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Article published In: Critical Linguistic Perspectives on Coping with Traumatic Pasts: Case studies
Edited by Christine Anthonissen and Jan Blommaert †
[Journal of Language and Politics 5:1] 2006
► pp. 97–109

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South African Novelists and the Grand Narrative of Apartheid

 | Stellenbosch University
Published online: 14 April 2006
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.1.06gag
The apartheid policies and practices by means of which South Africa was formerly governed also had an ideological or mythological dimension, which functioned as its justificatory narrative. The process of replacing that narrative which needs to be undertaken in South Africa can make use, among other processes, of the re-presentations of this society by our novelists. This paper sketches something of the complex interplay between fiction, social reality, and moral-political understanding at the hand of six novels. It focuses on depictions of acts and experiences of violation as the signature of the ruthless force and after-effects of the apartheid system. It draws attention to the various, but socially meaningful workings of novelistic discourse in these texts, functioning as they do within a situation requiring profound psychic and social readjustment.
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Du Plooy, Belinda
2014. National trauma work and the depiction of women in two Afrikaans historical Karoo novels: <i>Fiela’s child</i> and <i>Sorg</i>. Literator 35:1 DOI logo
Petersen, Cheryl, Chris Venter & Karel Botha
2011. Exploring Young Black Persons' Narratives About the Apartheid Past. Journal of Psychology in Africa 21:1 ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo

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