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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Sophiatown Writers of the Fifties: The Unreal Reality of Their World
Author:Gready, PaulISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:16
Issue:1
Period:March
Pages:139-164
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:writers
townships
literature
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636643
Abstract:In Sophiatown, a freehold area situated four miles from the centre of Johannesburg, a generation of writers came to maturity soon after the National Party gained power in 1948. These authors - Mphahlele, Maimane, Matshikiza, Modisane, Themba, Nakasa, Motsisi and Nkosi - referred to as the 'Sophiatown set', all lived in Sophiatown at various stages during the fifties. This paper describes the significance and tragedy of Sophiatown in the period 1948-1959 and touches upon the following issues: the role of 'Drum', a magazine which, virtually entirely written by the Sophiatown set, represented black literature in English in South Africa for almost a decade; the use of English as a unifying force; the interracial frontier and its varying black, white, and collaborative literary outputs, amongst others in theatre and musicals; the Sophiatown writers' (lack of) political commitment; and the socioeconomic and political context in which gangsterism and crime flourished. In 1959 Sophiatown was pulled down. Almost all writers chose exile. A number of them wrote their autobiography, in which they attempted to capture the magic of the Sophiatown that was. Notes, ref.
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