Literature of South Africa
Encyclopedia
South African literature is the literature of South Africa which has 11 national languages, Afrikaans
, English, Zulu
, Xhosa
, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana
, Venda
, SiSwati, Tsonga
, and Ndebele
.
(cf. Cullhed, 2006: 79) writes, “Nationalism, like patriarchy, favours singleness—one identity, one growth pattern, one birth and blood for all . . . [and] will promote specifically unitary or ‘one-eyed’ forms of consciousness.” The first problem any student of South African literature is confronted with, is the diversity of the literary systems. Gerrit Olivier notes, "While it is not unusual to hear academics and politicians talk about a 'South African literature', the situation at ground level is characterised by diversity and even fragmentation". Robert Mossman adds that "One of the enduring and saddest legacies of the apartheid system may be that no one – White, Black, Coloured (meaning of mixed-race in South Africa), or Asian – can ever speak as a "South African." The problem, however, pre-dates Apartheid significantly, as South Africa is a country made up of communities that have always been linguistically and culturally diverse. These cultures have all retained autonomy to some extent, making a compilation such as the controversial Southern African Literatures by Michael Chapman, difficult. Chapman raises the question:
South Africa has 11 national languages, Afrikaans
, English, Zulu
, Xhosa
, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana
, Venda
, SiSwati, Tsonga
, and Ndebele
. Any definitive literary history of South Africa should, it could be argued, discuss literature produced in all eleven languages. But the only literature ever to adopt characteristics that can be said to be 'national', is Afrikaans. Olivier argues, "Of all the literatures in South Africa, Afrikaans literature has been the only one to have become a national literature in the sense that it developed a clear image of itself as a separate entity, and that by way of institutional entrenchment through teaching, distribution, a review culture, journals, etc. it could ensure the continuation of that concept." Part of the problem is that English literature has been seen within the greater context of English writing in the world, and has, because of English's global position as lingua franca, not been seen as autonomous or indigenous to South Africa – in Olivier’s words, "English literature in South Africa continues to be a sort of extension of British or international English literature." The African languages, on the other hand, are spoken across the borders of Southern Africa, e.g. Tswana which is spoken in Botswana, and Tsonga in Zimbabwe, and Sotho in Lesotho. South Africa's borders were drawn up by the British Empire
, and like all other colonies, these borders were drawn without regard for the people living within them. Therefore: in a history of South African literature, do we include all Tswana writers, or only the ones with South African citizenship? Chapman bypasses this problem by including 'Southern' African literatures. The second problem with the African languages is accessibility, because since the African languages are regional languages, none of them can claim the readership on a national scale comparable to Afrikaans and English. Sotho, for instance, while transgressing the national borders of the RSA, is on the other hand mainly spoken in the Free State
, and bears very little relation to the language of Natal
for example, Zulu. So the language cannot claim a national readership, while on the other hand being ‘international’ in the sense that it transgresses the national borders.
Olivier argues that "There is no obvious reason why it should be unhealthy or abnormal for different literatures to co-exist in one country, each possessing its own infrastructure and allowing theoreticians to develop impressive theories about polysystems". Yet political idealism proposing a unified 'South Africa' (a remnant of the colonial British approach) has seeped into literary discourse and demands a unified national literature, which does not exist and has to be fabricated. It is unrealistic to ever think of South Africa and South African literature as homogenous, now or in the near or distant future, since the only reason it is a country at all is the interference of European colonial powers. This is not a racial issue, but rather has to do with culture, heritage and tradition (and indeed the constitution celebrates diversity). Rather, it seems more sensible to discuss South African literature as literature produced within the national borders by the different cultures and language groups inhabiting these borders. Otherwise the danger is emphasising one literary system at the expense of another, and more often than not, the beneficiary is English, with the African languages being ignored. The distinction 'black' and 'white' literature is further a remnant of colonialism that should be replaced by drawing distinctions between literary systems based on language affiliation rather than race.
and in particular Dutch
. It has its origins in the 17th century, but was only officially recognised in 1875 when the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners was established. Afrikaans is spoken throughout South Africa, and is the mother tongue of both whites and coloureds (in the South African sense, meaning a specific independent culture rather than the disparaging European or American use of the term). The literary history is thus short, but surprisingly vibrant. The major literary histories are HP Van Coller's Perspektief en Profiel, JC Kannemeyer's Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse literatuur, and Dekker's Afrikaanse Literatuurgeskiedenis. Lewis Nkosi (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 18) claims that “in South Africa there exists an unhealed—I will not say incurable—split between black and white writing.” This split occurs because, Nkosi claims, black writers are “largely impervious for the most part to cultural movements which have exercised great influence in the development of white writing.” The Afrikaans literary system, in contrast to the African languages, engages with European artistic movements such as Symbolism
, expressionism
, modernism
, post-modernism, Dadaism and the like, offering literature familiar to a European or American audience.
and Langenhoven
, who wrote the national anthem (Die Stem). Early poetry often deal with the Anglo-Boer War, and it is only in the 1930s that poetry reaches a significant literary standard. N. P. van Wyk Louw
is the vanguard of the new movement, called Dertigers, along with his brother WEG Louw, and Elizabeth Eybers, although they were all to write in future literary periods. Olivier notes Van Wyk Louw's predominance: "It was only in the Thirties that a fully developed theory about Afrikaans as a national literature was launched by the erudite poet, N P van Wyk Louw, in his two collections of essays Lojale verset (1939) and Berigte te velde (1939)". Van Wyk Louw introduced international literary theories and movements into the South African literary scene on a much larger scale than any of his predecessors, and his "theory provided the intellectual and philosophical space within which poets and novelists could exercise their craft without fear of transgression; in short, it became the paradigm for Afrikaans literature" (Olivier).
DJ Opperman started writing in the 1940s, and was to have a particularly prominent role with his anthology, Groot Verseboek. The next major paradigm shift came in the 1960s, with TT Cloete and Ingrid Jonker
, who, after her death, attained cult status. Cloete et al. discuss this literary watershed in Rondom Sestig. TT Cloete is further noteworthy for his compilation, Literêre Terme en Teorieë (1992), which is one of the most encompassing works on literary theory available on the global market, although written in Afrikaans. Some modern poets of note include Joan Hambidge
, Hennie Aucamp
, Ernst van Heerden
, Antjie Krog
and Gert Vlok Nel
. Breyten Breytenbach
is regarded by many as one of the best, if not the best, Afrikaans poet. He spent a number of years in prison for his political beliefs during apartheid and later lived in France. Breytenbach's latest work, "Die windvanger" was published in 2007. The major poetry anthologies are DJ Opperman's Groot Verseboek, Foster and Viljoen's Poskaarte, Gerrit Komrij's controversial Die Afrikaanse poësie in 1000 en enkele gedigte, and André P. Brink's Groot Verseboek, a remake or reworking of Opperman's anthology.
's Sewe dae by die Silbersteins, André P. Brink's Houd-den-bek and Eben Venter's Ek stamel ek sterwe. Even some English novels, such as JM Coetzee's Disgrace, remind one of the plaasroman. As urbanisation became more prominent during the time of the two World Wars, other forms emerged, notably the dorpsroman (town novel) such as Lettie Viljoen
's Karolina Ferreira, Etienne van Heerden
's Die Swye van Mario Salviati, or Alexander Strachan's Die Werfbobbejaan. Afrikaans writing tends to be critical of conservative culture, and during the Apartheid regime, critical of politics as well. André P. Brink and Etienne Leroux deserve special mention, Brink not only because he is accessible to English readers (he writes in English and Afrikaans, e.g. Duiwelskloof is available as Devil's Valley), but also because the vast oeuvre he produced (prose and drama) sets him apart as arguably the greatest South African writer. Leroux produced less, but had a profound influence on the literary scene. His characters are often outsiders, and his satirical view on South African issues embodies alchemistic, Jungian and Cabbalistic theories and philosophies, with the novel reading like a palimpsest
with different levels of meaning. This style had a profound influence on writers such as Ingrid Winterbach (Lettie Viljoen), Alexander Strachan, and Etienne van Heerden's magical realist novels. With the war in Angola
, grensliteratuur (border literature) started playing an important role, such as Dine van Zyl's Slagoffers, Christiaan Bakkes
's Skuilplek and Alexander Strachan's n Wêreld sonder grense. After political changes in 1994, an emphasis on the past has become an important feature as South Africans attempted to make sense of their past, of which Dan Sleigh's Eilande and André P. Brink's Duiwelskloof are examples. Triomf by Marlene van Niekerk
deals with poor Afrikaners in a legendary suburb of Johannesburg
, where the Apartheid regime demolished the old black township Sophiatown, in order to build houses for the white lower-class. Triomf has been translated into English by Leon de Kock. Another writer who often regresses to earlier times is André P. Brink, e.g. Anderkant die Stilte (in English available as The Other Side of Silence) which is set during the German occupation of Namibia
. Andre Brink
was the first Afrikaner
writer to be banned by the government after he released the novel A Dry White Season
about a white South African who discovers the truth about a black friend who dies in police custody. In recent years, gay and lesbian writing has also begun to feature, e.g. Johann de Lange
, and Eben Venter's Ek stamel ek sterwe. Political turmoil and the opening of South Africa's borders after the 1994 elections have resulted in many writers moving abroad, or writing about their time spent overseas, e.g. Jaco Fouché's Ryk van die Rawe. Other contemporary issues include crime (Jaco Fouché's Die avonture van Pieter Francken, Etienne van Heerden's In stede van die liefde and others) and other government issues such as corruption. In short, Afrikaans prose tends to be critical of the dominant ideologies and the government of the time, the society inhabiting this space and the people living within this society. From a European perspective, Afrikaans prose produces works of a high standard and is artistically and intellectually capable of engaging with the best European and American writers.
's Boklied and André P. Brink's Bagasie deserve mentioning. Breyten Breytenbach
was jailed for his (alleged) involvement with guerrilla
activities against the Apartheid regime, but was subsequently released. As with the other genres, engaged literature remains important, and plays such as Brink's Die jogger deal with brutal violence committed by the security forces during apartheid, whereas current high levels of violent crime are addressed in plays such as Mike van Graan's Die generaal and Deon Opperman's Kaburu.
's The story of an African farm, which can be linked to Van den Heever's Laat Vrugte as a plaasroman. The novel was a revelation in Victorian literature: it is heralded by many as introducing feminism into the novel form. However, Mossman (1990: 41) argues that "The most frequently taught work of South African literature in American classrooms is Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton
". A possible reason for this is that it was made into a film starring James Earl Jones
, and it depicts a typical racist situation which fits well with American perceptions of South African society. Alan Paton also produced Too late the phalarope, another text criticising Apartheid politics, in particular the Immorality Act
which forbade interracial sexual relations. During the 1950s, Drum became a hotbed of political satire
, fiction, and essays, giving a voice to urban
black culture. Around the same time, future Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer
began publishing her first stories. Her most famous novel, July's People, was released in 1981, depicting the collapse of white-minority rule.
Athol Fugard
's Tsotsi
was also made into a film, although Fugard is usually better known for his dramas. Several influential black poets became prominent in the 1970s such as Mongane Wally Serote
, whose most famous work, No Baby Must Weep, gave insight into the every day lives of black South Africans under Apartheid. Lewis Nkosi essentially an essayist, made a crossover to novel writing and published three novels Mating Birds(1986),Underground People(2002) and Mandela's Ego(2006). Another famous black novelist, Zakes Mda
, transitioned from poetry and plays to becoming a novelist. His novel, The Heart of Redness won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was made a part of the school curriculum
across South Africa. Miriam Tlali
was the first black woman to publish a novel in South Africa with Muriel at Metropolitan (1975) (also known as Between Two Worlds). John Maxwell (JM) Coetzee
was also first published in the 1970s. He became internationally recognised in 1983 with his Booker Prize winning novel Life & Times of Michael K
. His 1999 novel Disgrace won him his second Booker Prize as well as the 2000 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
. He is also the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 2003. South African English writing has produced two Nobel Prize
winners: Nadine Gordimer
and JM Coetzee.
Naturally, racial friction is often depicted in South African literature of all languages. But there is a marked difference between how white writing depicts black characters and how some black authors depict whites: one emphasises that people are not what the stereotype claims, the other argue that the stereotype is substantiated. For instance, Miriam Tlali (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 64) writes, “The Republic of South Africa is a country divided mainly into two worlds. The one, a white world – rich, comfortable, for all practical purposes organised – a world in fear, armed to the teeth. The other, a black world; poor, pathetically neglected and disorganised —voiceless, oppressed, restless, confused and unarmed—a world in transition, irrevocably weaned from all tribal ties.” This clearly provides a one-sided view of South African realities, of course ignoring Soviet involvement in the arms trade during the freedom struggle, the reality of poor whites (as depicted in Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf), and essentially the fact that South Africa in the years of Apartheid was a more complex environment than the one often depicted in reductionist texts (literary and journalistic). Her stereotypical and demonising depiction of “Boers” (Afrikaners) highlights the same reductionist tendency: “they have an insatiable lust for persecuting non-whites, [their] perfect efficiency in this respect was motivated by the unmistakable burning desire you find in most of them, that is, to sit on the necks of the non-whites.” This contrasts sharply with specifically Afrikaans works under Apartheid (e.g. Leroux, Brink, Krog, Van Heerden), who tend to address the absurdity of Apartheid and the humanity in the Other, rather than perpetuating stereotypes.
Other prominent texts listed by Mossman are Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams
, Alex La Guma
's Walk in the Night, Breyten Breytenbach
's True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist, Nadine Gordimer
's Burger's Daughter, Andre Brink
's Dry White Season, Richard Rive
's Buckingham Palace, District Six, Andre Brink
's Rumours of Rain, Nadine Gordimer
's July's People, Sipho Sepamla
's Ride on the Whirlwind, and Mongane Serote's To every birth its blood. Miriam Tlali
was the first black woman to produce a novel, Murial at the Metropolitan (Between Two Worlds). David Lambkin
also deserves mentioning, The Hanging Tree reading like a Leroux
novel with various Jungian and alchemistic substrates.
's Master Harald and the boys is a drama about race relations, and Boesman and Lena depicts the hardships suffered by South Africa's poor. Athol Fugard
's plays have been regularly premiered in fringe theatre
s in South Africa, London (The Royal Court Theatre
) and New York. Another noteworthy drama is Zakes Mda
's We shall sing for the fatherland.
Recent plays have addressed the high levels of violent crime, such as Lara Foot Newton's Tshepang, Athol Fugard's Victory and Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom's Relativity.
and introduced by Van Wyk Louw.
. Modern South African writing in the African languages tends to play at writing realistically, at providing a mirror to society, and depicts the conflicts between rural and urban settings, between traditional and modern norms, racial conflicts and most recently, the problem of AIDS.
In the first half of the 20th century, epics largely dominated black male writing: historical novels, such as Sol T. Plaatje’s Mhudi: An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago (1930), Thomas Mofolo
’s Chaka (trans. 1925), and epic plays like those of H. I. E. Dhlomo, or heroic epic poetry such as the work of Mazizi Kunene. These texts “evince black African patriarchy in its traditional form, with men in authority, often as warriors or kings, and women as background figures of dependency, and/or mothers of the nation” (Cullhed, 2006: 21). Female literature in the African languages is severely limited because of the strong influence of patriarchy, but over the last decade or two society has changed much and it can be expected that more female voices will emerge.
, RRR Dhlomo, HIE Dhlomo, JL Dube, Njabulo S Ndebele, Nimrod Ndebele, EA Made, and DBZ Ntuli.
. Her 1998 novel, Mother to Mother, deals with violence at the end of Apartheid through the killing of American student Amy Biehl
. Magona writes both in English and Xhosa.
.
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, English, Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
, Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana
Tswana language
Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...
, Venda
Venda
Venda was a bantustan in northern South Africa, now part of Limpopo province. It was founded as a homeland for the Venda people, speakers of the Venda language. It bordered modern Zimbabwe and South Africa, and is now part of Limpopo in South Africa....
, SiSwati, Tsonga
Tsonga language
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages...
, and Ndebele
Southern Ndebele language
The Southern Ndebele language is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the amaNdebele . There are two dialects of Southern Ndebele in South Africa:* the Northern Transvaal Ndebele or Nrebele...
.
Overview
Elleke BoehmerElleke Boehmer
Elleke Boehmer is an academic and writer, born in South Africa. She is a literary critic who specialises in international writing in English, teaching world literature at Oxford University...
(cf. Cullhed, 2006: 79) writes, “Nationalism, like patriarchy, favours singleness—one identity, one growth pattern, one birth and blood for all . . . [and] will promote specifically unitary or ‘one-eyed’ forms of consciousness.” The first problem any student of South African literature is confronted with, is the diversity of the literary systems. Gerrit Olivier notes, "While it is not unusual to hear academics and politicians talk about a 'South African literature', the situation at ground level is characterised by diversity and even fragmentation". Robert Mossman adds that "One of the enduring and saddest legacies of the apartheid system may be that no one – White, Black, Coloured (meaning of mixed-race in South Africa), or Asian – can ever speak as a "South African." The problem, however, pre-dates Apartheid significantly, as South Africa is a country made up of communities that have always been linguistically and culturally diverse. These cultures have all retained autonomy to some extent, making a compilation such as the controversial Southern African Literatures by Michael Chapman, difficult. Chapman raises the question:
[W]hose language, culture, or story can be said to have authority in South Africa when the end of apartheid has raised challenging questions as to what it is to be a South African, what it is to live in a new South Africa, whether South Africa is a nation, and, if so, what its mythos is, what requires to be forgotten and what remembered as we scour the past in order to understand the present and seek a path forward into an unknown future.
South Africa has 11 national languages, Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, English, Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
, Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana
Tswana language
Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...
, Venda
Venda
Venda was a bantustan in northern South Africa, now part of Limpopo province. It was founded as a homeland for the Venda people, speakers of the Venda language. It bordered modern Zimbabwe and South Africa, and is now part of Limpopo in South Africa....
, SiSwati, Tsonga
Tsonga language
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages...
, and Ndebele
Southern Ndebele language
The Southern Ndebele language is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the amaNdebele . There are two dialects of Southern Ndebele in South Africa:* the Northern Transvaal Ndebele or Nrebele...
. Any definitive literary history of South Africa should, it could be argued, discuss literature produced in all eleven languages. But the only literature ever to adopt characteristics that can be said to be 'national', is Afrikaans. Olivier argues, "Of all the literatures in South Africa, Afrikaans literature has been the only one to have become a national literature in the sense that it developed a clear image of itself as a separate entity, and that by way of institutional entrenchment through teaching, distribution, a review culture, journals, etc. it could ensure the continuation of that concept." Part of the problem is that English literature has been seen within the greater context of English writing in the world, and has, because of English's global position as lingua franca, not been seen as autonomous or indigenous to South Africa – in Olivier’s words, "English literature in South Africa continues to be a sort of extension of British or international English literature." The African languages, on the other hand, are spoken across the borders of Southern Africa, e.g. Tswana which is spoken in Botswana, and Tsonga in Zimbabwe, and Sotho in Lesotho. South Africa's borders were drawn up by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, and like all other colonies, these borders were drawn without regard for the people living within them. Therefore: in a history of South African literature, do we include all Tswana writers, or only the ones with South African citizenship? Chapman bypasses this problem by including 'Southern' African literatures. The second problem with the African languages is accessibility, because since the African languages are regional languages, none of them can claim the readership on a national scale comparable to Afrikaans and English. Sotho, for instance, while transgressing the national borders of the RSA, is on the other hand mainly spoken in the Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
, and bears very little relation to the language of Natal
Natal, South Africa
Natal is a region in South Africa. It stretches between the Indian Ocean in the south and east, the Drakensberg in the west, and the Lebombo Mountains in the north. The main cities are Pietermaritzburg and Durban...
for example, Zulu. So the language cannot claim a national readership, while on the other hand being ‘international’ in the sense that it transgresses the national borders.
Olivier argues that "There is no obvious reason why it should be unhealthy or abnormal for different literatures to co-exist in one country, each possessing its own infrastructure and allowing theoreticians to develop impressive theories about polysystems". Yet political idealism proposing a unified 'South Africa' (a remnant of the colonial British approach) has seeped into literary discourse and demands a unified national literature, which does not exist and has to be fabricated. It is unrealistic to ever think of South Africa and South African literature as homogenous, now or in the near or distant future, since the only reason it is a country at all is the interference of European colonial powers. This is not a racial issue, but rather has to do with culture, heritage and tradition (and indeed the constitution celebrates diversity). Rather, it seems more sensible to discuss South African literature as literature produced within the national borders by the different cultures and language groups inhabiting these borders. Otherwise the danger is emphasising one literary system at the expense of another, and more often than not, the beneficiary is English, with the African languages being ignored. The distinction 'black' and 'white' literature is further a remnant of colonialism that should be replaced by drawing distinctions between literary systems based on language affiliation rather than race.
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a language akin to the Germanic languagesGermanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and in particular Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. It has its origins in the 17th century, but was only officially recognised in 1875 when the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners was established. Afrikaans is spoken throughout South Africa, and is the mother tongue of both whites and coloureds (in the South African sense, meaning a specific independent culture rather than the disparaging European or American use of the term). The literary history is thus short, but surprisingly vibrant. The major literary histories are HP Van Coller's Perspektief en Profiel, JC Kannemeyer's Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse literatuur, and Dekker's Afrikaanse Literatuurgeskiedenis. Lewis Nkosi (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 18) claims that “in South Africa there exists an unhealed—I will not say incurable—split between black and white writing.” This split occurs because, Nkosi claims, black writers are “largely impervious for the most part to cultural movements which have exercised great influence in the development of white writing.” The Afrikaans literary system, in contrast to the African languages, engages with European artistic movements such as Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, post-modernism, Dadaism and the like, offering literature familiar to a European or American audience.
Poetry
Some of the early names include LeipoldtC. Louis Leipoldt
Dr. Christian Frederik Louis Leipoldt was a South African poet, who wrote inthe Afrikaans language. Together with Jan F. E. Celliers and...
and Langenhoven
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven , wrote under the pen name C.J. Langenhoven and was better known as Sagmoedige Neelsie or Kerneels. He had a formidable role in South Africa's Afrikaans literature and cultural history, and was one of the young language's foremost promoters...
, who wrote the national anthem (Die Stem). Early poetry often deal with the Anglo-Boer War, and it is only in the 1930s that poetry reaches a significant literary standard. N. P. van Wyk Louw
N. P. van Wyk Louw
Nicolaas Petrus van Wyk Louw , almost universally known as N.P. van Wyk Louw, was an Afrikaans-language poet, playwright, and scholar. He is the older brother of Afrikaans-language poet W.E.G. Louw.One of the Dertigers, or "Writers of the Thirties," N.P...
is the vanguard of the new movement, called Dertigers, along with his brother WEG Louw, and Elizabeth Eybers, although they were all to write in future literary periods. Olivier notes Van Wyk Louw's predominance: "It was only in the Thirties that a fully developed theory about Afrikaans as a national literature was launched by the erudite poet, N P van Wyk Louw, in his two collections of essays Lojale verset (1939) and Berigte te velde (1939)". Van Wyk Louw introduced international literary theories and movements into the South African literary scene on a much larger scale than any of his predecessors, and his "theory provided the intellectual and philosophical space within which poets and novelists could exercise their craft without fear of transgression; in short, it became the paradigm for Afrikaans literature" (Olivier).
DJ Opperman started writing in the 1940s, and was to have a particularly prominent role with his anthology, Groot Verseboek. The next major paradigm shift came in the 1960s, with TT Cloete and Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker , was a South African poet. Although she wrote in Afrikaans, her poems have been widely translated into other languages...
, who, after her death, attained cult status. Cloete et al. discuss this literary watershed in Rondom Sestig. TT Cloete is further noteworthy for his compilation, Literêre Terme en Teorieë (1992), which is one of the most encompassing works on literary theory available on the global market, although written in Afrikaans. Some modern poets of note include Joan Hambidge
Joan Hambidge
Joan Helene Hambidge is an Afrikaans poet, literary theorist and academic . She is without a doubt the most prolific poet in Afrikaans, controversial as a public figure and critic and notorious for her out-of-the-closet style of writing...
, Hennie Aucamp
Hennie Aucamp
Hennie Aucamp is an Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated in Jamestown before continuing his higher education at the University of Stellenbosch...
, Ernst van Heerden
Ernst van Heerden
Ernst van Heerden was a leading Afrikaans poet.Born in Pearston, Eastern Cape, South Africa, he was an openly gay academic famous for his poems on sport. He matriculated at Grey High School, Port Elizabeth. In 1948 he received a silver medal in the Olympic Games International Poetry Competition...
, Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog, born October 23, 1952 in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape.- Early life :...
and Gert Vlok Nel
Gert Vlok Nel
Gert Vlok Nel is a South African poet. He studied English, Afrikaans and history at Stellenbosch University and worked as a guide, a bartender and a watchman. He has published one collection of poems, Om te lewe is onnatuurlik , for which he received the Ingrid Jonker Prize...
. Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
is regarded by many as one of the best, if not the best, Afrikaans poet. He spent a number of years in prison for his political beliefs during apartheid and later lived in France. Breytenbach's latest work, "Die windvanger" was published in 2007. The major poetry anthologies are DJ Opperman's Groot Verseboek, Foster and Viljoen's Poskaarte, Gerrit Komrij's controversial Die Afrikaanse poësie in 1000 en enkele gedigte, and André P. Brink's Groot Verseboek, a remake or reworking of Opperman's anthology.
Prose
Being a predominantly agricultural society, the plaasroman (farm novel) plays a prominent role in early as well as later novels. One of the archetypes is CM Van den Heever's Laat Vrugte, which lay the foundations for parodies in the 1960s and later such as Etienne LerouxEtienne Leroux
Etienne Leroux was an influential Afrikaans author and a key member of the South African Sestigers literary movement. He was born on June 13 as Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux, son of S.P. Le Roux, a South African Minister of Agriculture....
's Sewe dae by die Silbersteins, André P. Brink's Houd-den-bek and Eben Venter's Ek stamel ek sterwe. Even some English novels, such as JM Coetzee's Disgrace, remind one of the plaasroman. As urbanisation became more prominent during the time of the two World Wars, other forms emerged, notably the dorpsroman (town novel) such as Lettie Viljoen
Lettie Viljoen
Lettie Viljoen was a pseudonym of the South African author Ingrid Winterbach, who primarily writes in Afrikaans. She is married to Andries Gouws and has two daughters. She lives in Durban....
's Karolina Ferreira, Etienne van Heerden
Etienne van Heerden
-Biography:Van Heerden was born in 1954, six years after the official advent of apartheid. His mother was an English speaking mathematics teacher. His father, an Afrikaans speaking merino stud breeder, farmed the family farm in the Karoo...
's Die Swye van Mario Salviati, or Alexander Strachan's Die Werfbobbejaan. Afrikaans writing tends to be critical of conservative culture, and during the Apartheid regime, critical of politics as well. André P. Brink and Etienne Leroux deserve special mention, Brink not only because he is accessible to English readers (he writes in English and Afrikaans, e.g. Duiwelskloof is available as Devil's Valley), but also because the vast oeuvre he produced (prose and drama) sets him apart as arguably the greatest South African writer. Leroux produced less, but had a profound influence on the literary scene. His characters are often outsiders, and his satirical view on South African issues embodies alchemistic, Jungian and Cabbalistic theories and philosophies, with the novel reading like a palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
with different levels of meaning. This style had a profound influence on writers such as Ingrid Winterbach (Lettie Viljoen), Alexander Strachan, and Etienne van Heerden's magical realist novels. With the war in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, grensliteratuur (border literature) started playing an important role, such as Dine van Zyl's Slagoffers, Christiaan Bakkes
Christiaan Bakkes
Christiaan Mathys Bakkes is a noted South African writer. He is the son of Cas and Margaret Bakkes and the brother of C. Johan Bakkes....
's Skuilplek and Alexander Strachan's n Wêreld sonder grense. After political changes in 1994, an emphasis on the past has become an important feature as South Africans attempted to make sense of their past, of which Dan Sleigh's Eilande and André P. Brink's Duiwelskloof are examples. Triomf by Marlene van Niekerk
Marlene van Niekerk
Marlene van Niekerk is a South African author who is best known for her novel Triomf. Her graphic and controversial descriptions of a poor Afrikaner family in Johannesburg brought her to the forefront of a post-apartheid society, still struggling to come to terms with all the changes in South...
deals with poor Afrikaners in a legendary suburb of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, where the Apartheid regime demolished the old black township Sophiatown, in order to build houses for the white lower-class. Triomf has been translated into English by Leon de Kock. Another writer who often regresses to earlier times is André P. Brink, e.g. Anderkant die Stilte (in English available as The Other Side of Silence) which is set during the German occupation of Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. Andre Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
was the first Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
writer to be banned by the government after he released the novel A Dry White Season
A Dry White Season
A Dry White Season is a film released in 1989 by Davros Films and Sundance Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Euzhan Palcy and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay was by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink's novel of the...
about a white South African who discovers the truth about a black friend who dies in police custody. In recent years, gay and lesbian writing has also begun to feature, e.g. Johann de Lange
Johann de Lange
Johann de Lange is an Afrikaans poet, short story writer and critic. He is renowned for being one of the foremost gay writers in Afrikaans, his most controversial book being Nagsweet ....
, and Eben Venter's Ek stamel ek sterwe. Political turmoil and the opening of South Africa's borders after the 1994 elections have resulted in many writers moving abroad, or writing about their time spent overseas, e.g. Jaco Fouché's Ryk van die Rawe. Other contemporary issues include crime (Jaco Fouché's Die avonture van Pieter Francken, Etienne van Heerden's In stede van die liefde and others) and other government issues such as corruption. In short, Afrikaans prose tends to be critical of the dominant ideologies and the government of the time, the society inhabiting this space and the people living within this society. From a European perspective, Afrikaans prose produces works of a high standard and is artistically and intellectually capable of engaging with the best European and American writers.
Drama
As with the prose and poetry, Afrikaans drama is often intellectually and stylistically modern and complex, as influenced by French, German, Russian and Dutch playwrights. Siener in die Suburbs by PG Du Plessis, Reza de Wet's Vrystaat Trilogie and Drie susters twee, Breyten BreytenbachBreyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
's Boklied and André P. Brink's Bagasie deserve mentioning. Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
was jailed for his (alleged) involvement with guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
activities against the Apartheid regime, but was subsequently released. As with the other genres, engaged literature remains important, and plays such as Brink's Die jogger deal with brutal violence committed by the security forces during apartheid, whereas current high levels of violent crime are addressed in plays such as Mike van Graan's Die generaal and Deon Opperman's Kaburu.
Prose
One of the first literary works of note is Olive SchreinerOlive Schreiner
Olive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...
's The story of an African farm, which can be linked to Van den Heever's Laat Vrugte as a plaasroman. The novel was a revelation in Victorian literature: it is heralded by many as introducing feminism into the novel form. However, Mossman (1990: 41) argues that "The most frequently taught work of South African literature in American classrooms is Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton
Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
". A possible reason for this is that it was made into a film starring James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, and it depicts a typical racist situation which fits well with American perceptions of South African society. Alan Paton also produced Too late the phalarope, another text criticising Apartheid politics, in particular the Immorality Act
Immorality Act
Immorality Act was the title of two acts of the Parliament of South Africa which prohibited, amongst other things, sexual relations between white people and people of other races. The first Immorality Act, of 1927, prohibited sex between whites and blacks, until amended in 1950 to prohibit sex...
which forbade interracial sexual relations. During the 1950s, Drum became a hotbed of political satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, fiction, and essays, giving a voice to urban
Urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
black culture. Around the same time, future Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
began publishing her first stories. Her most famous novel, July's People, was released in 1981, depicting the collapse of white-minority rule.
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
's Tsotsi
Tsotsi
Tsotsi is a 2005 film written and directed by Gavin Hood. The film is an adaptation of the novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard. The soundtrack features Kwaito music performed by popular South African artist Zola as well as a score by Mark Kilian and Paul Hepker featuring the voice of South African...
was also made into a film, although Fugard is usually better known for his dramas. Several influential black poets became prominent in the 1970s such as Mongane Wally Serote
Mongane Wally Serote
Mongane Wally Serote is a South African poet and writer. He was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg and went to school in Alexandra, Lesotho and Soweto. He first became involved in Black Consciousness when he was finishing high school in Soweto...
, whose most famous work, No Baby Must Weep, gave insight into the every day lives of black South Africans under Apartheid. Lewis Nkosi essentially an essayist, made a crossover to novel writing and published three novels Mating Birds(1986),Underground People(2002) and Mandela's Ego(2006). Another famous black novelist, Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda , legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda , is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays.-Early life and education:...
, transitioned from poetry and plays to becoming a novelist. His novel, The Heart of Redness won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was made a part of the school curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
across South Africa. Miriam Tlali
Miriam Tlali
Miriam Tlali is a South African novelist. She was the first black woman in South Africa to publish a novel., Muriel at Metropolitan. She was also one of the first to write about Soweto....
was the first black woman to publish a novel in South Africa with Muriel at Metropolitan (1975) (also known as Between Two Worlds). John Maxwell (JM) Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee ; is an author and academic from South Africa. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in Adelaide, South Australia...
was also first published in the 1970s. He became internationally recognised in 1983 with his Booker Prize winning novel Life & Times of Michael K
Life & Times of Michael K
Life & Times of Michael K is a 1983 novel by South African-born author J. M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2003. The book itself won the Booker Prize for 1983...
. His 1999 novel Disgrace won him his second Booker Prize as well as the 2000 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Writers is an initiative by the Commonwealth Foundation to unearth, develop and promote the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth. It's flagship are two literary awards and a website...
. He is also the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in 2003. South African English writing has produced two Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners: Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
and JM Coetzee.
Naturally, racial friction is often depicted in South African literature of all languages. But there is a marked difference between how white writing depicts black characters and how some black authors depict whites: one emphasises that people are not what the stereotype claims, the other argue that the stereotype is substantiated. For instance, Miriam Tlali (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 64) writes, “The Republic of South Africa is a country divided mainly into two worlds. The one, a white world – rich, comfortable, for all practical purposes organised – a world in fear, armed to the teeth. The other, a black world; poor, pathetically neglected and disorganised —voiceless, oppressed, restless, confused and unarmed—a world in transition, irrevocably weaned from all tribal ties.” This clearly provides a one-sided view of South African realities, of course ignoring Soviet involvement in the arms trade during the freedom struggle, the reality of poor whites (as depicted in Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf), and essentially the fact that South Africa in the years of Apartheid was a more complex environment than the one often depicted in reductionist texts (literary and journalistic). Her stereotypical and demonising depiction of “Boers” (Afrikaners) highlights the same reductionist tendency: “they have an insatiable lust for persecuting non-whites, [their] perfect efficiency in this respect was motivated by the unmistakable burning desire you find in most of them, that is, to sit on the necks of the non-whites.” This contrasts sharply with specifically Afrikaans works under Apartheid (e.g. Leroux, Brink, Krog, Van Heerden), who tend to address the absurdity of Apartheid and the humanity in the Other, rather than perpetuating stereotypes.
Other prominent texts listed by Mossman are Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams is a South African novelist.His father was from Ethiopia and his mother was classified by South Africa as a mixed race person, a "Kleurling" or Coloured. He was born in Vrededorp, nearby Johannesburg, but left South Africa in 1939...
, Alex La Guma
Alex La Guma
Alex La Guma was a South African novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation and a defendant in the Treason Trial, whose works helped characterise the movement against the apartheid era in South Africa...
's Walk in the Night, Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
's True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist, Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
's Burger's Daughter, Andre Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
's Dry White Season, Richard Rive
Richard Rive
-Biography:Rive was born on 1 March 1931 in Caledon Street in the working-class coloured District Six of Cape Town.His father was African, and his mother was coloured, and Rive was given the latter classification under apartheid...
's Buckingham Palace, District Six, Andre Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
's Rumours of Rain, Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
's July's People, Sipho Sepamla
Sipho Sepamla
Sydney Sipho Sepamla was a contemporary South African poet and novelist.Born in a township near Krugersdorp, Sipho Sepamla lived most of his life in Soweto. He studied teaching at Pretoria Normal College and published his first volume of poetry, Hurry Up to It!, in 1975...
's Ride on the Whirlwind, and Mongane Serote's To every birth its blood. Miriam Tlali
Miriam Tlali
Miriam Tlali is a South African novelist. She was the first black woman in South Africa to publish a novel., Muriel at Metropolitan. She was also one of the first to write about Soweto....
was the first black woman to produce a novel, Murial at the Metropolitan (Between Two Worlds). David Lambkin
David Lambkin
David Lambkin is an English novelist. He was born in England, but has spent many years in South Africa and Kenya.He divides his time between running his own advertising agency in Johannesburg and writing novels and articles...
also deserves mentioning, The Hanging Tree reading like a Leroux
Leroux
Leroux, LeRoux, Le Roux or Roux is a surname of French origin meaning "red-haired" or "red-skinned" and may also come in certain cases from Breton roue meaning "king"...
novel with various Jungian and alchemistic substrates.
Drama
Athol FugardAthol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
's Master Harald and the boys is a drama about race relations, and Boesman and Lena depicts the hardships suffered by South Africa's poor. Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
's plays have been regularly premiered in fringe theatre
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
s in South Africa, London (The Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
) and New York. Another noteworthy drama is Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda , legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda , is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays.-Early life and education:...
's We shall sing for the fatherland.
Recent plays have addressed the high levels of violent crime, such as Lara Foot Newton's Tshepang, Athol Fugard's Victory and Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom's Relativity.
Poetry
Tony Ullyatt's The Lonely Art: An Anthology includes South African English poetry. English poetry in South Africa is often considered ‘good’ by whether or not it criticises Apartheid, or whether or not it depicts life ‘as it is’, rather than the Afrikaans emphasis on literary merit taken from Russian FormalismRussian formalism
Russian formalism was an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s. It includes the work of a number of highly influential Russian and Soviet scholars such as Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Vladimir Propp, Boris Eichenbaum, Roman Jakobson, Grigory Vinokur who...
and introduced by Van Wyk Louw.
African languages
Although there are nine official African languages in South Africa, most speakers are fluent in Afrikaans and English. Coupled with the small market for writing in African languages, this has led many African writers to write in English and Afrikaans. The first texts produced by black authors were often inspired by missionaries and frequently deal with African history, in particular the history of kings like ChakaShaka
Shaka kaSenzangakhona , also known as Shaka Zulu , was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom....
. Modern South African writing in the African languages tends to play at writing realistically, at providing a mirror to society, and depicts the conflicts between rural and urban settings, between traditional and modern norms, racial conflicts and most recently, the problem of AIDS.
In the first half of the 20th century, epics largely dominated black male writing: historical novels, such as Sol T. Plaatje’s Mhudi: An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago (1930), Thomas Mofolo
Thomas Mofolo
Thomas Mokopu Mofolo is considered to be the greatest Basotho author. He wrote mostly in the Sesotho language, but his most popular book, Chaka, has been translated into English and other languages....
’s Chaka (trans. 1925), and epic plays like those of H. I. E. Dhlomo, or heroic epic poetry such as the work of Mazizi Kunene. These texts “evince black African patriarchy in its traditional form, with men in authority, often as warriors or kings, and women as background figures of dependency, and/or mothers of the nation” (Cullhed, 2006: 21). Female literature in the African languages is severely limited because of the strong influence of patriarchy, but over the last decade or two society has changed much and it can be expected that more female voices will emerge.
Zulu
Some of the most prominent Zulu authors are BW Vilakazi, Mazisi KuneneMazisi Kunene
Mazisi Kunene was a South African poet best known for his poem Emperor Shaka the Great. While in exile from South Africa's apartheid regime, Kunene was an active supporter and organizer of the anti-apartheid movement in Europe and Africa...
, RRR Dhlomo, HIE Dhlomo, JL Dube, Njabulo S Ndebele, Nimrod Ndebele, EA Made, and DBZ Ntuli.
Xhosa
Some of the most prominent Xhosa authors are AC Jordan, Samuel EK Mqhayi, JJR Jolobe, ZS Qangule, KS Bongela, Godfrey Mzamane, Rubusana, and Guybon Sinxo. A female writer of note is Sindiwe MagonaSindiwe Magona
-Early life and education:A native of the Transkei, she grew up in a township near Cape Town, where she worked as a domestic and completed her secondary education by correspondence. Magona later graduated from the University of South Africa and earned a graduate degree from Columbia...
. Her 1998 novel, Mother to Mother, deals with violence at the end of Apartheid through the killing of American student Amy Biehl
Amy Biehl
Amy Elizabeth Biehl was a white American graduate of Stanford University and an Anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa...
. Magona writes both in English and Xhosa.
Sesotho
Some of the most prominent Sesotho authors are MKPD Maphala, BM Khaketla, and Thomas MofoloThomas Mofolo
Thomas Mokopu Mofolo is considered to be the greatest Basotho author. He wrote mostly in the Sesotho language, but his most popular book, Chaka, has been translated into English and other languages....
.
Pedi
Some of the most prominent Pedi authors are OK Matsepe, HDN Bopape, HP Maredi, SR Machaka, and Ramaila.Tswana
Some of the most prominent Tswana authors are Sol DT Plaatje, DB Moloto, DPS Monyaise, SA Moroke, Gilbert Modise, MJ Ntsime, LD Raditladi (who had a crater on Mercury named after him), MD Mothoagae, JHK Molao.See also
- Amstel Playwright of the Year AwardAmstel Playwright of the Year AwardThe Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, an independent non-governmental prize, was launched in South Africa in 1978. It recognised South African playwrights. The prize was awarded to many of South Africa's anti-apartheid playwrights....
- List of South African writers
- List of South African poets
- South African poetrySouth African poetryThe poetry of South Africa covers a broad range of themes, forms and styles. This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence....