The article, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, from the Atlantic opened up a window for me to see a small piece of South African politics that I have until today been utterly unaware of. In this respect, it engages and informs me, however, I find it hard to respond to because it is so in depth and detailed about things I am not familiar with. In addition I found the description of Zuma on page one to be quite powerful as well as the transition to his home.
It’s interesting that Douglas Foster writes about Zuma’s life narrative as he is in fact writing a portion of it—does that make sense? It’s on page three, he points out that “periodic recklessness, reined in by the collective leadership of the ANC, has traced the narrative of Zuma’s life”. I wondered while I read how much of the author’s information comes from Zuma himself and what other sources were used. I felt that I was bogged down in details that took me away from where the story would end up—maybe I just wasn’t focused enough or maybe I would have to be more attached to politics to really feel a connection to the piece but I really had trouble connecting. The ending, though, was very powerful.
Foster seems to have a connection anyway. Most of his writing sounded like he knew Zuma very well. What other people’s thoughts? Did anyone else feel this way?
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