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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Nation and gender: female identity in contemporary South African writing
Author:Kauer, Ute
Year:2003
Periodical:Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa
Volume:15
Issue:2
Pages:106-116
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:group identity
women
literature
About persons:André Philippus Brink (1935-2015)ISNI
John Maxwell Coetzee (1940-)ISNI
Achmat Dangor (1948-2020)ISNI
Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda (1948-)ISNI
Abstract:Contemporary fiction from South Africa reflects the search for a new national identity as well as current problems the Rainbow Nation is facing. In this process of redefinition, South African fiction shows a remarkable preoccupation with the question of gender. This essay elucidates the forms of female identity implied in contemporary writing, concentrating on André Brink's novels 'Devil's valley' (1998), 'Imaginings of sand' (1998) and 'The rights of desire' (2001), Achmat Dangor's 'Kafka's curse' (2000), Zakes Mda's 'Ways of dying' (2000, 1995), and J.M. Coetzee's 'Disgrace' (1999). It examines what kind of femininity is suggested in these works and how the images of women are related to the question of national identity. It focuses on three main features of female identity which can be found in the texts: the utopian quality of femininity, the mysteriousness of women, and the relation of women and history. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]
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