- Teacher: Katherine Hallemeier
This seminar will focus on South African fiction in English published during and after the quotidian and spectacular state
violence that characterized political apartheid. We will consider fiction from a range of genres, such as realism, the gothic,
and magical realism, as well as a few key works of South African literary criticism. We will ask how this literature invites
us to think through the politics of literary form, the ethics of representation, and the connections between national and
global liberatory imaginaries.
Texts for purchase: Miriam Tlali, “Between Two Worlds” (Broadview, 2004, ISBN 9781551116051), J.M. Coetzee, “Age
of Iron” (Penguin, 1998, ISBN 9780140275650, or any edition); Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller (Penguin, 2006, ISBN
9780312425876). All will be made available at Payot, Rue de la Confédération. Additional materials will be available on
Moodle.