Ways of writing : critical essays on Zakes Mda

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Title:

Author:

Bell, David, 1948-

ISBN:

9781869141516

Publication Information:

Scottsville, South Africa : University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009.

Physical Description:

viii, 408 pages, [12] pages of plates : color illustrations ; 23 cm

Contents:

Zakes Mda : Ways of Writing / David Bell, J.U. Jacobs -- A Theatre for Democracy / David Bell -- Betrayal and the Search for Empowerment in the Early Plays / Carolyn Duggan -- Mapping Memory, Healing the Land : The Bells of Amersfoort / Shane Graham -- Chronicles of Belief and Unbelief : Zakes Mda and the Question of Magical Realism in South African Literature / Christopher Warnes -- Of Funeral Rites and Community Memory : Ways of Living in Ways of Dying / Rogier Courau, Sally-Ann Murray -- Love and Wayward Women in Ways of Dying / Nokuthula Mazibuko -- Twinship and Humanism in She Plays with the Darkness / T. Spreelin MacDonald -- Invidious Interpreters : The Post-Colonial Intellectual in The Heart of Redness / Mike Kissack, Michael Titlestad -- Culture and Nature in The Heart of Redness / Hilary P. Dannenberg -- Community and Agency in The Heart of Redness and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness / Gail Fincham -- The Ecological Imperative in The Heart of Redness / Harry Sewlall -- Nongqawuse, National Time and (female) Authorship in The Heart of Redness / Meg Samuelson -- A Politics of Doubt / Grant Farred -- Towards a South African Expressionism : The Madonna of Excelsior / J.U. Jacobs -- Race, Satire and Post-Colonial Issues in The Madonna of Excelsior / Ralph Goodman -- Narrating Transformative Possibilities : The Collective Voice in The Madonna of Excelsior / N.S. Zulu -- Whales, Clones and Two Ecological Novels : The Whale Caller and Jane Rosenthal's Souvenir / Wendy Woodward -- Ways of Writing: Zakes Mda's Self-Reflexive Art in Cion / J.U. Jacobs, David Bell.

Abstract:

"Ways of Writing is the first volume of essays devoted to a critical appraisal of Zakes Mda, the award-winning South African novelist and playwright. In his plays and novels, which draw on both Western and indigenous performance traditions, Mda engages with the history of southern Africa during and after apartheid. Writing from a position of exile, as well as from within his native country, he examines the lives of ordinary people and the ways in which they come to terms with the effects of apartheid. Mda has distinguished himself not only as a playwright and novelist, but also as a literary and cultural theorist and activist. He is a significant voice among the many in contemporary South Africa that exploit innovative forms to explore a culture in transition." "This book demonstrates the wide range of both Mda's work and its critical reception, with discussions of his fiction and drama by scholars from South Africa, Europe and the USA. The essays reinforce the impression of an original and challenging writer whose creative skills have been used to focus attention on the plight of the underprivileged. This volume provides stimulating reading to anyone with an interest in Zakes Mda, in particular, and in South African writing in general."--Jacket.

Personal Subject:

Mda, Zakes-Criticism and interpretation.

Added Author:

Bell, David, 1948-

Jacobs, J. U. (Johan U.)

Electronic Access:

Additional Information at Google Books

Copies:

Available:*

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Summary

Ways of Writing is the first volume of essays devoted to a critical appraisal of Zakes Mda, the award-winning South African novelist and playwright. In his plays and novels, which draw on both Western and indigenous performance traditions, Mda engages with the history of southern Africa during and after apartheid. Writing from a position of exile, as well as from within his native country, he examines the lives of ordinary people and the ways in which they come to terms with the effects of apartheid. Mda has distinguished himself not only as a playwright and novelist, but also as a literary and cultural theorist and activist. He is a significant voice among the many in contemporary South Africa that exploit innovative forms to explore a culture in transition. This book demonstrates the wide range of both Mda's work and its critical reception, with discussions of his fiction and drama by scholars from South Africa, Europe, and the US. The essays reinforce the impression of an original and challenging writer whose creative skills have been used to focus attention on the plight of the underprivileged. This volume provides stimulating reading to anyone with an interest in Zakes Mda, in particular, and in South African writing in general.