Thirteen Cents: A Novel

by K. Sello Duiker, Shaun Viljoen (Introduction)

Overview

Every city has an unspoken side. Cape Town, between the picture postcard mountain and sea, has its own shadow: a place of dislocation and uncertainty, dependence and desperation, destruction and survival, gangsters, pimps, pedophiles, hunger, hope, and moments of happiness. Living in this shadow is Azure, a thirteen-year-old who makes his living on the streets, a black teenager sought out by white men, beholden to gang leaders but determined to create some measure of independence in this dangerous world. Thirteen Cents is an extraordinary and unsparing account of a coming of age in Cape Town. Reminiscent of some of the greatest child narrators in literature, Azure’s voice will stay with the reader long after this short novel is finished. Based on personal experiences, Thirteen Cents is Duiker’s debut novel, originally published in 2000. This first edition to be published outside South Africa includes an introduction by Shaun Viljoen and a special glossary of South African words and phrases from the text translated into English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821444542
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2013
Series:	Modern African Writing Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	644 KB

About the Author

K. Sello Duiker was born and raised in Soweto, South Africa, and went on to study journalism at Rhodes University before moving to Cape Town. His varied experiences while living there form the basis of Thirteen Cents. He also wrote two other novels, The Quiet Violence of Dreams (2001) and The Hidden Star (published posthumously in 2006). Duiker was widely considered one of South Africa’s most promising young novelists before his untimely death in 2005 at the age of thirty.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Shaun Viljoen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Editorial Reviews

A 13-year old South African boy turns tricks in Cape Town in Duiker's emotional whiplash of a debut novel, available in the US for the first time. After his parents are murdered, blue-eyed Azure vows to live on his own amongst a violent community of children and cunning adults. He sleeps by a community swimming pool and earns money by parking cars or as a prostitute, meeting adult male clients and trading sexual acts for cash and an occasional meal. Knowing little to nothing about financial management, he gives his money to a woman who promises to safeguard it. Then, after accidentally calling a light-skinned gang leader by the name of one of his dark-skinned friends, Azure is beaten for days and confined to rooms and a rooftop, initiated into the gang against his will and renamed "Blue". He learns that the funds he assumed to be safe in a bank account have been stolen, and his limited trust towards adults transforms into hatred. But amidst the discomfort of disturbing content, hope glimmers in small yet poignant moments of selflessness. With lucid imagery fluctuating between dreams and rationalized escapism, Duiker—through genuine insight, a captivating voice, and candid child-narration—explores a world ruled by primary instinct. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Duiker is to literature what Steve Biko is to politics, both having died at the tender age of 30 but leaving indelible footprints in our collective memory."
-- Mail & Guardian

"K. Sello Duiker's short novel, Thirteen Cents is simultaneously gruesome, violent, deeply disturbing, whimsical, and beautiful.... Told from Azure's perspective, Duiker weaves a narrative that lays bare the violence, exploitation, racial and sexual politics found just under the surface of South African society."
-- Africa Is a Country

"A 13-year old South African boy turns tricks in Cape Town in Duiker's emotional whiplash of a debut novel, available in the US for the first time.... With lucid imagery fluctuating between dreams and rationalized escapism, Duiker--through genuine insight, a captivating voice, and candid child-narration--explores a world ruled by primary instinct." --Publishers Weekly

"This entry in the Modern African Writing series, dotted with slang and obscenities in various languages, holds the reader with its vivid descriptions of the gorgeous setting, with the striking portrayal of the physicality of Azure's daily life--the misery and the beauty of rain, the joy of keeping warm--and, finally, with the magical realism of his escape, which brings the recognition of those we know are out there, but we do not see." --Booklist

"A gritty, dagga-infused tour through a Cape Town underworld of street children, hustlers, and cruising 'johns.'"--Anderson Tepper, Words without Borders

From the Publisher