The Cambridge History of South African Literature

David Attwell, Derek Attridge

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780521199285
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316169087
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: African Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

South Africa's unique history has produced literatures in many languages, in both oral and written forms, reflecting the diversity in the cultural histories and experiences of its people. The Cambridge History offers a comprehensive, multi-authored history of South African literature in all eleven official languages (and more minor ones) of the country, produced by a team of over forty international experts, including contributors from all of the major regions and language groups of South Africa. It will provide a complete portrait of South Africa's literary production, organised as a chronological history from the oral traditions existing before colonial settlement, to the post-apartheid revision of the past. In a field marked by controversy, this volume is more fully representative than any existing account of South Africa's literary history. It will make a unique contribution to Commonwealth, international and postcolonial studies and serve as a definitive reference work for decades to come.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Note on racial nomenclature and languages
• Introduction
• PART I ORATURES, ORAL HISTORIES, ORIGINS
• PART II EXPLORATION, EARLY MODERNITY AND ENLIGHTENMENT AT THE CAPE, 1488–1820
• PART III EMPIRE, RESISTANCE AND NATIONAL BEGINNINGS, 1820–1910
• PART IV MODERNISM AND TRANSNATIONAL CULTURE, 1910–1948
• PART V APARTHEID AND ITS AFTERMATH, 1948 TO THE PRESENT
• PART VI SOUTH AFRICAN LITERATURE: CONTINUITIES AND CONTRASTS
• Index