It is Friday, 17 May, the first day of the Franschhoek Literary Festival. At one o’clock the church hall fills up with eager schoolchildren and adults waiting with bated breath for five South African science fiction writers to make their appearance. Not wanting to miss anything, I walk in and take a seat in the front row. I have read some science fiction, but I cannot claim to be an expert. In fact, I am averse to the word “science”, having been nearly kicked out of a laboratory at high school for mixing the wrong chemicals. The thrill, for me, is that these writers are women and have successfully made a mark in what has always been a male domain. The convener, renowned writer Sarah Lotz (author of The Mall), introduces the four women to the audience.
Karen Jayes, winner of the PEN/Studzinski literary award, talks about her latest book, For the Mercy of Water.The story, set in an unnamed place, is about the commodification of water and the plight of one woman and four girls who are found abandoned in a small village.
Next is Lauren Beukes, the first African writer to win the Arthur C Clarke Award (for her novel Zoo City). Her new novel, The Shining Girls, is set in Chicago, and is about a time-travelling serial killer who stalks girls into different eras. One girl escapes and starts hunting him in return.
Sister Sister is a novel by Rachel Zadok, the third writer. The synopsis of the story is the following: In childhood Thuli and Sindi are inseparable, pinkie-linked by a magic no one else can understand. Then a strange man comes knocking, bringing news from a hometown they didn’t know existed. His arrival sets into motion events that will lead them into the darkest places, on a search for salvation where the all-too-familiar and the extraordinary merge, blurring the boundaries between dream and reality.
Lastly, Cat Hellisen, author of When the Sea is Rising Red, takes her seat. Her novel evokes a very controlled, contemporary society where marriages are arranged and girls sold off. Ilven, a female character, commits suicide to escape an arranged marriage, while her friend Felicita fakes her own death to avoid the same fate, leaving behind a life of privilege.
As these four panellists are writers engaging with real issues that affect women and children, my interest is aroused and my perception of “science fiction” changed.
When Sarah Lotz asks the four writers to define dystopia, Rachel Zadok suggests that it is a term which refers to “the worst-case scenario”. She reveals that Sister Sister has dystopian elements. This is so because her reader is confronted with “the familiar, feels safe and yet uncomfortable”.
Zadok argues that her writing is “quite personal on the level of the character” and that in a dystopia someone is always in power. Patriarchy and gender violence, as conditions, are examples of a dystopia, as they “require someone to be submissive”. She stresses that most of the main characters in the novels by the panellists are females because women feel an “innate helplessness which is impossible to talk about”. These stories, therefore, give voice to this helplessness.
In Karen Jayes’s novel dystopia is caused by the commodification of water. She says, “We cannot live without water and yet it has become a corporate resource.” Her book is speculative, but when one looks at South Africa today one can see how easily water in certain areas can be taken away and then sold back to people. This “dystopia”, Karen says, “is real and happens all the time”.
Lauren Beukes supports this view, saying, “We now live in a world where even cell phones are used for social control. In Syria, the internet has been disconnected. Governments are oppressive regimes.” She calls this “corporate apartheid”, where everything is controlled. In her opinion we live in a “very crazy time, an element of the worst-case scenario”. She emphasises the need, especially in South Africa, to speak about “these things”, taking into account the history of racial segregation. Beukes says racism is not just a crime; in a way it is “defeat handed down”. She asserts that it is difficult to go into these “spaces” when writing, particularly to do research and to find narratives around such painful issues.
In Cat Hellisen’s view, “[O]ne person’s dystopia is another person’s utopia. The rich and the elite are happy, they have utopia.” To her “[D]ystopia is the alternate side of the same coin.”
When asked why all four writers are “brutal” with their female characters, Zadok answers that women are going through a lot, especially in this country, and the idea is to show how they come through, change and develop. Creating “extreme environments” puts your characters to the test. The characters have to make extreme decisions as well.
Lauren Beukes concludes the discussion by stating that this kind of writing is “feminist science fiction and this can sometimes put people off”. For her “[F]eminism is about choice and can be dealt with under the very broad science fiction genre.” To this effect, these are great stories with a powerful social conscience as such novels ask: What is science doing to humanity?
Cat Hellisen adds that science fiction allows the “pointing out of issues without pointing fingers at people”. She is able to show in her writing how a patriarchal society forces a girl to commit suicide.
After the hour-long discussion I am convinced by Rachel Zadok that “[F]iction creates empathy.” Issues close to my heart, such as patriarchy and gender-based violence, are given room in these stories.
I walk away converted.
This report was written by a member of the Contemporary Literary Practice (English) honours group at Stellenbosch University. The CLP module includes report-writing in the mould of literary journalism, along with other forms of writing and literary practitionership. The report was co-edited by group facilitator Leon de Kock.
More interviews:
Q&A with Rachel Zadok
Q&A with Cat Hellisen
Q&A with Lauren Beukes
Q&A with Karen Jayes