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This essay was born of a desire to understand the relationship between poetry and politics in a meaningful and current way. The twentieth century has seen atrocities that have taken place on an unprecedented scale: times of historical and social extremity, states of exile, censorship, military occupation, political persecution, torture, warfare, assassination, apartheid and, more recently, forms of violent terrorism. This essay will consider the function of poetry in a world overcome and consumed by violence. The essay will begin with a consideration of the political function of the ideas expressed in Percy Bysshe Shelley's A Defence of Poetry (hereinafter A Defence). Shelley's notion of the promise of art and what it de facto delivers, and his ideas on the significance of poems in the context of politics will be examined. The essay will then consider the views of the Russian Formalists on how to establish the "literariness" of a text and the ability of a text to "defamiliarise", as well as the devices that can be used by a poet to achieve literariness and defamiliarisation. It will touch on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and his concepts of folk humour and grotesque realism in a text. Carolyn Forché's idea of poetry as a witness of a lived experience, as enunciated in her text Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness, will be discussed. Thereafter, the essay will consider Viljoen and Van der Merwe's notions of liminality in literature, as expounded in their text Beyond the Threshold, and their explanation of how language can act as a transformative vehicle. In order to illustrate these concepts practically, the essay will analyse two South African poetry collections, namely: Nathan Trantraal's Chokers en Survivors and Oswald Mtshali's Sounds of a Cowhide Drum. The analyses will reveal what distinguishes mere resistance poetry and political diatribe from poetry that is lasting and effective.

Includes bibliography.

Unsound Minds is a short novel about a young girl, Clara, who has suffered emotional trauma. She arrived in Hindpark Township from a place that she never discloses. She has been living in the loft of a block of flats for a while, isolated from the community, only corning out at night to scrounge for food in the rubbish bins belonging to a restaurant situated opposite the flats. The community believes her to be mentally disturbed and want nothing to do with her. One night, while looking through her window, she witnesses the murder of the restaurateur, Samson. A young police officer, Wanda, is assigned the duty of protecting her from the murderers before they find out that she is a witness. He places her under the care of Matrida, a formidable spinster, who lives a short distance away from the scene of the crime. It is, however, this precautionary act that actually exposes Clara to the killers as a witness. As part of the novel's tapestry, the story explores the workings of the township's corrupt and incompetent police force which is headed by an authoritarian bully, Inspector Bedson. Hindpark's social dynamics, beliefs and superstitions, and sense of community, despite some conflict between residents, play an integral role in creating the sort of environment that Clara finds herself in. Wanda, the only policeman with any notable integrity, starts off as her reluctant protector; Matrida assumes the role of a reluctant mother figure; Anabel is the obnoxious neighbour; and limbo is the neighbourhood's aggressive hell-raiser. Like Clara, they have each experienced some form of trauma in their lives. They become a more dependable unit of protection to Clara than the entire Hindpark police force. Without being scientific or philosophical, Unsound Minds looks at the question of sanity. It is a story about how no one human being is exempt from some form of madness and how that madness drives each individual differently. The supposedly insane Clara is placed in the care of Matrida whom the community believes is herself not completely sane. But even in her madness, she is instrumental in bringing back some stability into Clara's life. At the other extreme, Bedson's madness is destructive. Because of his inept leadership skills, he drives the entire police force into disrepute. Given this human dynamic. the story seeks to reveal how everyone uses their madness in the way that suits them best - for good or for bad. The theme of madness was not planned at the time of beginning this short novel, but developed as the narrative progressed. However, just as writing is subjective, so is reading. I expect each reader to read into Unsound Minds what s/he sees in it. The story is entirely my own, influenced partly by my perceptions of the different environments that I have lived in throughout my life, although it is purely imaginative. Pointers which I received from my supervisor, Professor Geoffrey Haresnape, helped in moulding it into a narrative that will hopefully be a worthwhile read.

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Includes abstract. / Located in the college novel tradition, Close to Home explores a number of the themes common to the sub-genre, specifically the ennui of university students from a wealthy background. The story's characters have an excess of money, privilege and leisure time, which leads to boredom and ultimate tragedy. The protagonist, Faye, epitomises the stereotype of a spoiled Cape Town girl- a personality that turns out to have a lot in common with the magnetic but ultimately dangerous characters of some of the best-known college novels.

Something Between Us is a comi-tragedy, a novel that deals with the relationships between a group of adolescent friends. Set in a small South African mining town in the 1980s, against a general backdrop of political upheaval and border conflict, it aims to explore the nature and consequences of these relationships within the context of a central incident, in which the novel's narration reveals some of the wider fracture lines in the South Africa that was, and the South Africa that is today. Something Between Us is also a satire, in the manner in which it treats the behaviours, attitudes and idiomatic turns of speech that would characterize a certain sector of white youth from this particular era. The intention of the novel is to reveal, albeit with a comic-serio touch, the ways in which South Africa's past, as refracted through young lives, continues to reach into the present.

Includes abstract. / Commedia is a novel set in 410 AD during the collapse of the Roman Empire. The island of Britain has recently freed itself from Roman rule, and a small group of comedy actors find themselves caught up in a cultural struggle between the old Roman aristocracy and the new British nouveau riche. On a tour around Britain, the actors uncover a political and criminal plot that puts Britain in danger of invasion by Saxon mercenaries.

Die hoof van die Suid-Afrikaanse Departement van Buitelandse Sake bevind hom in 'n netelige situasie. Ruben Meyer se diplomatieke vaardighede word tot die uiterste beproef. Hy word gekonfronteer met die veranderende politieke bestel in post-koloniale Suid-Afrika, 'n krisis in sy persoonlike lewe en 'n gepoogde staatsgreep in Wes- Afrika waar diplomate aangehou word. Justine Minnaert is vanaf Brussel op pad na Kaapstad vir haar eerste joernalistieke opdrag in Afrika. Sy weet nie wat om van die kontinent en sy mense te verwag nie en hoe om die kontraste tussen haar Europese persepsie en die realiteit van Afrika te hanteer nie. 'n Web van intrige word geweef in 'n wereld waar diplomate, politici, diamant- en wapenhandelaars die lewens van miljoene mense bepaal. English abstract: The head of the South African Department of Foreign Affairs finds himself in a precarious position. Ruben Meyer's diplomatic skills are tested to the full. He is confronted by the changing political scene in post-colonial South Africa, turmoil in his personal life and an attempted coup d'etat in West Africa where diplomats are being held captive. Justine Minnaert is on her way from Brussels to Cape Town for her first journalistic assignment in Africa. She does not know what to expect of this troubled continent and its people and has to deal with the contrasts between her European perception and the reality of Africa. A web of intrigue is woven in a world where diplomats, politicians, diamond and weapons dealers determine the lives of millions of people.

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