The Expedition to the Baobab Tree

"The Expedition to the Baobab Tree", ink and digital, 2013-2014
Illustration for "The Expedition to the Baobab Tree" byWilma Stockenström, translated by J. M. Coetzee, on Asymptote. This excerpt is from a novel from 1987, that will be re-published in april this year.

From the publisher, Archipelago books: "In J.M.Coetzee’s stunning translation: a powerfully symbolic story in the voice of a slave that explores the depths of imagination, isolation, fear, and love. A slave woman is the only survivor of a failed expedition into the depths of Southern Africa. She shelters in the hollow trunk of a baobab tree where she relives her earlier existence in a state of increasing isolation. We are the sole witnesses to her moving history: her capture as a young child, her life in a harbor city on the eastern coast as servant to various masters, her journey with her last owner and protector, and her life in the baobab tree." 

 Read the full text here