Mule Skinner Book Recommendation #8:

An Instant in the Wind

(Andre Brink)

This next selection for book recommendation perhaps surprises our readers less than it does ourselves. This said, mainly because our fiction/belles lettres literature recommendations have so far mostly consisted of reviews from 19th century realism classics. Brinks novel in certain level fits to the same genre and to the contrary, on an other level certainly not (Because of the 'time-gap' in between these).

For a modern fiction, Instant in the Wind is perhaps relatively conventional, it's not especially modern in what comes to the forms of narration and principally appears as (popular) history fiction. Like said in preceding, the book is some one and half century newer novel (p. 1976) than the ones previously presented here (in this blog), Dostoevsky's The Idiot and the Dead Souls (by Gogol) from around mid 1800s. In continuation, perhaps we've even chosen it intentionally, the author being South-African and the text pretty much considering (ao) the social thematics of racism, at the time of writing still an official policy of country's government. This said, just to pay attention to the social construction in the background of events and story.

In Brink's historical novel (in prewords by a book club retailer, the book is mentioned as having been possibly the most favored of Brinks novels by readers...), the story is situated in mid 1700's to the north of Kap (Johannesburg). The plot goes quite as following: Boer Henrik Larsson heads for a journey through the wilderness of surrounding mountainside and savannahs with his newly wed wife Elisabeth and group of companions, slaves among them. In the beginning, the husband disappeared and the servants having fled, alone in the camp, Elisabeth encounters a former slave, named as Adam Mantoor. From this begins their common journey through the wilderness in purpose of safe return to the (pre-urban) Kap. During travel, along with the unavoidable social (and racial) conflicts in their mutual discussions and actions, lights also sexual romance in between tehm. This then carries on, guiding them through the threats and hardships of deserts and mountains, until the very end.

So, the subject of the book is, a romantic story, told from 2 people traveling through almost perfect pristine wilderness (only few people they encounter during the journey), temporarily free from society's pressuring order. It appears also as kind of paradise like natural depictorial (this is even emphasized in the names chosen – Adam and Elisabeth). The reader, at least implicitly, has some pre-feeling from how the ultimate ending would turn out which also makes him to hope their common travel wouldn't end at all. Also knowledge from the novels historical background and the roots of apartheid, makes these parallels to the early christian 'mythologies' pretty convincing (also some extra weight is gained from the prevailing words Brink has written for the story: These give an impression of this story being based on true archival files, found from Elisabeth Larssons late papers - which we suppose is just an authors technique for intensifing the message told, but sort of keeps the reader not familiar with the subject, a bit in 'dim' and enchanted from the possibility of this romance having existed in real life, which actually is quite likely, at least plausible). Also, the form of narration used is mostly descriptive, devoting much for their inner feelings and mutual conversations, making this also such an enjoyable psychological roman. It is not as much easy romantic and not as much simplified micro-historic tale, one could at first sight expect.

The metaphoric and symbolical importance of the nature - in background and also in sync with the eventual fate of this forbidden romance – somehow grows along with development of the story. Their common efforts through the dry deserts are parallel to the romantic beauty of all this and the reader follows from distance this unconventional struggle placed in the middle of nature's quiet loneliness, neutral and accepting but yet pitiless as the mother Earth itself. And this is, what quite much makes the story such trustable, such convincing. So, what comes to our superfluous curiousity concerning the frames of the story, possible factual existence and origins of the events told - we have to accept writers words in the beginning as the only interpretation (this) tale needs: "When there's nothing else left but continuation of the journey, (it appears) not as a matter of imagination, but of faith." [- Kind of freeform translation back to english(by us), not exact sentences in the original text, most propably.]