The Persistence of Memory"The novel opens in the early 1970s. Its hero, Paul Sweetbread, a young boy in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, discovers that he is endowed with the "poisoned gift" of a perfect memory. This is a dangerous thing to have in a society where the official story is everything. His teachers spout the government's sanitized version of history, and most of the white population seek safety in what Paul describes as the "national dysmnesia, the art of the rose-colored recall." By remembering, Paul finds himself unwittingly revealing the cruelties that underlie the pleasant blandness of suburban life in a time of political upheaval, the difficulties of being Jewish under Afrikaner nationalism, and the dark secret behind his father's tragic death. He is soon at odds with his authoritarian teachers, his schoolfellows, and even his doting mother, a character seemingly plucked out of a Checkhov story.". |
Contents
Section 1 | 8 |
Section 2 | 13 |
Section 3 | 21 |
Section 4 | 49 |
Section 5 | 52 |
Section 6 | 56 |
Section 7 | 62 |
Section 8 | 63 |
Section 18 | 164 |
Section 19 | 170 |
Section 20 | 188 |
Section 21 | 189 |
Section 22 | 195 |
Section 23 | 197 |
Section 24 | 207 |
Section 25 | 216 |
Section 9 | 67 |
Section 10 | 92 |
Section 11 | 98 |
Section 12 | 112 |
Section 13 | 119 |
Section 14 | 126 |
Section 15 | 149 |
Section 16 | 152 |
Section 17 | 155 |
Section 26 | 246 |
Section 27 | 272 |
Section 28 | 287 |
Section 29 | 288 |
Section 30 | 297 |
Section 31 | |
Section 32 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Afrikaans afternoon Alini Angola apartheid army Boer boerewors bushmen called camp Capeland Captain Lyddie Casspir child cook Corinthia dark Deon Dini dinner door drink drive eyes face father feel film Fynbos Gemsbok girl give going gotten guys hair hand head hear jeep Jock Johannesburg jokes kaffir keep kitchen Koevoet laugh legs living look Lyddie Lyddie says Lyddie's memory Miss Tompkins morning Mother mouth move MPLA murmur Namibia never nice Nigel night Oshakati Owambo Owamboland Pretoria pull Rinkhals Roelof Rooibos SADF Sedgewick Sergeant Fynbos shot sleep smell smile soldiers someone Sophiatown South African South-West Africa standing stop story sure Swapo Sweetbread talk tell there's thing thought told Tony Eprile township troepie turn Vish voice Voortrekker walk watch woman words young Zulu