Chains of Voices: Multiperspectivity and Historical ‘Truth’ in Three Novels by André Brink

Abstract

The essay examines three novels by André Brink, A Chain of Voices (1982), Devil’s Valley (1998) and Philida (2012), arguing that Brink uses the heteroglossia of various voices and their stories about the past to question and destabilize notions of historical truth. More specifically, the essay suggests that Brink presents an alternative past in A Chain of Voices, deconstructs the very notion of truth in Devil’s Valley, but offers a more traditional historical novel in Philida.