The Utopian Generation

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The Utopian Generation

by
Pepetela

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

Title:	The Utopian Generation
Author:	Pepetela
Genre:	Novel
Written:	1992 (Eng. 2024)
Length:	470 pages
Original in:	Portuguese
Availability:	The Utopian Generation - US
	The Utopian Generation - UK
	The Utopian Generation - Canada
	La génération de l'utopie - France

	from: Bookshop.org (US)

Portuguese title: A geração da utopia
Translated and with a Preface by David Brookshaw

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Our Assessment:

B+ : solid and engaging

See our review for fuller assessment.

Review Summaries
Source	Rating	Date	Reviewer
World Lit. Today	.	Fall/1993	Gerald Moser

From the Reviews:

"Pepetela's latest novel is remarkable on several counts. (...) Pepetela skillfully gives recent social history a fictional format. He avoids autobiography, but it is obvious that at least one of the chief characters, Anibal, a clear-sighted, clear-thinking black intellectual of unusual honesty and principle, reflects the author's manner (.....) A Geração da utopia provides a unique vision of the recent turbulent history of Angolan society as seen by a disillusioned revolutionary." - Gerald Moser, World Literature Today,

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

The Utopian Generation is presented in four parts, covering some thirty years, jumping forward roughly a decade at a time, the sections dated: 1961, 1972, then more specifically April 1982, and July 1991. The four main figures are Angolan, but the first part is set in colonial power Portugal's capital, Lisbon, under the regime of totalitarian ruler António de Oliveira Salazar, as the main characters have all been living in Portugal for a while. The quartet consists of: Malongo, signed by leading Portuguese football (soccer) club Benefica -- but, after four years, still not having played his way onto the first team --; his roommate Vítor, halfheartedly pursuing his studies; Aníbal, who has completed his studies and is now doing his obligatory military service; and Sara, just about to finish her medical degree.
Each part of the novel centers on one of the four -- the first on Sara, though it also introduces the other three and features them quite prominently. This section, set in 1961, is titled 'The Casa', after the Casa dos Estudantes do Império, "where the young coming from Africa met". The Angolan independence movement has been taking shape: among the guerilla groups already active for several years is the União dos Povos de Angola (changing its name to the FNLA in 1961) -- though it is decried by Aníbal as: "a northern tribal movement, and racist to boot" --, while another has also recently been stirring things up: "It's called the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the MPLA" -- with Aníbal noting:

Forget the name. That doesn't matter. It's the program that's important.

       The Portuguese are intent on cracking down on the uprisings in the colony, and Aníbal knows he is likely to soon be sent to fight -- on behalf of the oppressors -- in his homeland. Malongo is the least political of the group, but he too faces being called up for military service if he can't hang on at Benefica -- and, given his love of partying and womanizing (he is going out with Sara, but cheats on her regularly), his chances are slipping. Vítor is more politically engaged, while Sara wishes to support what she considers her homeland -- Angola -- but is often looked upon with some suspicion by others because she is white.
       It is a time of turning points in 1961: Malongo's future at Benefica is decided, while Aníbal has to decide whether to desert while he still can -- and how best to support the independence movement. Sara graduates and has to decide where her future lies -- a future that wll include the child she is carrying. (Sara is presented as impressively independent, willing -- and confident enough that she'll be able -- to take care of the child by herself if father Malongo doesn't want to be involved, knowing also that her family will be shocked by her having a child out of wedlock and with a Black man (and a mere -- and not very successful -- football player at that).)
       The more or less twenty-somethings in 1961 are idealists and have clear ideas about their ambitions, in particular to see their homeland free and independent. Well, all save Malongo, who lives pretty much just for the moment and, for the most part, is exceptionally poor at thinking or planning much ahead. These are times when, as even Malongo comes to realize:

At the end of the day, politics was something that affected everyone, even those who didn't want anything to do with it. It wasn't any use saying, "I don't give a hoot about politics."

The others believe in the possibility of a bright future, worth fighting for -- with only a colleague of Sara's, Marta, clear-headedly (and presciently) recognizing (about Aníbal in particular):

The so-called revolution ahead of him isn't going to be what he imagined. No revolution ever matches the dreams of its dreamers. [...] Revolutions are to free people, and they do so when they're successful. But only for one fleeting moment. The next moment, they wear out. And they become rotting corpses that the so-called revolutionaries have to carry around on their backs for the rest of their lives. [...] [A] dreamer is a utopian. Worse than I am. He either dies or becomes disillusioned, there's no other alternative.

Already in the novel's first pages we learn that Vítor: "would one day assume the name Worldly" and that Aníbal: "would later be known as Wisdom", so their futures as guerilla fighters in the Movement comes as no surprise. The novel's second part shifts to Angola, in 1972, more than a decade into the drawn-out conflict with Portugal. The focus here is on Vítor; not insignificantly, for much of the story here, he finds himself alone, trying to make his way to the border and Zambia. The revolution has not failed, but it is nowhere near success, either; it sputters on, with many of the reasons why it has not succeeded addressed -- not least, that many in the Movement are not in it purely out of idealism but rather using the conflict and circumstances for their own benefit.
The third part takes place in April 1982: Angola has achieved independence by this time -- Portugal withdrawing from its colonies with the fall of Salazar in 1974 -- but the clash between the MPLA and UNITA made for a continuing civil war. The action here, however, takes place in the out-of-the-way oceanside spot near Benguela that Aníbal has retreated to -- far from the national capital, Luanda, that place: "beyond redemption, all that's bad comes from there". Aníbal -- 'Wisdom' -- had been an important figure in the Movement, and had spent time in training in the Soviet Union and North Korea, but he's been disillusioned and now lives the simplest of lives, away from it all. As Orlando, the beau of Malongo and Sara's daughter Judite, sums up in the final section, another decade on:

He's not crazy, far from it. But he's far too clear-headed for some people's taste. He saw the whole film unroll before it even happened. He's bitter, without a doubt, but that just shows he's clear-minded.

The final part takes place in July 1991 -- a hopeful Pepetela, writing this in 1992, believing the Bicesse Accords (the peace agreement reached in early 1991) to have really taken hold (they didn't; the country was back at war by late 1992, after Pepetela had completed his novel ...) -- where: "Now there's democracy. Everyone can have their say".
Vítor is a government minister, enjoying the perks of high office and Malongo has become a successful businessman -- Aníbal summing up:

The fundamental problem is that Malongo and Vítor are the new bourgeoisie, those who have grown rich or are planning to get rich in the shadow of the State, and behave like nouveaux riches, with all that's tragic and ridiculous about the term.

Malongo admits as much, at least to himself -- though the way he puts it is: "Yes, I've become a white man" (complete with driving a Volvo ...); the houseboy he fires puts it more bluntly: "You're like a colonist, worse than a colonist".
Pepetela -- roughly the same age as his four protagonists -- has a character note in this final section:

“It’s getting to the point when the history of this whole thing will have to be told,” Orlando said. “How a generation embarks on a glorious struggle for independence and then destroys itself. But it seems that the people of your generation aren’t capable of telling it. And I’m not sure whether my generation, people who are now thirty, can either. We were castrated at birth.

       Rather than sprawling, detailed epic, Pepetela jumps from one short period in modern Angolan history to the next. The four parts of the novel are more than snapshots, and look well beyond the narrow focus on one or another of the main figures, but the perspective is often that of what is on the periphery -- whether Lisbon, so far away from Angola, or then in the second and third sections, where Vítor and then Aníbal are more or less by themselves in isolated places for long stretches. Events -- and politics, in particular -- always have an effect however; they are inescapable, with each of the characters dealing differently with them. It's an effective presentation, giving a good picture of Angola and how it changed over the course of those three decades.
       Spread across four characters who go largely very separate ways -- though their paths cross at times -- and such a long period of time, The Utopian Generation gives a good general sense of the characters but can't devote adequate attention to all their different paths over the years, and with the main focus shifting from one to another across the four parts one can't learn enough about some of them. It's a realistic presentation of how old friends go their different ways and manage only to keep in loose touch -- while also remaining, in their personalities and ways, much the same -- but one would like to know more about some of their stages across this long time.
       The Utopian Generation is a different kind of (near contemporary-)historical novel -- in some ways very basic, with Pepetela not having his characters engage in much theoretical debate (though some is touched on) and the writing very straightforward, with few frills. It makes for a good, solid read -- capturing and presenting a good picture of this 'utopian generation' with these representative figures, as well as of the quagmire that was Angola over these years.

- M.A.Orthofer, 29 July 2024

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Links:

The Utopian Generation:

Biblioasis publicity page
Présence Africaine publicity page

Reviews:

Pepetela:

Pepetela at Mertin Witt Literary Agency

Other books by Pepetela under review:

Other books of interest under review:

See Index of Portuguese literature
See Index of books from and about Africa

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About the Author:

Pepetela (actually: Artur Carlos Maurício Pestana dos Santos) was born in Benguela in 1941. He is one of Angola's leading writers.

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