Who really cares if the ancestors are angry? A.C. Jordan's The wrath of the ancestors ‘Inqgumbo yeminyanya’

Abstract

The wrath of the ancestors is a sensational, if not admirably haunting, tide for a novel. In this novel Jordan goes beyond the surface emotions of the wrathful ancestors, and puts much effort into the preparation of his readers for those incidents of the story that ‘involve’ ancestor participation. Furthermore, there exists a well-guarded mutual relationship between the ancestors and the living throughout the novel. In order to thoroughly scrutinize this relationship, one needs also to screen those characters best associated with the ancestors, a process that may further help to demonstrate how much it means for these characters to maintain this relationship, and whether it would cost them anything at all if the relationship was suddenly curtailed or virtually stopped, as Nobantu's act of killing the sacred snake might suggest. The title of the article is drawn from that spirit of investigation.