Comparative Literature 266 - MODRN SOUTH AFRICAN LIT & FILM

Topics course.: A study of South African literature and film with a particular focus on adaptation of literary texts to the screen. We pay particular attention to texts and films in which violence—political, economic, psychical, xenophobic, homophobic etc.—is the main focus. For what purposes do South African filmmakers adapt canonical and contemporary texts, biographies and memoirs to the screen? How do these adaptations help us visualize the relationship between power and violence in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa? How do race, class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity complicate how we define, conceptualize and critique racial, political and gender-based violence in South Africa? Texts and films may include Njabulo Ndebele’s The Cry of Winnie Mandela, Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, André Brink’s A Dry White Season, Mahamo’s The Last Grave at Dimbaza, John Wood’s Biko (Cry Freedom), Anne Mare du Preez Bezdrob’s Winnie Mandela: A Li