The South African short story: From interregnum to transition

This study of short-story writing in South Africa over the last fifteen years or so focuses on the historical and literary factors which have gradually led black and white writers alike to critically examine the necessity of reconciling a concern for broad political issues and the aesthetic demands of creative writing. The general drift of the stories produced during that period shows that writing is no longer reduced to a mere mimetic status but serves to explore and convey the meaning of a moment, an event or a situation through the dynamic arrangement of its components and especially through linguistic code-shifting and the transgression of narrative and generic codes. This study thus examines how the new modes of writing deal with the recurrent issues of subjectivity and identity and shape through their transgressions the uncertainties and ambiguities of the contemporary period.