Cullhed, 2006: 79) writes: "Nationalism, like patriarchy, favours singleness—one identity, one growth pattern, one birth and blood for all ... [and] will promote specifically unitary or 'one-eyed' forms of consciousness".
Gerrit Olivier notes, "While it is not unusual to hear academics and politicians talk about a 'South African literature', the situation at ground level is characterised by diversity and even fragmentation".
South Africa has 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, Venda, SiSwati, Tsonga, and Ndebele.
Sotho, for instance, while transgressing the national borders of the RSA, is on the other hand mainly spoken in the Free State, and bears a great amount of relation to the language of for example, Zulu.
Olivier argues that "There is no obvious reason why it should be unhealthy or abnormal for different literatures to co-exist in one country, each possessing its own infrastructure and allowing theoreticians to develop impressive theories about polysystems".
This split occurs because, Nkosi claims, black writers are "largely impervious for the most part to cultural movements which have exercised great influence in the development of white writing".
Cloete is further noteworthy for his compilation, Literêre Terme en Teorieë (1992), which is one of the most encompassing works on literary theory available on the global market, although written in Afrikaans.
Some modern poets of note include Joan Hambidge, Hennie Aucamp, Ernst van Heerden, Antjie Krog and Gert Vlok Nel.
His characters are often outsiders, and his satirical view on South African issues embodies alchemistic, Jungian and Cabbalistic theories and philosophies, with the novel reading like a palimpsest with different levels of meaning.
This style had a profound influence on writers such as Ingrid Winterbach (Lettie Viljoen), Alexander Strachan, and Etienne van Heerden's magical realist novels.
With the war in Angola, grensliteratuur (border literature) started playing an important role, such as Dine van Zyl's [af] Slagoffers, Christiaan Bakkes's Skuilplek and Alexander Strachan's 'n Wêreld sonder grense.
Triomf by Marlene van Niekerk deals with poor Afrikaners in a legendary suburb of Johannesburg, where the Apartheid regime demolished the old black township Sophiatown, in order to build houses for the white lower-class.
Another writer who often regresses to earlier times is André P. Brink, e.g. Anderkant die Stilte (in English available as The Other Side of Silence), which is set during the German occupation of Namibia.
Political turmoil and the opening of South Africa's borders after the 1994 elections have resulted in many writers moving abroad, or writing about their time spent overseas, e.g. Jaco Fouché's Ryk van die Rawe.
One of the first literary works of note is Olive Schreiner's 1883 The Story of an African Farm, which can be linked to Van den Heever's Laat Vrugte as a plaasroman.
However, Mossman (1990: 41) argues that "The most frequently taught work of South African literature in American classrooms is Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton".
A possible reason for this is that it was made into a film starring James Earl Jones, and it depicts a typical racist situation that fits well with American perceptions of South African society.
Other prominent texts include Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams, Alex La Guma's Walk in the Night, Breyten Breytenbach's The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist, Marlene van Niekerk's Triomf, Nadine Gordimer's Burger's Daughter, Andre Brink's Dry White Season, Richard Rive's Buckingham Palace, District Six, Andre Brink's Rumours of Rain, Nadine Gordimer's July's People, Sipho Sepamla's Ride on the Whirlwind, and Mongane Serote's To every birth its blood.
By Sheyn Voetseeg Athol Fugard's Master Harold and the boys is a drama about race relations, and Boesman and Lena depicts the hardships suffered by South Africa's poor.
Recent plays have addressed the high levels of violent crime, such as Lara Foot Newton's Tshepang, Athol Fugard's Victory and Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom's Relativity.
English poetry in South Africa is often considered "good" by whether or not it criticises Apartheid, or whether or not it depicts life "as it is", rather than the Afrikaans emphasis on literary merit taken from Russian Formalism and introduced by Van Wyk Louw.
These texts "evince black African patriarchy in its traditional form, with men in authority, often as warriors or kings, and women as background figures of dependency, and/or mothers of the nation" (Cullhed, 2006: 21).
Other prominent Xhosa authors are AC Jordan, JJR Jolobe, ZS Qangule, KS Bongela, Godfrey Mzamane, Rubusana, Peter Mtuze and Guybon Sinxo.
Some of the most prominent Tswana authors are Sol Plaatje, DB Moloto, DPS Monyaise, SA Moroke, Gilbert Modise, MJ Ntsime, Leetile Disang Raditladi (who had a crater on Mercury named after him), MD Mothoagae, JHK Molao.
[5] All three festivals also aim to draw children and young adults into reading by organizing special events for these audiences and funding projects such as school libraries.