In the first of the major media
reviews for Devil’s Island, Malcolm Hacksley, curator of the English Language
Museum in Grahamstown had this to say about the book in the Afrikaans Sunday
newspaper Die Burger (that translates as ‘The Burgher’ into English and isn’t a
threat of violence against a popular fast food). Die Burger’s ownership of the
material and right to assert that ownership over the contents below is drawn to the reader’s
attention. For those Afrikaans speakers, I’ve included the original and then a
translation by Malcolm himself.
I think Malcolm has done a fine
job!
Twee jong Britte
bevind hulle tegelyk maar afsonderlik op ‘n haas onbewoonde tropiese eiland in
die Karibiese See. Elkeen dra sy eie skrikbeelde uit die verlede saam: die een
van sy wedervaringe as soldaat in die Afghaanse oorlog, die ander van die
molestering en marteling wat hy op kosskool aan die hand van sadistiese
onderwysers moes verduur. Altwee verwag dat die eiland vir hulle ontvlugting en
‘n mate van verlossing sal bied: Craig Worrall-Moore en sy meisie hou vakansie
op die eiland saam met slegs die rykstes van die wereld se rykes in ‘n hotel van
ondenkbare weelde; in teenstelling daarmee kom werk Andrew Roke as boeteling by
‘n sendingstasie in die eiland se digte bos na hy moord gepleeg het. Oor die
hele eiland hang die helse swaelreuk van ‘n lewendige vulkaan.
Dit is die
basiese gegewens in Devil’s Island, die eerste
roman van ‘n jong Johannesburgse skrywer. Wat hy daarop bou, is ‘n komplekse,
allegoriese, dog uiters realistiese en opwindende relaas van die
ewig-ononderbroke, eksplisiete stryd tussen die magte van die Bose en die Goeie.
Die boek sal
miskien gekritiseer kan word as Roomse propaganda – selfs as propaganda vir die
ouderwetse Latynse ritus van voor Vatikaan II – want heel gou besef die leser
hierdie is ‘n onbeskroomde strekkingsroman, maar ”Tendenz kan des hemels zijn”.
In hoe ‘n mate dit slaag, sal gedeeltelik van die leser se opvattinge afhang,
maar wat van Devil’s Island ‘n besondere leeservaring maak, is die verbysterende
maar geloofbare realisme waarmee die uitbeelding van die stryd om die mensesiel
– Rooms, Protestants of heidens – aangebied word. Die skrywer “Frank de Sales”
(waarskynlik ‘n skuilnaam: vgl. die Franse mistikus en heilige Francois de
Sales,1567-1622) ontmasker meedoënloos die bedrieglike skyn-aantreklikheid van
dit wat die meerderheid mense deesdae wêreldwyd nastreef en die katastrofiese
gevolge daarvan. Die bose word in sy hipermoderne gedaantes kaalvuis aan die
kaak gestel. De Sales se groot prestasie is dat hy die verhaal so meesleurend
vertel dat die leser sy siening beaam.
Aangesien hier
sprake is van werklike ontmoetings met die bose in lewende lywe is die
konsekwente realisme soms verbysterend. Woorde soos: nagmerrie, skrikwekkend,
grotesk, ontstellend, makaber, kru, walglik, en so meer duik voortdurend in die
leser se gemoed op, maar die boek kan jy nie neersit nie, so oortuigend
passievol is die vertelling.
Seevier die goeie
uiteindelik? Dalk wel, maar soos ons die wêreld ken, sal die stryd voortgesit
moet word tot die oordeelsdag toe. Frank de Sales het ‘n uitsonderlike tema met
moed, vernuf, verbeelding en groot skryfvaardigheid aangepak en daarin geslaag
om iets eietyds tot ‘n eeue-oue bespiegeling by te
voeg. ***
Two young Brits
find themselves separately but at the same time on a scarcely populated tropical
island in the Caribbean. Each bears the horrors
of his own past with him: one the memories of his experiences as a soldier in
the Afghan war, the other his recollections of childhood molestation and torture
at the hands of sadistic teachers at his boarding school. Both expect the island
to offer them relief, even an opportunity of escape: Craig Worrall-Moore and his
fiancee are holidaying on the island among the very wealthiest of the world’s
wealthy in a hotel of unimaginable luxury; in contrast, Andrew Roke comes to
work as a penitent in the dense jungle at an island mission station after
committing murder. The infernal sulphurous stench from an active volcano hangs
over the entire island.
These are the
foundations of Devil’s Island, a first novel by a young Johannesburg writer. What
he erects on them is a complex, allegorical, but utterly realistic and
enthralling account of the eternally uninterrupted, explicit battle between the
forces of Evil and Good.
The book may
perhaps be criticized as Roman Catholic propaganda – even as propaganda for the
old-fashioned pre-Vatican II Latin rite – for the reader realises very soon
that this is an unashamedly didactic novel – but even the didactic in the right
hands can be heavenly. The extent to which it succeeds here will depend partly
on the reader’s attitudes, but what makes Devil’s Island a remarkable reading
experience is the disconcerting but credible realism with which the battle for
the human soul – Catholic, Protestant or pagan – is presented. The author “Frank
de Sales” (probably a pseudonym: cf. the French mystic and saint Francois de
Sales,1567-1622) mercilessly unmasks the apparent but deceptive attractiveness
of what most people in the modern world strive to achieve and the catastrophic
effects of their striving. Evil is relentlessly exposed in many of its
hypermodern guises. De Sales’ great achievement is that he tells the tale so
grippingly that the reader willingly assents to his
views.
Since what is
presented here are real encounters with evil in bodily form, the sustained
realism can be shattering. Words like: nightmarish, terrifying, grotesque,
disturbing, macabre, crude, disgusting and so on keep cropping up in the
reader’s mind, but so passionate is the narrative that the book is
unput-down-able.
Does good triumph
in the end? Perhaps; but from what we know of the world, the battle will have to
be fought till Judgement Day. Frank de Sales has tackled a very unusual theme
with courage, intelligence, imagination and great narrative skill, and has
succeeded in making a fascinating contemporary contribution to an age-old
debate.