Nation' and 'literature' are always inherently unstable categories but,
in the case of South Africa, this instability is particularly marked.
This study considers the effects local and global networks had on the
publication, promotion and reception of a series of key writers and
their works between 1883 and 2005, asking: who published what, where,
why, and how; how and why work was construed as 'South African', what
this meant, and how it affected reading. Exploring new approaches to
studying colonial and postcolonial print cultures, it seeks to redress
inadequately historicised or transnationally situated studies of South
African writing in English.
The book is absolutely essential reading for anyone with an interest in
the fields of South African, African, and general colonial and
postcolonial literatures and history, as well as those with an interest
print and media cultures, and the History of the Book.