'Against extremity': Eben Venter's Horrelpoot and the quest for tolerance

Critical Arts, July, 2009 by Phil van Schalkwyk

Horrelpoot and the extreme

Eben Venter's (2006) Horrelpoot may be read against the backdrop outlined above. However, it seems as if Venter (2006) is evoking the tradition of the spectacular in a rather purposeful manner, as part of his deconstructive exploration of extremity and his indictment of the general neglect of deep-seated fear. Horrelpoot is also, partly, a present-day addition to what has become commonly known in South African literary circles as a white literature of dread (Van Schalkwyk 2007), (7) but also in this Venter (2006) displays an overtly critical distance.

In an interview with Johan Liebenberg (2006), Venter talks about his return to South Africa after 17 years in Australia. He says that, what revealed to him, more than anything else, the alarming proportions crime had reached in the Republic, were news reports about criminals digging up and stealing coffins. The general situation in South Africa strongly reminded him of Joseph Conrad's Heart of darkness. Venter's (2006) Horrelpoot not only takes up the graveyard theme, thereby recalling the novel The desecration of the graves by John Conyngham (1991), an important contributor to the literary tradition of dread, but is also quite emphatically encoded as a contemporary, specifically South African retake on Conrad's famous text. Furthermore, it asks to be read alongside Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse now.

The title of Venter's novel is significant: a 'horrelpoot' or clubfoot is a badly-shaped foot, twisted out of position. This suggests a relation with Oedipus, who suffered from a comparable deformity, which provides support for a psychoanalytical reading (Hambidge 2006:11). In fact, Oedipus means 'swollen foot', referring to the lasting effects of Oedipus' feet having been pierced and tied as a boy (with the aim to incapacitate him to such an extent that he would be unable to one day murder his father, as the prophecy had stated). The term 'horrelpoot' has a metonomic connection with the protagonist (Marlouw), and relates to his guilt-ridden relationship with his father and, indeed, his entire male ancestry.

Martin Louw (Marlouw), the clubfoot, sets out to South Africa, from his secure Australian existence, with the objective of finding his sister Heleen's only son, Koert. (8) The latter has reportedly established himself as a king or warlord on the family farm which had been bequeathed to the black former farm labourers. These new owners have allowed the farm to go to ruin within the context of perpetuated old regime patterns, as underlined by the fact that the name 'Ouplaas' (Old Farm) had been retained. This story constitutes an elaborate worst case scenario. South Africa is a wasteland: power stations have exploded one after the other, trees have been cut down for firewood, people are dying of starvation and AIDS, syndicates and dollars rule the roost. The names of the two main characters (Marlouw and Koert) clearly resonate with those in Heart of darkness, (9) which may leave the reader with the following perplexing question: why would Venter, in these post-colonial, post-apartheid times, choose to base his novel on a rather suspect European classic? (10)