Since the 1970s, truth and reconciliation commissions have become
increasingly popularised as options for addressing historical
injustices, especially within the context of dictatorial regimes. Of
the many truth commissions to date, the South African TRC has been the
one that has captured public attention throughout the world, providing
a model for subsequent truth commissions. The South African TRC has
also constituted and still constitutes an intriguing source for
writing. Literary Legacies of the South African TRC explores the
capacities of fiction for providing the TRC and people’s testimonies
with a productive afterlife, for challenging definitions of trauma,
truth and reconciliation, for inviting readers to keep the dialogue
about the past open, and to think actively about the strategies
adopted in addressing that past and their implications in the present.
It explores these capabilities as evidenced in the work of a wide
range of writers, some known to international Anglophone readers,
including J.M. Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer, some less well-known,
including Afrikaans-language novelist Marlene van Niekerk, and others
from a new generation including Marli Roode, Kopano Matlwa, and Thando
Mgqolozana. The book aims to contribute to discourses of trauma,
truth-telling, and reconciliation from a literary perspective, as well
as placing emphasis on the profound interconnection between fiction,
history, and trauma in conflict and post-conflict areas such as South
Africa.
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Fictional Journeys into Trauma, Truth, and Reconciliation
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783030430559
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Palgrave Macmillan
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter