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The Madonna of Excelsior: Narrating Transformative Possibilities

NS Zulu, Department of African Languages, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
nsz@akad.sun.ac.za

This paper is a response to the narrative voice of The Madonna of Excelsior. The paper examines what the collective voice of the novels says about the crossing of boundaries and identities. The first part of the novel shows that the transformation of the polarized South African society is eventually inevitable, desirable and possible for normalization of life. In order to achieve such transformation, the collective voice of the novel makes the Immorality Act the object of its satire. In this sense the collective voice shows the failure of apartheid nationalism and its master narrative. The alternative offered by The Madonna of Excelsior in the second part of the novel is a transforming macrocosm - the South African society that grapples with crossing apartheid’s borders. The novel thus shows that the crossing of such borders is a process characterized by cultural contacts, transgressions and contestations that reduce cultural polarization and offer possibilities of social transformation.