Nelson Mandela is a universal symbol of what is good in this world. His ability to forgive, his compassion for people and his burning desire to see the end of all oppression place him among the greatest advocates for peace the world has ever seen. But it wasn’t always so. For decades he was reviled (by certain political groups) as a terrorist. By his own admission he isn’t saint material. He had a reputation as a womaniser and his revered stance of non-violence was tactical and not based on principles. All of this and more comes to light in the latest book about Mandela, which was released on 12 October 2010. Conversations with Myself is not strictly an autobiography (although some of its contents come from pages he was writing as an intended follow-up to Long Walk to Freedom), nor is it a biography.
Peter Godwin calls Conversations with Myself a “literary album”. The book consists of notes and letters Mandela wrote while in prison as well as taped conversations and documents of his life as a political activist and South Africa’s first democratically elected president.
The consensus among reviewers is that the book doesn’t provide any new or startling revelations; instead it shows us glimpses of what the real Nelson Mandela is like, behind the public façade, behind the myth. In a review for the Guardian, Godwin (famous for his books on Mugabe’s Zimbabwean rule) says that Conversations with Myself is “intensely moving, raw and unmediated, told in real time with all the changes in perspective that brings, over the years, mixing the prosaic with the momentous. Health concerns, dreams, political initiatives spill out together, to provide the fullest picture yet of Mandela”.
We are allowed to peek into the thought processes that led to Mandela’s negotiations with the ruling National Party and that set the country on the road to democracy. We see his self-criticism and his lack of confidence as a national leader. As well as his humanity and gratitude towards all the people who lent him support and kept him going while he was in prison.
In a review for the Telegraph, Graham Boynton praises the book for revealing Mandela for what he is: “extraordinarily self-disciplined and with a capacity to forgive his persecutors”. Unlike Long Walk to Freedom, Conversations with Myself offers personal insights into Mandela’s mind. Boynton says, “What comes across is that Mandela is an African leader from another age, at once regal, conservative and chivalrous and at the same time emotionally reticent, seemingly unable to express spontaneous warmth about those closest to him”. Although he adds that it’s unlikely anyone will ever know the whole truth about Nelson Mandela. And, in truth, would we want to?
Conversations with Myself will be published in 22 countries and 20 languages around the world. It is available from all good bookstores and has a recommended selling price of R296.
Image courtesy of White House Photograph Office, Clinton Administration
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
