''The Persistence of Memory'' is a novel by

Tony Eprile Tony Eprile is a South African writer. Early life Tony Eprile was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955 to Jewish parents. He emigrated with his parents to the United States between 1970 and 1972 and lives in Vermont. He has taught at Nor ...

. It was published in 2004 by W. W. Norton & Company. The story portrays 1960s and 1970s

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

through the experiences of Paul Sweetbread, a young Jewish South African with a

photographic memory Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...

. The novel follows Paul from his experiences in school, through his service in the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

during the country's border war, to his participation in the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

. The novel deals heavily with the question of white liberal guilt during the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the book as "a fascinating picture of white South Africa, an anatomy of the liberal conscience -- both sympathetic and scathing -- that resonates far beyond its immediate setting".

Awards

''The Persistence of Memory'' won the 2005

Koret Jewish Book Award The Koret Jewish Book Award is an annual award that recognizes "recently published books on any aspect of Jewish life in the categories of biography/autobiography and literary studies, fiction, history and philosophy/thought published in, or transla ...

for fiction.

References

2004 American novels Apartheid novels Novels set during the South African Border War 21st-century South African novels American historical novels Novels set in South Africa W. W. Norton & Company books {{Apartheid-sa-novel-stub