Writing as Resistance: Life Stories of Imprisonment, Exile, and Homecoming from Apartheid South AfricaWriting as Resistance charts the inner workings of apartheid, through the encounters-- imprisonment, exile, and homecoming-- that crucially defined its violent reign and ultimate overthrow. Author Paul Gready demonstrates the transformative nature of autobiographical narrative as resistance in the context of political struggle. This multidisciplinary study addresses a range of important contemporary topics: migration, postcolonialism, globalization, nationalism, human rights, and political democratization, among others. While informed by the work of South African writers-- including Breytenbach, Coetzee, First, Krog, Modisane, and Serote-- and adding to the literature on the apartheid era, this book speaks to all cultures of violence. With this important work Gready sheds new light on the relationship between violence and creativity. |
Common terms and phrases
Afrikaner Albie Sachs alienation ambiguous apartheid attempt autobiography Bantustans became become Bernstein 1994 Bhengu Biko body border Bram Fischer Breyten Breytenbach Breytenbach 1985 Cape Town chapter Coetzee Coetzee's context creative Cronin culture Dan Jacobson detention Dingake discourse example exile experience fiction Gordimer homecoming identity imagination imprisonment incarceration inquest inside interrogation J. M. Coetzee Jacobson Johannesburg Kasrils Lewin literature lives London magistrate Malan meaning memory migrant Modisane Modisane's Mozambique Naidoo narration narrative nation Nongena novel oppositional oppression pain paradox past political prisoners Poppie postcolonial power of writing reality relation relationship repression resistance rewriting Rian Malan Robben Island Sachs security police sense silence Slovo Sophiatown South Africa space of death story strategies struggle Swaziland testimony tion transformation truth and power ultimately Umkhonto we Sizwe un/remaking violence violently collaborative voice weapon witness words written