The figure of the millennial in post-2000 South African literature

Abstract

This study aims to explore the ways in which South African authors in the post-2000 context employ the figure of the millennial to investigate issues relating to gender, sexuality, class and race against the background of the changing political climate following the advent of democracy. While the term ‘millennial’ has most often been used in international contexts, this dissertation considers its applicability to South Africans of the Born Free generation and those generational cohorts just preceding and following it. Despite the optimism of their name, Born Frees are frequently associated with disillusionment; they are hyperaware that their freedom is relative to their social class. As such, I argue that the trajectory shared by South Africa’s democracy and the maturation of Born Frees is in line with the postcolonial Bildungsroman in its lack of closure. Through my study I illustrate that a South African millennial lens has the potential to add to new ways of reading and thinking about contemporary South African fictions. This is achieved through the commingling of the millennial-associated concepts of connectivity, consumerism, protest, queerness and accessibility, with post-2000 South African societal concerns. The interconnection of terms I suggest can then be applied to literary subjects in order to figure out alternative ways of understanding. A total of five texts in the form of three short stories and two novels will be analysed in order to elucidate the framework I propose. In addition to exploring the Bildungs trajectory of the selected texts, my readings explore the millennial concerns of consumerism and consumption, which involve particularly urban constructions of space and place, as well as alternative ways of living/queerness, connectivity and the concern for accessibility. Through this study I show that South African millennial is a fitting figure through which to investigate the intersectional nature of identities.