Still beating the drum : critical perspectives on Lewis Nkosi / edited by Lindy Stiebel and Liz Gunner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gunner, Elizabeth.

Stiebel, Lindy.

Series:

Cross/cultures ; 81.

Cross/cultures ; 81

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Apartheid in literature.

South African drama (English)--History and criticism.

South African drama (English).

South African literature--20th century--History and criticism.

South African literature.

Nkosi, Lewis--Criticism and interpretation.

Nkosi, Lewis.

Nkosi, Lewis--Interviews.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (412 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Critical perspectives on Lewis Nkosi

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; New York : Rodopi, 2005.

Summary:

Lewis Nkosi is one of South Africa's foremost writers and critics, and one of the few survivors of the exile generation dating from the Drum era. Up until now, however, no full length study has been done on his work. This is a gap in South African literary history and criticism that this book is intended to fill. Besides his well known earlier works, Nkosi is still very much an active writer as the publication in 2002 of his novel, Underground People , shows, with his latest novel due out in 2005. The timing of Still Beating the Drum , a book which intends to highlight and evaluate his extensive and varied oeuvre, is thus appropriate. Given Lewis Nkosi's life trajectory, this volume will appeal to readers interested in South African and African literature, both in South Africa and abroad. Intended as a important critical resource on Lewis Nkosi, the book is divided into three parts: Part One collects papers from scholars around the world currently working on Nkosi's work in various genres; Part Two reprints key articles from different moments in Nkosi's critical writing, together with hitherto unpublished recent interviews with Nkosi; and Part Three provides the reader with a timeline and extensive bibliography for Lewis Nkosi, both invaluable resources for scholars working on Nkosi given the scattered nature of much of his more ephemeral writings in the past. Lewis Nkosi is an important figure in South African literature whose voice has been heard far and wide - this book aims to collect for critical consideration some of the echoes and reverberations his voice has generated.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

Illustrations

Preface

Liz GUNNER and Lindy STIEBEL: Introduction: Lewis Nkosi - Inscriptions

PART ONE: WRITING ON LEWIS NKOSI

THE LITERARY CRITIC

Annie GAGIANO: Lewis Nkosi as Literary Critic

Chris WANJALA: Lewis Nkosi's Early Literary Criticism

Oyekan OWOMOYELA: Lewis Nkosi: A Commentary Piece

THE DRAMATIST AND POET

Liz GUNNER: Contaminations: BBC Radio and the Black Artist - Lewis Nkosi's "The Trial" and "We Can't All be Martin Luther King"

Sikhumbuzo MNGADI: Hostage Drama: The Rhythm of Violence and Some Comments on "The Black Psychiatrist"

Astrid STARCK-ADLER: Psycholoanalysis and Apartheid: The Image and Role of the Psychiatrist in Selected Works of Lewis Nkosi

Therese STEFFEN: The Desire of Knowledge, or, the Body in Excess: Lewis Nkosi's Play "The Black Psychiatrist"

Litzi LOMBARDOZZI: An Introduction to the Poetry of Lewis Nkosi

THE NOVELIST

Lucy GRAHAM: "Bathing Area - For Whites Only": Reading Prohibitive Signs and 'Black Peril' in Lewis Nkosi's Mating Birds

Lindy STIEBEL: The Return of the Native: Lewis Nkosi's Mating Birds Revisited in Post-Apartheid Durban

Companion Piece: South African Censors' Report on Mating Birds

Andries OLIPHANT: Mammon and God: Reality, Imagination and Irony in Underground People

Raffaella VANCINI: Beyond the Literature of Protest: Lewis Nkosi's Underground People

PART TWO: LEWIS NKOSI IN HIS OWN VOICE

INTERVIEWS

14.1 Interview with Lewis Nkosi

25 October 2002, Durban, South Africa

conducted by ZOË MOLVER, filmed by DAVID BASCKIN

14.2 Nuruddin Farah and Lewis Nkosi in conversation with ACHILLE MBEMBE at the Time of The Write r Festival, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban, South Africa on 15 March 2003 Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal

A RETROSPECTIVE SELECTION

15.1 Fiction by Black South Africans

15.2 Alex La Guma: The Man and His Work

15.3 Negritude: New and Old Perspectives

15.4 White Writing

15.5 Bloke Modisane: Blame Me On History

15.6 The Republic of Letters After the Mandela Republic

PART THREE: SOURCES FOR LEWIS NKOSI

16 Bibliography

17 Timeline

Notes on Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes a selection of interviews and writings by Lewis Nkosi.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contains:

Nkosi, Lewis. Selections. 2005.

ISBN:

94-012-0209-5

1-4237-8903-2

OCLC:

714568405

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789401202091 DOI