Ike’s Books, Adams Books and English Studies (UKZN) invite you to the launch of the 21st issue of Current Writing in Durban. More from the flyer:
Current Writing 2009 comes of age with it’s 21st volume! The two Current Writing issues, published in a single volume (vol 21: 1 & 2) focuses on the word ‘current’. Instead of post-apartheid South Africa as ‘1990s onwards’ , we wish to cut off the 1990s with J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace.
Why Disgrace as a marker? Journal articles and reviews since 1990 suggest almost an obsession with Coetzee, particularly with Disgrace, second, many references to the TRC, third, many articles reliant on “according to Foucault , Derrida, Lacan, Bhabha, Levinas”. Post-Disgrace,then, is a convenient spur to a mental/critical/aesthetic shift.
What are literary concerns post-TRC? Where is Krog? Whither Gordimer? Big names aside, the last few years have seen a flurry of literary activity: new works established by writers (eg, Vladislavic, Portrait with Keys); new voices (eg, Coovadia, Green-Eyed Thieves); new life stories (eg, Khumalo, Touch My Blood); new genres given serious consideration (eg, fiction); literary reportage (eg, Steinberg, Three-Letter Plague); the “post-apartheid” African-language literary scene.
Does Leon de Kock (English in Africa 32(2) 2005) make a telling point: “the academy is once again several years behind the literary game”?
Find out at the launch:
Event Details
Please register or log in to comment
