The muzzled muse
Subtitle: literature and censorship in South Africa
By: Margreet de Lange.
Series: Utrecht publications in general and comparative literature,; v. 32
Publisher: John Benjamins Pub. Co.
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Amsterdam [The Netherlands]; Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 181
Subjects: Literature, Comparative; South African literature (English) -- Black authors -- History and criticism; South African literature (English) -- White authors -- History and criticism; Afrikaans literature -- History and criticism; Literature, Comparative -- English and Afrikaans; Literature, Comparative -- Afrikaans and English; Censorship -- South Africa; South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Description: A critical assessment of literature produced under censorship needs to take into account that the strategies of the censors are answered by strategies of the writers and the readers. To recognize self-censoring strategies in writing, it is necessary to know the specific restrictions of the censorship regime in question. In South Africa under apartheid all writers were confronted with the question of how to respond to the pressure of censorship.

This confrontation took a different form however, depending on what group the writer belonged to and what language he/she used. By looking at white writers writing in Afrikaans and white and black writers writing in English, this book gives the impact of censorship on South African literature a comparative examination which it has not received before. The book considers works by J. M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Andre Brink, and others less known to readers outside South Africa like Karel Schoeman, Louis Kruger, Christopher Hope, Miriam Tlali and Mtutuzeli Matshoba.

It treats the censorship laws of the apartheid regime as well as, in the final chapter, the new law of the Mandela government which shows some surprising similarities to its predecessor.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [171]-178) and index.