Nthikeng Mohlele’s latest novel, Breasts, etc. offers a profound expression of terror and delight. The savouring of the pleasures of femininity is tempered by the dread of the apocalyptic vision of a world emptied of women. The narrative is a physical, intellectual and spiritual appreciation of breasts as the ultimate embodiment of femininity. Yet, it is also a narrative meditation on the impending advent of a bleak and desolate world bereft of the graces of femininity. The story unfolds through the lens of the narrator-protagonist, later revealed to be James Baldwin, who straddles the two parallel worlds of delight and terror, against the backdrop of contemporary city of Johannesburg.
James Baldwin’s fascination with breasts can be traced back to a pivotal childhood memory involving his friend Winnie, fondly remembered as “Winnie of the bathtub.” This memory marks his first encounter with a living, breathing nude woman, leaving an indelible impact on him. His other pivotal moment dubbed by the narrator as the “second collision with breasts” occurs during his university years when he meets Olivia, igniting a lifelong obsession with breasts.
This fixation with the “divine power of breasts” propels James Baldwin into a successful career in portrait photography. His business grows from his modest “Irreplaceable Portraits” studio in Highlands Park to the esteemed “Humans in the Nude Studios” in Hyde Park, earning a reputation as the city’s premier ‘breast archivist’ with aspirations to export his craft to the other well-known cities around the globe. His work introduces him to a diversity of clients who come with enriching and sometimes dreadful experiences. Overall, his work and career is fulfilling, with tinge of danger which he has so far managed to survive unscathed.
However, the entry of a client named Esmeralda Abedienne radically alters the course of James’s life. His thriving Hyde Park studio closes down as he becomes ensnared by the delightful beauty and magnificence of Esmeralda. James pays tribute to Esmeralda’s captivating physical beauty, magnificent intellect and awe-inspiring spirituality by saying: “Esmeralda Abedienne was a force of nature, a fountain of bliss and companionship, with breasts that, at the risk of blasphemy, imposed and insisted on total worship and subservience” (111).
Mohlele’s narrative offers a unique perspective on the apocalyptic demise of the world. Unlike other narratives that use this device to critique contemporary society, here, it serves to underscore and invoke appreciation of the everyday pleasures and comforts we often take for granted. The apocalyptic vision portrays a world devoid of femininity, demonstrating women’s pivotal role they play for the continuity of human life, the narrator-protagonist reflects: “…men will one day be punished for their transgressions in the world─that that punishment might be extreme, evolve into an existential crisis […] I cannot shake the nagging feeling that the emptying of the world of women will come to pass…” (32).
The narrative meditation on the impending doom challenges readers to appreciate the everyday comforts and pleasures of the feminine presence. This presence and its associated delights can only be honored and may be better appreciated by imagining a world deprived of womanhood and its ennobling qualities.
Superficially, the novel might seem to validate the heterosexual male gaze and objectification of women, when some of the narrator-protagonist’s expressions about breasts are taken out of context and at face value like the following: ‘breasts as sensual standard of all things timeless and wonderful’. However, a more comprehensive reading reveals that the novel emphasizes the intellectual and spiritual aspects of breasts as the quintessential symbols of femininity. Readers are urged to look beyond the physical and recognise breasts as erotic symbols with deep intellectual and spiritual dimensions.
It is indeed the narrator-protagonist himself who later cautions readers against reducing breasts to mere objects of desire, reminding us that women, adorned with these symbols of pleasure and magnetism, also excel in various roles, from scientific endeavors to leading multinational corporations. The novel invites us to acknowledge the profound power of breasts as symbols of holistic femininity that ensures the continuity of human life on Earth. The apocalyptic backdrop serves as a stark warning, underscoring the importance of treasuring and revering this important dimension of human life. Ultimately the narrative affirms that failure of society to appreciate and value femininity as the essential component of life would imperil the survival of the human species, as the narrator aptly confirms: “…for erotic lives to be cultivated, men must first be born and dying ones replaced─ something entirely unworkable without the power of femininity, of womanhood” (105).