Still Beating the Drum Critical Perspecives on Lewis Nkosi

Lewis Nkosi is one of South Africa’s foremost writers and critics, and one of the few survivors of the exile generation dating from the Drum era. Up until now, however, no full length study has been done on his work. This is a gap in South African literary history and criticism that this book is intended to fill. Besides his well known earlier works, Nkosi is still very much an active writer as the publication in 2002 of his novel, Underground People, shows, with his latest novel due out in 2005. The timing of Still Beating the Drum, a book which intends to highlight and evaluate his extensive and varied oeuvre, is thus appropriate. Given Lewis Nkosi’s life trajectory, this volume will appeal to readers interested in South African and African literature, both in South Africa and abroad. Intended as a important critical resource on Lewis Nkosi, the book is divided into three parts: Part One collects papers from scholars around the world currently working on Nkosi’s work in various genres; Part Two reprints key articles from different moments in Nkosi’s critical writing, together with hitherto unpublished recent interviews with Nkosi; and Part Three provides the reader with a timeline and extensive bibliography for Lewis Nkosi, both invaluable resources for scholars working on Nkosi given the scattered nature of much of his more ephemeral writings in the past. Lewis Nkosi is an important figure in South African literature whose voice has been heard far and wide – this book aims to collect for critical consideration some of the echoes and reverberations his voice has generated. Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations Preface Liz GUNNER and Lindy STIEBEL: Introduction: Lewis Nkosi – Inscriptions PART ONE: WRITING ON LEWIS NKOSI THE LITERARY CRITIC Annie GAGIANO: Lewis Nkosi as Literary Critic Chris WANJALA: Lewis Nkosi’s Early Literary Criticism Oyekan OWOMOYELA: Lewis Nkosi: A Commentary Piece THE DRAMATIST AND POET Liz GUNNER: Contaminations: BBC Radio and the Black Artist – Lewis Nkosi’s “The Trial” and “We Can’t All be Martin Luther King” Sikhumbuzo MNGADI: Hostage Drama: The Rhythm of Violence and Some Comments on “The Black Psychiatrist” Astrid STARCK-ADLER: Psycholoanalysis and Apartheid: The Image and Role of the Psychiatrist in Selected Works of Lewis Nkosi Therese STEFFEN: The Desire of Knowledge, or, the Body in Excess: Lewis Nkosi’s Play “The Black Psychiatrist” Litzi LOMBARDOZZI: An Introduction to the Poetry of Lewis Nkosi THE NOVELIST Lucy GRAHAM: “Bathing Area – For Whites Only”: Reading Prohibitive Signs and ‘Black Peril’ in Lewis Nkosi’s Mating Birds Lindy STIEBEL: The Return of the Native: Lewis Nkosi’s Mating Birds Revisited in Post-Apartheid Durban Companion Piece: South African Censors’ Report on Mating Birds Andries OLIPHANT: Mammon and God: Reality, Imagination and Irony in Underground People Raffaella VANCINI: Beyond the Literature of Protest: Lewis Nkosi’s Underground People PART TWO: LEWIS NKOSI IN HIS OWN VOICE INTERVIEWS 14.1 Interview with Lewis Nkosi 25 October 2002, Durban, South Africa conducted by ZOË MOLVER, filmed by DAVID BASCKIN 14.2 Nuruddin Farah and Lewis Nkosi in conversation with ACHILLE MBEMBE at the Time of The Writer Festival, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban, South Africa on 15 March 2003 Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu–Natal A RETROSPECTIVE SELECTION 15.1 Fiction by Black South Africans 15.2 Alex La Guma: The Man and His Work 15.3 Negritude: New and Old Perspectives 15.4 White Writing 15.5 Bloke Modisane: Blame Me On History 15.6 The Republic of Letters After the Mandela Republic PART THREE: SOURCES FOR LEWIS NKOSI 16 Bibliography 17 Timeline Notes on Contributors Index