The Lava of This Land: South African Poetry 1960-1996 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780810150690)

The lava of change has spilled over South Africa again as apartheid as ended. What sort of social and artistic emerges as it cools? This anthology, containing more than two hundred poems by over fifty poets, spans five distinct historical periods in the contemporary development of South Africa, from the 1960s Durban worker strikes to the dismantling of apartheid in the 1990s. Most of the poems have been written in English, but forty-eight have been translated from Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, and /Xam, a Bushman linguistic group. Inspired by music, by the language of the streets, by the sensual and the erotic, and by social, political, and economic turmoil, these poems showcase a remarkable complexity of literary traditions. They provide a fascinating and moving rendering of South Africa's hybrid language and unique worldview.


Author: Denis Hirson
ISBN-10: 0810150697
ISBN-13: 9780810150690
Publisher: Triquarterly Books
Language: English
Published: 08/01/1997
Pages: 328
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 8.57h x 5.57w x 1.09d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/01/1997 pg. 53