2020-02-29 New Zealand Listener

46 LISTENER FEBRUARY 29 2020

BOOKS&CULTURE

by NICHOLAS REID

C

olonialism was no picnic for

Africans, but post-colonialism

hasn’t always been that wonder-

ful, either. Nobody knows this

better than Petina Gappah. A

Zimbabwean author and lawyer of Shona

ethnicity, she has expressed in the Guard-

ian her hope that Zimbabwe’s new leader

will clean up the corruption, violence,

starvation and economic disaster that

marked the Mugabe years. Africans are

capable of hurting Africans as badly as

Europeans did.

So, when Gappah writes a novel set

in the 19th century, she is not crudely

taking down a Great White Explorer. She

is adding nuance to his story. The title Out

of Darkness, Shining Light could refer to the

hopes of Christian missionaries, shining

light upon the darkness of heathens. But

for the author, it is more likely to mean

shining light upon those Africans who

have been ignored by history books.

In 1873, in the heart of Africa, David

Livingstone dies. Unlike other Europeans

of his time, the Scottish explorer, mis-

sionary and crusader against slavery, was

greatly admired by Africans. He still is.

His African companions, who call him

“Bwana Daudi”, decide he should be

buried in his own country. So, over 285

days, and covering about 2400km, a party

of 69 African porters and bearers carry his

remains to the east coast to meet a ship

that will take him back to Britain.

Gappah uses two narrators, both of

them historical figures. One is the cook,

Halima, still a slave and hoping for release.

She can be ironical. Like others, she thinks

Livingstone’s attempts to find the source

of the Nile were foolish. She has practical

common sense. She knows that a corpse,

carried for months through the African

heat, will rot, become bloated and pos-

sibly explode. So she comes up with the

idea of stripping the flesh from the bones

and burying it before the trek begins. It is

only Livingstone’s skeleton that ends up

in Westminster Abbey.

The other narrator is an African convert

to Christianity, known as Jacob Wain-

wright. He is fervent in his new religion

and laments that, in his lifetime, Living-

stone converted only one African to his

faith.

Gappah treats Wainwright’s convic-

tions seriously, and has him express his

thoughts in quasi-biblical prose. But

Wainwright suffers some disillusion in the

long march. He learns about Livingstone’s

flaws, such as dealing with slave traders.

He understands his own sexual impulses

better in his jealousies over a woman who

is part of the journey. And, saddest of all,

he finds that his white fellow Christians

patronise him and will not let him be the

preacher he wishes to be.

It is the interplay and contradictions

of the two voices that gives Out of Dark-

ness, Shining Light its edge. Inadvertently,

Livingstone’s explorations opened the

way for less scrupulous travellers who

colonised and grabbed land for European

empires.

One character loudly denounces this

trend, but Gappah’s balancing of voices

keeps a cool neutrality.

She knows that real

history is always more

nuanced and messier

then simple slogans

allow. l

OUT OF DARKNESS,

SHINING LIGHT, by

Petina Gappah (Faber,

$32.99)

Out of

Africa

Dr Livingstone’s

legacy is explored

through the eyes of

those escorting his

body homewards.

Gappah knows that real

history is always more

nuanced and messier

than simple slogans.

G
ET

TY

IM

AG

ES

Last mile: an ailing David

Livingstone is carried to

his deathbed in Tanzania.