Description
Worlds in one country is a compact, inclusive history of writing in South Africa from the nineteenth century to 1994 that crosses boundaries of language and colour, including prose, poetry and theatre. It is an accessible story rather than a theoretical analysis, relating the evolution of writing to the history of the country. Worlds in one country is punctuated with significant and often well-known quotes taken from novels, short stories, poems and plays as well as from statements by writers themselves. At the same time there is precise referencing to works cited, an extensive bibliography and comprehensive index. This story takes the reader from the colonial period and early white exploration, through references to black mythology and affirmations of black and then Afrikaner identity, to writing in the city before and after 1948, through the watersheds of Sharpeville in 1960, Soweto in 1976 and the troubles preceding 1994. Readers will gain an overview of South African writing, beyond the differences of language and colour of what has been a highly fragmented society.
About the Author
Denis Hirson was born in 1951, and lived in South Africa until the age of 22. He is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied Social Anthropology. Since 1975 he has lived in France, where he works as a teacher and writer. He has published five books, all of them concerned with the memory of the apartheid years in South Africa, all of them crossing the frontier between prose and poetry: The House Next Door to Africa (David Philip); I Remember King Kong (the Boxer), We Walk Straight So You Better Get Out the Way, White Scars, and Gardening in the Dark (all with Jacana). He is the editor with Martin Trump of The Heinemann Book of South African Short Stories (Heinemann, 1994); and editor of The Lava of this Land, South African Poetry 1960-1996 (Northwestern University Press, 1997).
Book Information
ISBN 9781431402472
Author Denis Hirson
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Jacana Media
Publisher Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 190mm * 135mm * 15mm
About the Author
Denis Hirson was born in 1951, and lived in South Africa until the age of 22. He is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied Social Anthropology. Since 1975 he has lived in France, where he works as a teacher and writer. He has published five books, all of them concerned with the memory of the apartheid years in South Africa, all of them crossing the frontier between prose and poetry: The House Next Door to Africa (David Philip); I Remember King Kong (the Boxer), We Walk Straight So You Better Get Out the Way, White Scars, and Gardening in the Dark (all with Jacana). He is the editor with Martin Trump of The Heinemann Book of South African Short Stories (Heinemann, 1994); and editor of The Lava of this Land, South African Poetry 1960-1996 (Northwestern University Press, 1997).
Book Information
ISBN 9781431402472
Author Denis Hirson
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Jacana Media
Publisher Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 190mm * 135mm * 15mm
