Skip to main content

    Ena Jansen

    The experience of migrancy and exile is a familiar topos in South African literature. It permeates twentieth century South African literature in English and Afrikaans by black and white authors. Rural characters such as Jochem van... more
    The experience of migrancy and exile is a familiar topos in South African literature. It permeates twentieth century South African literature in English and Afrikaans by black and white authors. Rural characters such as Jochem van Bruggen's Ampie and the many 'Jims' who went to Johannesburg in search of better living conditions, were famous, especially during the first half of the twentieth century. Afrikaans poets N.P. van Wyk Louw, Elisabeth Eybers and Breyten Breytenbach wrote their best work whilst living in Europe after World War II. During the apartheid years many important writers, such as Es'kia Mphahlele, Lewis Nkosi, Dennis Brutus and Bessie Head, left the country and wrote about their experiences of exile. In post apartheid South Africa writers still, again or for the first time live abroad. The many expatriate characters returning to South Africa, often under pressure of family circumstances, have to face up to the emotional decision whether or not to rem...
    This article departs from the premise that the South African literary ar­chive has many gaps concerning the experiences of black people and argues that these gaps can perhaps be partially filled by ‘mining’ old and recent literary texts... more
    This article departs from the premise that the South African literary ar­chive has many gaps concerning the experiences of black people and argues that these gaps can perhaps be partially filled by ‘mining’ old and recent literary texts by white Afrikaans authors which feature domestic worker characters. Domes­tic workers have a pivotal role as ‘outsiders within’; as people with an exceptional knowledge of both black and white culture. Because contributions by black au­thors to the South African archive covering the twentieth century are limited, this article argues that interactions in the intercultural contact zone (Pratt 1992) of ‘maid & madam’ situations as described by white authors can be studied in an ef­fort to extend the existing archive. In addition, the literary works under discus­sion here allow for a focus on the relations between people as well as different re­sponses to historical change. Ways in which historically important events such as voting day 1994, the Rebelli...
    A moment in the auto/biographical enterprise Judith Lütge Coullie, Stephan Meyer, Thengani H Ngwenya and Thomas Olver (eds). (2006) Selves in Question: Interviews on Southern African Auto/biography. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i... more
    A moment in the auto/biographical enterprise Judith Lütge Coullie, Stephan Meyer, Thengani H Ngwenya and Thomas Olver (eds). (2006) Selves in Question: Interviews on Southern African Auto/biography. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
    A moment in the auto/biographical enterprise Judith Lütge Coullie, Stephan Meyer, Thengani H Ngwenya and Thomas Olver (eds). (2006) Selves in Question: Interviews on Southern African Auto/biography. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i... more
    A moment in the auto/biographical enterprise Judith Lütge Coullie, Stephan Meyer, Thengani H Ngwenya and Thomas Olver (eds). (2006) Selves in Question: Interviews on Southern African Auto/biography. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
    A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
    The article's central preoccupation is with the dialectic of presence/absence in the tense and intense relations of intimacy and distance in domestic service. In its mix of cultural, economic and political history,... more
    The article's central preoccupation is with the dialectic of presence/absence in the tense and intense relations of intimacy and distance in domestic service. In its mix of cultural, economic and political history, literary analysis and autobiography, the article traces the representation of South African domestic workers in both the author's memory and the collective memory of Afrikaans literature. Whether it
    ... brieven uit Afrika en Azië [1913] by ... Summary The sections on Southern Africa and Indonesia in Dr Aletta Jacobs's travel journal, Reisbrieven uit Afrika en Azië (1913), are discussed with reference to conventions... more
    ... brieven uit Afrika en Azië [1913] by ... Summary The sections on Southern Africa and Indonesia in Dr Aletta Jacobs's travel journal, Reisbrieven uit Afrika en Azië (1913), are discussed with reference to conventions of travel literature and to the feminine voice in colonial discourse. ...
    ... brieven uit Afrika en Azië [1913] by ... Summary The sections on Southern Africa and Indonesia in Dr Aletta Jacobs's travel journal, Reisbrieven uit Afrika en Azië (1913), are discussed with reference to conventions... more
    ... brieven uit Afrika en Azië [1913] by ... Summary The sections on Southern Africa and Indonesia in Dr Aletta Jacobs's travel journal, Reisbrieven uit Afrika en Azië (1913), are discussed with reference to conventions of travel literature and to the feminine voice in colonial discourse. ...
    The article's central preoccupation is with the dialectic of presence/absence in the tense and intense relations of intimacy and distance in domestic service. In its mix of cultural, economic and political history,... more
    The article's central preoccupation is with the dialectic of presence/absence in the tense and intense relations of intimacy and distance in domestic service. In its mix of cultural, economic and political history, literary analysis and autobiography, the article traces the representation of South African domestic workers in both the author's memory and the collective memory of Afrikaans literature. Whether it
    Allister Sparks,TOMORROW IS ANOTHER COUNTRY: THE INSIDE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA'S NEGOTIATED REVOLUTION. Johannesburg: Struik, 1994, pp. 254, paper.Paul M Sniderman and Thomas Piazza,THE SCAR OF RACE. Cambridge: Harvard... more
    Allister Sparks,TOMORROW IS ANOTHER COUNTRY: THE INSIDE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA'S NEGOTIATED REVOLUTION. Johannesburg: Struik, 1994, pp. 254, paper.Paul M Sniderman and Thomas Piazza,THE SCAR OF RACE. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993, pp. 207.Janina Frentzel‐Zagorska (ed.),FROM A ONE‐PARTY STATE TO DEMOCRACY: TRANSITION IN EASTERN EUROPE, Rodopi, Amsterdam‐Atlanta, GA 1993, pp. xiii + 224 (Poznan Studies 32).Hermann Giliomee and Lawrence Schlemmer