Dalene Matthee’s four forest novels, translated into English as Circles in a Forest (1984),
Fiela’s Child (1985), The Mulberry Forest (1987) and Dreamforest (2003), are characterised
by what Wylie (2018:96) calls an “uneasy but deeply respectful symbiosis” between the forest
community and the Knysna forest. This multifaceted connection between humans and the
Knysna forest is also present in Matthee’s second last forest novel, The Mulberry Forest. In
The Mulberry Forest, protagonist Silas Miggel lives with his daughter, Miriam, in the Knysna
forest. The story is set between 1881 and 1882 and tells of Silas’ plight in caring for Italian
immigrants who were brought to South Africa under the pretence of farming silk in a mulberry
forest. Silas cares for the immigrants, who are forced by the British government to live in tents
in the forest, in exchange for his right to live on crown land. As the novel unfolds, it becomes
clear that the British government aims to utilise the immigrants as cheap labour for cutting
and milling wood. The novel ends in the closure of the mill, the devastation of the forest and
Silas’ incarceration for unlawfully squatting on crown land.
Whilst the analysis in this article is situated within the postcolonial ecocritical framework,
in which the human-nonhuman-relationship and the effects of colonisation thereon are analysed,
the emphasis in Matthee’s forest novels on the human-nonhuman-relationship is also underlined
by the focus on specifically a poor white Afrikaner community’s connection with the African
landscape. As a result, the forest novels are characterised by the absence of the first nations
residing in the Knysna forest and instead promote, to a certain degree, the poor white Afrikaner
community’s claim to the African landscape.
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) argues that the emphasis in Afrikaans literature
on the connection between poor white Afrikaners and the African landscape is a political and
social strategy, aimed to promote and uphold Afrikaner nationalist narratives. For WilloughbyHerard (2007; 2015), this claim to the African landscape forms the foundation of Afrikaner
identity which is utilised to present Afrikaners as an ancient tribe of Africa.
The portrayal of the so-called poor white Afrikaner’s connection to the African landscape
is historically represented in Afrikaans literature. Especially the farm novels of the 1930s
depict the connection between white Afrikaners and the African landscape. Although The
Mulberry Forest does not depict specifically a farm setting and is indeed novel in depicting
the human connection to the Knysna forest, the overlapping themes between the farm novels
of the 1930s and The Mulberry Forest, as well as the similarities between the depiction of the
African landscape, present the possibility that The Mulberry Forest could be interpreted as a
novel supporting Afrikaner nationalist narratives. These themes focus on the African landscape
inhabited by Afrikaners as romantic, mythical, and idyllic. The Afrikaner community feels at
home and finds meaning in the African landscapes presented in the farm novels, despite it
being a patriarchal, historical, and feudal space (Van Coller, 2006:96).
This article utilises Willoughby-Herard’s work (2007; 2015) in whiteness studies as a
theoretical framework to analyse Dalene Matthee’s The Mulberry Forest (1987). By utilising
Van Coller’s (2003; 2006) description of the African landscape portrayed in the farm novels
of the 1930s, as well as the themes encapsulated by these novels, this article aims to analyse
the portrayal of an Afrikaner community’s claim to the Knysna forest, as well as the absence
in portrayal of the Knysna forest’s Outeniqua tribe.
To determine how the poor white Afrikaner community in The Mulberry Forest is depicted
as intertwined with the African landscape as nonhuman, this article firstly analyses how the protagonist, Silas Miggel, and the Italian silk farmers’ relationship with the Knysna forest is
depicted. Thereafter the article investigates the influence that British colonialism has on this
human-nonhuman-relationship. To conclude, this article compares the themes depicted in The
Mulberry Forest and the first wave of farm novels in Afrikaans. Through this comparison of
themes, a conclusion can be formulated as to whether, or not, The Mulberry Forest could be
considered as upholding Afrikaner nationalist narratives.
Despite overlapping themes and the similarities between the depiction of the African
landscape in The Mulberry Forest and the farm novels of the 1930s, this article also investigates
the depiction of Silas as a tragic hero whose plight as a representative of the Afrikaner
community is brought on by his own self-deception. This article finds that the focus on Silas’
self-deception, as well as the portrayal of the Italian immigrants as a community situated
between the postcolonial Self and Other, problematises the homogenous and monolithic racial
classifications found in Afrikaner nationalist narratives. Therefore, The Mulberry Forest could
also be read as a novel investigating and challenging the upheld belief of a connection between
white Afrikaners and the African landscape found in Afrikaner nationalist narratives.
Dalene Matthee se bosromans is gekenmerk deur wat Wylie (2018:96) ’n “uneasy but deeply
respectful symbiosis” tussen die bosgemeenskap en die Knysnabos noem. Hoewel die
veelvlakkige verbintenis tussen die bosgemeenskap en die Knysnabos in Moerbeibos op die
agtergrond afspeel, is hierdie verbintenis desnieteenstaande teenwoordig. In Moerbeibos, soos
ook deurgaans in Matthee se ander bosromans, is die klem egter alleenlik op spesifiek arm,
wit Afrikaners se verbintenis met die Afrikalandskap. Sodoende is die bosromans gekenmerk
deur die afwesigheid van die eerste nasie(s) van die Knysnabos. Die uitbeelding van die
verbintenis tussen die mens en die Afrikalandskap, en spesifiek die wit Afrikaner se aanspraak
op Afrikagrond, is in konteks van die breër Afrikaanse literêre tradisie ’n verskynsel wat reeds
voorkom in die eerste plaasromans (Meyer, 2016). Die plaasromans, soos Matthee se bosromans, fokus op die (arm) wit Afrikaner se verbintenis met die Afrikalandskap.
Volgens Van Coller (2006:96) is die Afrikanerruimtes wat in die eerste golf plaasromans
uitgebeeld word, singewend, idillies, feodaal, mities, onvervreembaar, patriargaal, histories,
en religieus. Soortgelyk aan die eerste golf plaasromans voel die hoofkarakter in Moerbeibos,
Silas, tuis in die bos, ten spyte van die patriargale en byna feodale stelsels wat die houtkappergemeenskap verarm. Die bos word uitgebeeld as ’n idilliese ruimte waarin wette en mitiese
verbintenisse tussen die mens en die niemenslike heers, terwyl dit ook ’n ruimte is waarin die
bosgemeenskap in al Matthee se bosromans skynbaar deur beide die niemenslike en die
regerende Britse moondheid verwerp word.
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) voer aan dat die klem in die Afrikaanse letterkunde op die verbintenis tussen juis die sogenaamde armblanke en Afrikagrond deel uitmaak van die Afrikanernasionalistiese narratiewe waarin Afrikaneridentiteit, sowel as die Afrikaner
se aanspraak op Afrika, bevorder word. In hierdie artikel word Dalene Matthee se tweede
laaste bosroman, Moerbeibos (1987), vanuit Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) se werk in
kritiese witweesstudies geanaliseer. Deur te steun op Van Coller (2003; 2006) se omskrywing
van die Afrikalandskap soos uitgebeeld word in die plaasromans, sowel as die temas
teenwoordig in die plaasromans, word die uitbeelding van ’n Afrikanergemeenskap se aanspraak
op die Knysnabos en ook die afwesigheid van die Outeniqua-stam in Moerbeibos geanaliseer.
Die analise van Moerbeibos in hierdie artikel fokus op die vraag oor hoe die arm, wit
Afrikanergemeenskap in Moerbeibos as verstrengel met die niemenslike natuur uitgebeeld
word, en of hierdie uitbeelding ’n Afrikanernasionalistiese narratief bevorder. Om hierdie
vraag te beantwoord, sal daar eerstens ’n kort oorsig van die postkoloniale ekokritiek en
witweesstudies uiteengesit word waarvolgens Moerbeibos se temas in verband gebring sal
word met dié van die plaasromantradisie, soos deur Van Coller (2006) bespreek word.
