I thought it might be a good idea to list here some terms which may be clarifying when reading "Disgrace". Check the comment as well.
Apartheid
Apartheid literally means "apartness" in Afrikaans and Dutch. The apartheid system segregated groups along racial lines. The groups were mainly White, Black, Indian, and Coloured. These classifications determined one's geography, job, economic status, and access to resources such as education and healthcare. Although apartheid was not legally put in place until the takeover by the white Afrikaaner-run National Party in 1948, it has its roots in South Africa's colonial past under British rule. Under colonial rule the object was political separation, termed "grand apartheid." Segregation, termed "petty apartheid," did not come into play until National Party came into rule.
During apartheid not only mixed-race marriages but also interracial sex was prohibited. Every individual was classified by race. If the race of an individual was ambiguous, a committee was formed to settle the matter. Just as in America, the society claimed to uphold a standard of "separate but equal" treatment that led to wild disparity in practice. Black hospitals were inadequately funded and staffed; housing in black areas rarely had plumbing and electricity.
Resistance to Apartheid came in the form of the African National Congress (ANC) and other political entities. They staged protests, marches, and strikes. As the atrocities of apartheid gained Western attention in the 80's, the apartheid state was swiftly weakened. In the final years of apartheid, South Africa was in a state of emergency. The most violent years were from 1985-1988, during which the government became a police state crushing any opposition or threat to its authority. In 1994, Nelson Mandela won the first post-apartheid election by a landslide and became the first president of South Africa.
"From the fairest creatures we desire increase"
ReplyDeleteLine from Shakespeare's Sonnet #1
abattoir: a slaughterhouse
assignation:rendezvous; an appointment of time and place for a meeting
balaclava cap:winter headgear shaped like an oversized mitten
Byron:Romantic poet best known for his poem's Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; also noted for his passionate and adulterous personal life
bywoner: agricultural laborer, tenant of a farm
Cronus: Greek god who married his sister, Rhea; and ate all of his children in order to maintain his throne; Rhea managed to save one of their children, Zeus
cul de sac: a street or passage closed at one end, a blind alley
cycads: often mistaken for palms or ferns, plant has large compound leaves and a thick trunk
duiker: small to medium-sized antelopes
Emma Bovary: central character in Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary; a doctor's wife who has affairs to enrich her boring bourgeoise life
Eros: Greek god of love and sexual desire
George Grosz: German expressionst painter; known for his caricature like drawings od Berlin life
Handlanger: German for handyman
historical piquancy: fitting, suitable, or justifiable because of Afrikaaners's history of oppression of Africans; poetic justice
Inferno: one of the three canticas of Dante's Divine Comedy
Kaaps: Cape Malay accent of Afrikaans
kombi: passenger van
Land Affairs grant: government assistance program that made it possible for more people to own land in South Africa
Lethe: river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology
Losung: German for resolution, name Bev and Lurie use for the process of putting the dog's to sleep.
Luxe et volupte: luxury and pleasure
omnis gens quaecumque se in se perficere vult: The meaning of this quotation has been a source of debate among Latin sholars. See http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2000/06/0241.php
Origen: Christian theologian and philosopher; an idealist who disregarded material things and castrated himself
Ovral: emergency contraception pill
Petrus: common name in ancient Roman times; from Latin word meaning Rock
Pollux: well-known boxer in Greek mythology, twin brother of Castor (a great horseman)
Rape of the Sabine Women: 1635 painting by Nicholas Poussin, based on classical myth about the founding of Rome: Romans needed women for their city to flourish and raided a nearby town forcing the women to marry them
Schadenfreude: German word meaning to delight in the misfortune of others
Sunt lacrimae rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt: Latin for "These are the tears of things, and our mortality cuts to the heart;" lines grom Virgil's Aeneid as Aeneas recognizes the cost of war
tessitura: the range of a melody or vocal piece
The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens' final novel whose ending was not finished by the time he died.
vedi l'anime di color cui vinse l'ira: Italian "now see the souls of those whom anger has defeated"
William Blake: Romantic poet of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience; also illustrated famous works such as Dante's Inferno and Milton's[Paradise Lost]