Bibliography/Bibliographie

Abstract

This is a select bibliography of black African creative writing in English. Its aim is to introduce readers to the large and significant amount of writing by black African authors which is available. Titles by authors writing in languages other than English are included when these are available in English translation. South African writing presents a special case and a special problem which does not arise at least as yet with regard to other African countries. Writing by black but not white South African authors is included. This is customary (see the bibliographies of Jahn and Mrs. Abrash, # 3 and # 1) and probably comes about for reasons of convenience. It can be argued that such arbitrary classification is unjust and unrealistic since writers such as Alan Paton, Nadine Gordimer, Harry Bloom, Dan Jacobsen, David Lytton and, from Rhodesia, Doris Lessing address themselves in their work to the same problems as Alex La Guma, Ezekiel Mphahalele, Richard Rive, Dennis Brutus and others listed here. On the other hand it can be argued that the writing of white South African authors forms part of a continuing tradition of writing in English which began before the turn of the century (cf. J. P. L. Snyman's Bibliography of South African Fiction in English, 1948) and includes some two hundred titles before the publication of Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country. Distinctions are difficult to insist upon since they proceed from oversimplification. Another, perhaps more defensible reason for excluding from an introductory bibliography of this kind the recent works of white South African writers is that this writing is generally better known, probably because more readily available than that of the black South African writers who are included here. I have made one exception to this principal by including checklists and/or bibliographies of works by white South African writers when they have come my way since they follow on from where Snyman leaves off and may be useful to readers.