A History of South African Literature

Description

This book is a critical study of South African literature, from colonial and pre-colonial times onwards. Christopher Heywood discusses selected poems, plays and prose works in five literary traditions: Khoisan, Nguni-Sotho, Afrikaans, English, and Indian. The discussion includes over 100 authors and selected works, including poets from Mqhayi, Marais and Campbell to Butler, Serote and Krog, theatre writers from Boniface and Black to Fugard and Mda, and fiction writers from Schreiner and Plaatje to Bessie Head and the Nobel prizewinners Gordimer and Coetzee. The literature is explored in the setting of crises leading to the formation of modern South Africa, notably the rise and fall of the Emperor Shaka's Zulu kingdom, the Colenso crisis, industrialisation, the colonial and post-colonial wars of 1899, 1914, and 1939, and the dissolution of apartheid society. In Heywood's study, South African literature emerges as among the great literatures of the modern world. COVER Disclaimer TITLE PAGE IMPRINT PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface A History of Afrikaans Literature? Problematising South African Literary Historiography 1. The Afrikaans Language 2. Literary Historiography 3. The Dutch Language and Afrikaans Literature 4. Dutch, Afrikaans and South African Writings 5. The Inclusive Approach 6. The Inclusive Approach in the Present Study 7. Afrikaans Literature and Language Emancipation 8. How Should the Story of Literature be Told? THE BEGINNINGS OF LETTERS IN SOUTH AFRICA (from 1652 to the mid-19th century) I.1. The Dutch Period (1652–1795) I.2. The English Period (First Half of the Nineteenth Century) EMANCIPATION OF LITERATURE: THE PERIOD OF LANGUAGE MOVEMENTS (Second Half of the Nineteenth Century) II.1. Introductory Remarks II.2. The Eastern Border Language Movement (Oosgrenstaalbeweging) II.3. Cape (Town) Muslims’ Language Movement (Maleier-Afrikaanse Taalbeweging) II.1.4. The Moravian Brethren’ Mission Movement and“ Genadendal Dutch” II.5. Afrikaner Language Movement II.6. The Dutch Movement (Hollandse Beweging): Reviving Dutch Traditions II.7. Shaping Afrikaans Literature: Organising and Standardising Significant Dates in South African History up to the Beginning of the 20th Century Bibliography (Selected Books) INDEX OF NAMES