Breyten Breytenbach, leading Afrikaner poet, formerly incarcerated anti-apartheid campaigner, here goes in search of lost time. He returns to South Africa from Parisian exile, and finds himself excavating both his family's history and that of his nation, through a series of contemporary sketches and haunting reminiscences which are highly coloured, strongly poetic, and often unsettling in their violence. Interspersed with Breytenbach's investigations of genealogy, landscape and folklore are glimpses of the 'New South Africa', where efforts at a formal process of Truth and Reconciliation teeter uneasily atop a legacy of terrible and enduring violence. The image of the 'boerboel' dog - the canine friend inclined to turn savage at unexpected moments - persists throughout this troubled memoir.
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Höhe: 213 mm
Breite: 136 mm
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ISBN-13
978-0-571-20066-5 (9780571200665)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Breyten Breytenbach was born in South Africa in 1939. He left South Africa in 1959 to travel throughout Europe, settling in Paris in 1961. He rapidly established himself as a leading Afrikaner poet of his generation, as well as a painter of distinction. Whilst in Europe he became active in the anti-apartheid movement, and it was during a return visit to South Africa in 1975 that he was arrested. He was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to nine years imprisonment. He was eventually found not guilty of the charges, but remained a political prisoner until 1982. Following his release, he returned to Paris, where he still lives with his wife, and obtained French citizenship.In 1992 he co-founded the Goree Institute in Senegal, and in 1995 he co-founded the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Natal. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Natal, Princeton University, the University of Cape Town, and New York University.Breyten Breytenb
