Advanced Review: Mandela Et Le General

John Carlin and Oriol Malet“s “Mandela and the General”“ is a graphic novel that returns to apartheid South Africa just before (and after) Nelson Mandela“s release from his 27-year stint in prison. Carlin, who was the South Africa correspondent for the UK“s Independent newspaper from 1989-1995 was one of the journalists who became known for capturing the nuances and the political complexity of South Africa“s transition out of apartheid and Mandela“s crafty management of post-Apartheid South Africa“s brutal political terrain. Carlin“s previous work on these subjects ”“ Knowing Mandela (2013) and Playing the Enemy (2008) ”“ have been critically acclaimed and each has helped to establish Carlin as a journalist of record with respect to the political life of the late Nelson Mandela. Playing the Enemy was eventually adapted into the popular film Invictus.

So in this sense ”“ in the sense that Carlin is an established authority on the political life of Nelson Mandela ”“ it makes sense that he would write a graphic novel, capturing one of the most critical moments in South Africa“s national history. He knows the source material well. And in fact, he is in “Mandela Et Le General” as himself, the journalist interviewing the general ”“ General Constand Viljoen. Viljoen is a historical figure who will be challenging for some readers to identify with and those same readers will shudder at the idea that there will also be many readers around the world who will willingly and enthusiastically identify with Viljoen, and “Mandela Et Le General“s”“ unfortunate point of view.

“Mandela and the General” is told from the point of view of the general. It would be more aptly titled “The General and Mandela” or “The General and the Last Gasp of Apartheid.” General Viljoen is a white supremacist and a military hero of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or AWB, a neo-Nazi paramilitary organization that only became a political party after its threats of starting a South African race war failed in the face of Mandela“s “kill them with kindness”“ leadership strategy. Some of the graphic novel“s scenes of the AWB meetings and rallies look like photographs shot in Nazi Germany while others look like they could be story boards for Amazon Prime“s “Man in the High Castle.”“ Either way, it is difficult to feel compassion as a reader for the general, who in fact is a colonizer who hates South African Blacks because they are Black and whose warped view of South African history is the model for contemporary white nationalism and the white supremacy that is festering in America and in the UK as we speak.

Many readers will identify with the violent antics of the AWB and some may even feel vindicated by the expression of their ideology through the lens of General Viljoen“s barely conflicted perspective on the history of Apartheid. I can imagine the Proud Boys including “Mandela and the General” on their “Intro to White Nationalism”“ syllabus. But even though this is a graphic novel about race and politics in South Africa in the late-20th Century, let“s set both of these issues aside for a moment. “Mandela and the General” suffers from other challenges beyond its colonial perspective and its comfort with white supremacist ideology.

The book is criminally under-edited. There are too many typos and simple proof-readable errors throughout. The miscues disrupt the reading experience and give readers a sense that not much care was given to the manuscript preparation process. The lettering does not meet the professional standards of the market place and at times it appears like there was little or no communication between the editor and the letterer. Orthographic spacing and spelling mistakes can be found throughout the book. Hopefully all of these errors are somehow rectified between the advance copy and the market copy. Otherwise, what is a sincere attempt to tell a complex story from a challenging perspective will be lost on the altar of editorial challenges. 2/5

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byÂ John CarlinÂ (Author),Â Oriol MaletÂ (Artist)