Die kremetartekspedisie

From ESAT
Revision as of 09:05, 25 March 2022 by Satj (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Die kremetartekspedisie ("The Boabab expedition") is a short lyrical novel by Wilma Stockenström (1933-)

Also found as Die Kremetartekspedisie.

The original novel

Basically a lyrical monologue, this is a portrait of slavery and dislocation, telling the story of a slave who, as the sole survivor of a failed expedition in the heart of Africa, hid herself in a hollow Boabab tree. As her loneliness increases she relives her former life - from being abducted from her home town as a child, her life in a harbour city on the east coast, as the servant of various masters, her final journey with her last master and protector, to her life in the Boabab tree.

Described by the critic Michelle Kyoko Crowson as "a bittersweet novel that paints a complex psychological picture of slavery, and one woman’s struggle to maintain her humanity even under the most difficult circumstances."[1]

The novel was first published in Afrikaans by Human & Rousseau in 1981.

Translations and stage adaptations

The novel was translated into English as The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by the award-winning novelist J.M. Coetzee[2] and first published by Faber and Faber in 1983.

The novel received worldwide acclaim, and Italian, Dutch, French, Swedish, German and Hebrew translations followed the English. The Italian edition won the Grinzane Cavour award in 1988.

Adapted as a dance-drama called Intarsia by choreographer/dancer Tossie van Tonder, consisting of various different dances, based on sections taken from the book and all designed to elicit the growing character of the young woman.[3]

Performance history in South Africa

1985: The dance-drama Intarsia devised and performed by Tossie van Tonder staged in the Wits Great Hall on 13-15 and 17-18 May.

Sources

https://www.litnet.co.za/wilma-stockenstr-m-1933/

https://www.nb.co.za/en/view-book/?id=9780798149396

The Tossie van Tonder/Nobonke Research-Based Archive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee

Michelle Kyoko Crowson. 2014. Wilma Stockenström’s “The Expedition to the Baobab Tree”, Words without Borders[4]

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page