Triomf

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This is the story of the four inhabitants of 127 Martha Street in the poor white suburb of Triomf. Living on the ruins of old Sophiatown, the freehold township razed to the ground as a so-called 'black spot', they await with trepidation their country's first democratic elections. It is a date that coincides fatefully with the fortieth birthday of Lambert, the oversexed misfit son of the house. There is also Treppie, master of misrule and family metaphysician; Pop, the angel of peace teetering on the brink of the grave; and Mol, the materfamilias in her eternal housecoat. Pestered on a daily basis by nosy neighbours, National Party canvassers and Jehovah's Witnesses, defenceless against the big city towering over them like a vengeful dinosaur, they often resort to quoting to each other the only consolation that they know; we still have each other and a roof over our heads. TRIOMF relentlessly probes Afrikaner history and politics, revealing the bizarre and tragic effect that apartheid had on exactly the white underclass who were most supposed to benefit. It is also a seriously funny investigation of the human endeavour to make sense of life even under the most abject of circumstances.

Reviews

'Darkly comic...has been hailed as a landmark. The novel is propelled by linguistic exuberance, robust, irreverent humour and self-parodic climaxes' GUARDIAN 'South Africa as you've never seen it: a tale of incest and white trash. Funny, feisty, ferociously clever. Read it.' - Gillian Slovo

Author Bio

Marlene van Niekerk was born in 1954 & grew up in the Caledon district of South Africa's Cape. She studied philosophy, languages & literature at several universities and is now associate professor of Afrikaans & Dutch literature at Stellenbosch University.