On the humanity in Decima

As part of our 'best of 2023' series, Wentzel Lombard writes how Decima puts the reader square in the middle of the anthropocene, and so allows us to question our relation to our own humanity.

In the opening pages of Eben Venter's Decima, one is reminded of the endless passage of time. His elderly mother, to whom the novel is dedicated, is nearing the end of her life as the writer grapples with the impending demise of the rhinoceros, not as an individual but as an entire species. In describing these creatures, Venter writes with a sense of wo…