Abstract
M.A.
Even at a superficial glance there seems to be remarkable similarities between the
"Border trilogy" of the American author Cormac McCarthy and the work of the
Afrikaans author Alexander Strachan. The last three novels by McCarthy, All the
Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994) and Cities of the Plain (1999), are referred
to as the "Border trilogy". The first three novels by Strachan are also sometimes
referred to as a "trilogy". Frontiers/borders are important in the novels under
discussion: The Crossing (1994), Die jakkalsjagter (1990) and Die werfbobbejaan
(1994). The Crossing is the second novel of the 'Border trilogy". The title of
Strachan's fist work is 'n Wereld sonder grense ("A world without borders"). In The
Crossing tracking a wolf plays an important role while Die jakkalsjagter is about
hunting a jackal. Die werfbobbejaan is about hunting down a baboon. Both
McCarthy's and Strachan's works have been compared to the Western (films/novels
dealing with the cowboys of North America).
These superficial similarities seem to invite further comparison. The following themes
are present in both authors' works and are compared in this study:
The world can never be known
The world is incomprehensible. It is constantly changing and always out of
reach. The world is like "a snowflake" and like "breath" and cannot be held,
because it only exists in people's hearts. The world is also incomprehensible
in Strachan's work, because all certainties are undermined. Khera cannot
understand Zuhiland in the same "logical" way that she could understand her
world in Cape Town. The strange stories told by the people in Zululand
(izinganekwane) make her aware of supernatural powers. Nothing can really
be known about the world.
The story that the witness tells becomes the world
All objects are without meaning unless their stories are known. Truth is only
to be found in narration. The world exists in narration. Therefore "the witness
is all". Free will and predetermination
The view of the world and our destiny in the world in The Crossing is
compared with the view of the world in Die jakkalsjagter and Die
werfbobbejaan. There is not one final answer to the question of determinism
and free will in The Crossing. On the one hand it seems that history happens
according to a predetermined plan of God. On the other hand it seems that
human beings can make decisions and be in control. In this novel we find the
idea that the future and the past can only be known as it exists in the present.
The Strachan novels, Die jakkalsjagter en Die werfbobbejaan, reflect a certain
determinism. Everything heads towards a final showdown with the death of
the old man in the sod house. Khera's actions are predetermined. Things
happen without her intention.
The importance of stories is found in all three novels under discussion, The Crossing,
Die jakkalsjagter and Die werfbobbejaan. "Things separate from their stories have no
meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When
their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on
the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place"
(Crossing: 142-143). The importance of the story is that it gives meaning to the
things. All stories are the same story. The izinganekwane could be parallelled to the
corrido (Spanish tales). Both are part of a hostile country, a different language and
both are old tales that seem to determine the future.