âReleasing a Story from a Sealed Boxâ: Shaun Johnsonâs The Native Commissioner

Geoffrey V. Davis

Jump to Content

Chapter 18 âReleasing a Story from a Sealed Boxâ

Shaun Johnsonâs The Native Commissioner

In: Shifting Horizons and Crossing Borders

Author:

Geoffrey V. Davis

Geoffrey V. Davis
Search for other papers by Geoffrey V. Davis in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 201â212

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004700116_020

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

â¬42.00â¬35.00Â excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

In this essay, Geoffrey V. Davis analyses the biographical novel The Native Commissioner (2006) by South African Shaun Johnson, in which the writer reconstructs the life of his own father through an account of the career of the fictional George Jamieson, who works as a commissioner for the Department of Native Affairs in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Because of its central focus on a privileged white character in a society that oppresses black people, Johnsonâs novel is less obviously âpostcolonialâ. However, the protagonist in The Native Commissioner, as the pun in the title indicates, is deeply sympathetic to the cause of black South Africans, and he eventually commits suicide because of the increasing self-hatred generated by his collaboration with the apartheid regime. Significantly, the commissionerâs mental disintegration is narrated through a juxtaposition of voices, some of which originate from real archival material such as reports, notes, and letters; this mixture results in an overtly fragmented and polyphonic novel as is typically found in postcolonial literatures. This essay, in sum, establishes how a so-called âwhite settlerâ biographical novel might fit within the definition of postcolonial biographical fiction.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004700116/BP000023.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Shifting Horizons and Crossing Borders

Thinking with Stephanos Stephanides

Series:Â Cross/Cultures, Volume: 222

Cover Shifting Horizons and Crossing Borders

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004700116

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 18 Jul 2024

Subjects
- Literature and Cultural Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 On Wind, the Sea, and Other Things Fluid

Part 2 On Space, Borders and Poetry

Part 3 On the Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics of Translation

Part 4 On Memory and/as Writing

Part 5 On Poetic Encounters or the Power of Fiction

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

BibTeX

Zotero

EndNote

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	494	196	10
Full Text Views	5	1	0
PDF Views & Downloads	1	0	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 18 âReleasing a Story from a Sealed Boxâ

Shaun Johnsonâs The Native Commissioner

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Shifting Horizons and Crossing Borders

Thinking with Stephanos Stephanides

Table of Contents

References

Metrics

Metrics

Chapter 18 âReleasing a Story from a Sealed Boxâ

Shaun Johnsonâs The Native Commissioner