Miriam Tlali : writing freedom

"Miriam Tlali was a novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, and an activist against apartheid and patriarchal confinement. She worked consistently to build literary and political community, was one of the founders of Staffrider magazine, promoted the work of younger writers, and was the most prolific writer of her time. Hailed as the first black woman within the country to publish a novel in English under apartheid, and as the first black woman to significantly impact the male terrain of South African short story writing, Tlali held the mantle of many firsts. Fiercely opposed to censorship, she went to great lengths to undermine the will and impact of the apartheid censors, and wrote many essays exposing the violence and hypocrisy. A prolific writer whose plays were performed on two continents, Tlali was routinely banned in South Africa - once after a mere public reading of a story before it was even published. Tlali was recognised as an important South African literary voice, and her first novel was translated into Japanese, Dutch, German and Polish, while it remained banned in the country of her birth."-- Back cover CONTENTS Dedication iii Timeline of the life of Miriam Tlali vii Acknowledgements xi PART 1: HER LIFE Introduction 3 Tlali’s world 9 Tlali’s creative process 15 Imagination, hope and liberation 18 PART 3: HER LEGACY Introduction 159 Staffrider and Black Consciousness: Gendered blackness 161 Writing women 162 Race, class and gender 165 Boundaries and belonging 166 Resisting erasure 167 Writing the nation and articulating identity 169 Reappraising Tlali 171 Tlali as generational pioneer 172 A black feminist writer’s ambivalent locations 174 Tlali as a key feminist thinker on feminist community 176 Tlali as a key feminist thinker against rape 178 Tlali as a key feminist thinker on black subjectivity 179 Tlali and Staffrider/Biack Consciousness literature 180 Writing as activism 184 Staffrider women 188 BIBLIOGRAPHY 193 ABOUT THE VOLUME EDITOR 193 INDEX 194 PART 2: HER VOICE: Selected writings of MiriamTlali Introduction » < 25 Interviews 33 • Cecily Lockett interview with Miriam Tlali 33 • Miriam Tlali interview with Lilian Ngoyi 44 • Miriam Tlali interview with Annanias 48 • Miriam Tlali interview with Flora Mooketsane 52 Novels 55 • Chapters 5 and 6 from Muriel at Metropolitan 55 • Chapters 6 and 7 from Between Two Worlds 64 • Chapter 16 from Amandla 74 Short stories 83 • The Haunting Melancholy of Klipvoordam (short story published in Staffrider and later Mihloti) 83 • Soweto Hijack: A story of our times 94 Play: Crimen Injuria (three-act play) 103 Essays 138 • Quagmires and quicksands ' 138 • Remove the chains 146 "Miriam Tlali was a novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, and an activist against apartheid and patriarchal confinement. She worked consistently to build literary and political community, was one of the founders of Staffrider magazine, promoted the work of younger writers, and was the most prolific writer of her time. Hailed as the first black woman to publish a novel within the country in English under apartheid, and as the first black woman to significantly impact the male terrain of South African short story writing, Tlali held the mantle of many firsts.Fiercely opposed to censorship, she went to great length to undermine the will and impact of the apartheid censors, and wrote many essays exposing the violence and hypocrisy of apartheid censors. A prolific writer whose plays were performed on two continents, Tlali was routinely banned in South Africa - once after a mere public reading of a story before it was even published. Tlali was recognised as an important South African literary voice, and her first novel was translated into Japanese, Dutch, German and Polish, while it remained banned in the country of her birth."-- Back cover Miriam Tlali was a novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, and an activist against apartheid and patriarchal confinement. This volume brings together select original writing by Tlali with analyses of the many ways in which she imagined freedom.