice of the Turtle. 1999. [1] (accessed August 7, 2008).
Notes
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