Tales of transition

H Viljoen,E Hentschel

doi:10.4102/lit.v18i3.546

Abstract

In this article the rationale of this special issue is provided and the different contributions are introduced. The assumption is that there are strong similarities between the recent political and social transitions in South Africa and Germany and the reactions, both emotional and literary, of the people involved. Broadly, the transitions are described as a movement from external (or violent) to internal (or ideological) social control, though this must be modified by the various constructions the contributors put on the transition. The main themes and questions of the transitions are synthesized, highlighting the marked similarities the different contributions reveal. The most important of these are the relation to the past, problems of identity, projections of the new and the internal contradictions of nationalist discourse (which informs the process of transition). In conclusion, the similarities and differences between the two transitions indicated by this special issue, are discussed. The assumption of strong similarities between the two seems to hold, it is argued, but much more research into the matter is needed.

Highlights

In this article the rationale o f this special issue is provided and the different contributions are introduced
Points out that South African literature has already shown a consciousness o f political crisis, o f living in an interregnum, since the 7 0 ’s and that the transition cannot be limited to the period since 1994
This indicates that our constructions of language, South African literature, identity, the past, o f Africa itself are bound to be relative and exclusive in their own way

Summary

The rationale of this special issue

Official history is a production, and an erasure of an alter native history (Horn, p. 28). Points out that South African literature has already shown a consciousness o f political crisis, o f living in an interregnum, since the 7 0 ’s and that the transition cannot be limited to the period since 1994 This indicates that our constructions of language, South African literature, identity, the past, o f Africa itself (important themes that other contributors take up) are bound to be relative and exclusive in their own way. The surfacing o f historically repressed voices in this novel is a reminder o f our complicity in history and o f the relativity o f our own constructions o f the past and o f the present, too, o f the transition itself; in H orn’s terms: o f w hat official history excludes

Johan van Wyk - “Catastrophe and beauty

Rob Gaylard - “Crossing over

Jan van Luxemburg - “Monika Maron

12. Stefan FrOhlich - “Images of America in unified Germany”

13. Maria von Harpe - “East German media in transition after reunification”

15. Conclusions