Apartheid and Beyond South African Writers and the Politics of Place [Paperback]

Apartheid and Beyondoffers trenchant, historically sensitive readings of writings by Coetzee, Gordimer, Fugard, Tlali, Dike, Magona, and Mda, focusing on the intimate relationship between place, subjectivity, and literary form. It also explores the way apartheid functioned in its day-to-day operations as a geographical system of control, exerting its power through such spatial mechanisms as residential segregation, bantustans, passes, and prisons. Throughout the study, Rita Barnard provides historical context by highlighting key events such as colonial occupation, the creation of black townships, migration, forced removals, the emergence of informal settlements, and the gradual integration of white cities.Apartheid and Beyondis both an innovative account of an important body of politically inflected literature and an imaginative reflection on the socio-spatial aspects of the transition from apartheid to democracy.

Introduction

1. Dream Topographies

2. Leaving the House of the White Race

3. Of Trespassers and Trash

4. A Man's Scenery

5. Beyond the Tyranny of Place

6. The Location of Post-Apartheid Culture

Editions Cited

Notes

Index

A timely and compelling study. --Contemporary Literature

Apartheid and Beyondstands as the most ambitious, authoritative, and theoretically astute study of South African literature to date. Barnard's wonderfully interdisciplinary approach makes this book essential reading for anyone in the humanities and social sciences interested in the politics and theory of space. --Rob Nixon, author ofSlow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

In this wide-ranging study of South African literature, Barnard focuses on the importance of place as an issue of real concern to all those living in, or writing about, the country. The choice of this governing term is one of those brilliant clarificatory movl³Á