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07 Jan / Nervous Conditions by by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Nervous ConditionsThe first sentence of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s semi-autobiographical novel sets a haunting tone: “I was not sorry when my brother died.” With his death, 13-year-old Tambu is presented with a profound opportunity: even though she’s a girl, as the now-eldest child in her poor village family in 1960s colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), she is promised an education and – for better or for worse – her life will be forever changed. By the end of just the first paragraph, Tambu reveals what happens to the women most important in her life: “… my story is not at all about death, but about my escape and Lucia’s; about my mother’s and Maiguru’s entrapment; and about Nyasha’s rebellion …” In simple, powerful prose, Tambu recounts the path of her education – her “escape” – and the lives of the others she leaves behind.

Tambu’s uncle who is the family patriarch, his wife and their two children, have recently returned from England where they have experienced a lifestyle virtually unimaginable by their rural relatives. Her uncle and his family now reside in great comfort in the town mission – a colonial enclave – where he serves as the school headmaster. Tambu joins the privileged household in her late brother’s place, and grows especially close to her cousin Nyasha whose exposure to the West is reflected in her behavior towards her parents, both fascinating and shocking to the more traditional Tambu.

While Nyasha’s relationship with her parents disintegrates, and the friction between her aunt and uncle escalates, Tambu quietly, eagerly revels in her education. She finds returning to the remote family homestead with her philandering father and long-suffering mother especially challenging. In spite of her uncle’s initial objections, Tambu eventually applies for and is accepted into a prestigious boarding school run by nuns, and distances herself further from her family.

The story with its deceptively simple narrative is a devastating record of the cost of education in the midst of highly-charged struggles of race, class, and gender. Tambu’s “escape” comes at the cost of her family, of all that is familiar, and still she remains an outsider, never quite an equal in her European-dominated colonial world. Meanwhile, knowledge and experience cannot save her cousin Nyasha, or her aunt Maiguru, who are unable to resolve their western ‘freedom’ with their return to the restrictive traditions of their homeland. The road to education proves to be an unpredictable journey, both blessed and damning, enlightening and ensnaring, literally a matter of life and death.

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 1988, 1989 (United States)

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Young Adult Readers Tags > Assimilation, BookDragon, Colonialism, Coming-of-age, Family, Gender inequity, Historical, Identity, Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga
2 Comments
  • Pingback:This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga [in Booklist] | BookDragon Reply
  • Karl Smithe

    I just discovered this novel. I got an electronic version and used a program called AIReader to read it to me. It is nice to read and drive at the same time.

    Personally I have a problem with this book. It is a matter of what she does not talk about and reviewers don’t either. Computer readable books make it easy to search for and count words.

    “education” is used 35 times
    “educated” is used 33 times

    Who decides what education is?

    The words ‘science’, ‘scientific’ and ‘scientist’ are not in the book.

    My mother sent me to a Catholic elementary school. They never taught science. My sister told me that a nun said, “science and religion don’t mix.” Europeans are in a dominant position in the world because of technology. So who defines and controls education? Comparing Romeo and Juliet to West Side Story in 11th grade never helped me in later life.

    Starting to read science fiction in 4th grade did. I went to college for Electrical Engineering and worked for IBM.

    So where are the tablet computers running PLATO software in Zimbabwe? LOL

    It’s a different world now.

    Reply

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