Remembering life under apartheid with fondness : the memoirs of Jacob Dlamini and Chris van Wyk

dc.contributor.authorMedalie, David
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-02T05:42:42Z
dc.date.available2017-06-02T05:42:42Z
dc.date.issued2016-12
dc.description.abstractA number of works of non-fiction written in the post-apartheid period reflect on childhood and adolescent experiences during the apartheid years. This paper looks at three of them: Jacob Dlamini’s Native Nostalgia (2009) and Chris van Wyk’s two memoirs, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (2004) and Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch (2010). Dlamini’s memoir describes his childhood in Katlehong, while van Wyk’s deal with his early experiences in Riverlea. These memoirs are unusual in that, while they do not hesitate to expose the injustices of apartheid, they nevertheless seek to convey the persistence of normality and the “ordinariness” of family and community life within the abnormality of apartheid. This paper considers the implications of “fondness” or nostalgia in all three memoirs, as well the ways in which Dlamini and van Wyk present non-deterministic conceptions of identity and pay tribute to powerful matriarchal figures. The use of humour in Shirley, Goodness and Mercy and Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch is also analysed. Finally, some possible reasons are given as to why van Wyk’s memoirs seem to have been spared much of the criticism which has been directed at Dlamini’s.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentEnglishen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2017en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.ru.ac.za/isea/publications/journals/englishinafricaen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMedalie, D 2016, 'Remembering life under apartheid with fondness : the memoirs of Jacob Dlamini and Chris van Wyk', English in Africa, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 43-60.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0376-8902
dc.identifier.other10.4314/eia.v43i3.3
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/60750
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherRhodes University, Institute for the Study of English in Africaen_ZA
dc.rightsInstitute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes Universityen_ZA
dc.subjectJacob Dlaminien_ZA
dc.subjectChris van Wyken_ZA
dc.subjectKatlehongen_ZA
dc.subjectRiverleaen_ZA
dc.subjectMemoiren_ZA
dc.subjectApartheiden_ZA
dc.subjectPost-apartheiden_ZA
dc.subjectNostalgiaen_ZA
dc.subjectIdentityen_ZA
dc.subjectMatriarchyen_ZA
dc.subjectHumouren_ZA
dc.titleRemembering life under apartheid with fondness : the memoirs of Jacob Dlamini and Chris van Wyken_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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