Abstract
The bond between mother and daughter is one of the most complex of human relationships. As a result, the aftermath of disturbed mother-daughter relationships has been studied across multiple disciplines. A striking feature of African literature, especially in terms of the mother and daughter relationship, is the attention paid to the parent-child theme. The mother is seen as the primordial source, or the landmark of existence and the first object of love. Hirsch (1989) explains that the mother is the one who transfers the “authority of authorship” to her daughter and that both continuity and separation underlie this complex relationship. Thus, the absence, unattainability and even presence of the mother have profound consequences for the formation of the daughter’s identity (Lacan 1977).
Although a large body of research has been conducted on the theme of parent-child relationships, relatively few studies have been done on specifically the mother-daughter theme within the sphere of Afrikaans literature. Furthermore, very few studies address the mother-daughter relationship and apply the psychoanalytic framework throughout, resulting in the mother-daughter relationship often being described restrictively. Besides Conradie (1996), it is only Hambidge (1989) that extensively applies the psychoanalytic theory in their studies. Considering the latter, this paper aims to fill this gap by examining and analysing the dimensions of the complex mother-daughter relationship in radbraak (2017) using the psychoanalytic framework. In particular, this article examines what insights a Lacanian psychoanalytic reading offers in a critical analysis of the mother-daughter relationship.
In radbraak, the ambivalent nature of the relationship between the speaker and her female predecessors – whether symbolic or biological – comes under scrutiny with an emphasis on (toxic) traditions. A variety of other themes can also be identified in the volume: fragility (seen in the breaking of language and the language experiment – on syntactic, semantic, and typographic levels – throughout the volume), the violence and remnants of the apartheid past, the poverty of Gansbaai’s fishing community, abalone poaching, gang violence, social inequality and broken relationships between children and parents. The speaker’s problematic and complex relationship with her parents is reflected through the language experiment of radbraak.
The Lacanian theory, which mainly emphasises the profound role of family relationships and the role of language in the psyche and identity development of the child, is an appropriate approach with which the intricacies of the mother-daughter theme in radbraak can be explored. Lacan’s theory rests on two central assumptions: the unconscious and the linguistic, which are reflected in two of his famous quotes, “the unconscious is structured like a language” and “the unconscious is the discourse of the Other” (Lacan 1966:8). Lacan argues that the unconscious lies outside of man and comes into being through human or language relationships.
For Lacan, the unconscious is constructed like a language, a language structure from which suppressed information emerges in the form of metaphors and metonymic utterances. Metaphoric and metonymic manifestations are considered fundamental to the workings of the psyche (Lye 2008:1). Phillips, aware of the subtle, unconscious workings of language on the psyche, seeks to dismantle her (mother) language to uncover its psychological impact. Language is a structure that is imposed on her as a marginalised woman, and she rebels against it.
Wright (1984: 1) argues that “[psychoanalysis] addresses itself to the problems of language, the effects of desire in language and, indeed, in all forms of symbolic interaction”. Figurative and symbolic language that leads to plurality in literary texts is an important gateway to the unconscious, and psychoanalysis provides the means with which these symbolic expressions of language can be uncovered and interpreted. radbraak illustrates the plurality of language in the way Phillips describes the ambivalent mother-daughter relationship that encompasses deeper symbolic meaning. Literary texts, in which figurative and symbolic language often lead to plurality, is an important gateway to the unconscious, making psychoanalysis the appropriate framework with which the complex biological and symbolic mother-daughter relationship in radbraak can be analysed.
Phillips’ work falls within the framework of postcolonial literature because the subaltern state of women and the effects of marginalised circumstances (across generations) on the psyche come under scrutiny. Therefore, I also draw upon insights from postcolonial critics such as Bhabha (1995), Fanon (1986), Hook (2005) and Spivak (1988), as issues such as identity and subalternity – important topics in radbraak – are also discussed. Thus, the volume can be psychoanalytically speaking considered as a symptom of repression. According to Hambidge (1989:94) repression appears to be responsible for the shaping of metaphors, in other words, symbolic expressions of language.
According to Nandy (1983:63), colonialism is “a matter of consciousness” and for this reason “it needs to be defined in people’s minds” because oppression involves the colonisation of the psyche. Psychological violence is exerted on the marginalised within a colonial setting that can take various forms, such as the brute force of slavery to more subtle forms of racism. The fight against the colonial configuration and other forms of oppression is therefore not merely physical or material. It should, in an equal measure, also involve the psychological. A psychoanalytic approach is thus required to understand the intricacies of the postcolonial subject’s psychological state, because the human mental state is intertwined with and influenced by the socio-political and historical forces. Hook (2005:492) believes that the process of psychological decolonisation should begin with positive changes in the thoughts or psyches of subalterns.
In radbraak, the oppressed or colonised position (physical, but especially psychological) in which the speaker finds herself as a subaltern is emphasised. The continued marginalisation of women in a patriarchal setting is illuminated, as well as how it is written into communities and into history, depriving the subaltern female of a meaningful existence. In the book, the speaker is not only merely a spokesperson for her community or family members, but also for herself, because the reader is made aware of the state of her psyche, as well as the factors that played a role in its construction. Although colonialism and apartheid underlie the social and cultural factors in South Africa, a postcolonial reading alone does not provide an adequate or satisfactory perspective on how the latter affects the mother-daughter relationship.
A psychoanalytic reading from the perspective of Lacan, together with postcolonial theory, can in this case be useful in articulating the intricacies of the mother-daughter theme within the South African context. This article attempts to move beyond postcolonialism and general social issues due to its focus on women’s psyches. The intensely personal and individual – as well as the relationship with family members that often falls outside the focus of a postcolonial scope – are scrutinised in this analysis. It is in the studying of the latter where psychoanalysis especially plays an important role due to its focus on family relationships.
As already mentioned, Phillips considers and describes language as a symbolic mother through linguistic processes using metaphors and metonymy that occupy a central place in Lacan’s theory. In the book the speaker continuously finds herself in a complicated love-hate relationship with Afrikaans (symbolic mother) in that the colonial language is sometimes rejected but simultaneously appropriated and modified. It is reread and rewritten, and subtle hybridisations are made from it to undermine the colonial order. In the book, places with sentimental value also acquire a symbolic maternal connotation, and together these symbolic and biological mothers function as “subalterns [that] need to be written into the text anew, to become accounted for, to be given a voice” (Styhre 2005:4).
The findings show how the speaker, as a marginalised black woman, breaks away from traditions perpetuated by her predecessors, in that she chooses a lifestyle in which she can exercise more agency. There is a desire and an attempt to form an independent identity, to break away from the conventional pattern and – with this alternative legacy – leave the marginalised society a better place than she’s found it. Choosing to oppose or join the conventional pattern, therefore plays an important role in shaping the speaker’s identity and psyche. With radbraak, Phillips makes an important contribution to restoring the “unheard” and silenced marginalised voices while redefining the traditional mother-daughter relationship.
Keywords: Lacan; mother-daughter relationship; Jolyn Phillips; psychoanalysis; subalternity; radbraak
Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans
’n Psigoanalitiese lees van die moeder-dogter-verhouding in radbraak deur Jolyn Phillips