Bloke of All Ages
Persepectives on Bloke Modisane
Will be published approx. on 1. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-77614-975-9 (ISBN)
Description
Bloke of All Ages is an expansive reflection that offers refreshing new insights into the works of one of South Africa's most important literary, intellectual and artistic figures, William Bloke Modisane. Born in Sophiatown, Modisane was a remarkable author, playwright and actor, and a leading member of the DRUM generation in the 1950s. The contributors trace Modisane's intellectual and cultural journey from his early years in South Africa to his exile in the United Kingdom, East Africa, North America, Italy, the German Democratic Republic, and the Federal Republic of Germany. Through a comprehensive and diverse exploration of Modisane's body of work, they offer critical literary essays on his early short stories, his autobiography Blame Me on History, his journalism as well as his writings while in exile. The volume also includes little-known and previously unpublished essays by Modisane, written during his time in exile. Bloke of All Ages highlights the relevance and resilience of Modisane's intellectual and cultural contribution by situating his work in the broader historic context of South African creative arts.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77614-975-9 (9781776149759)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
William (Bloke) Modisane (28 August 1923 - 1 March 1986) was a South African writer, actor and journalist.
Content
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms
Introduction - Siyabonga Njica and Siphiwo Mahala
Part I: Johannesburg, Drum, and the Making of a Modern Intellectual
Chapter 1 Restless Spaces in Modisane's Johannesburg - Liz Gunner
Chapter 2 Modisane at Marienbad: Cinema, Time, and Memory in Blame Me on History - Mark Sanders
Chapter 3 Recovering the "Humour and idiom of Damon Runyon" in Bloke Modisane's writing for Drum magazine - Colette Guldimann
Chapter 4 Blame the Present on History? The Depiction of South African Townships and the Facade of Democracy - Molebogeng Sebesho
Chapter 5 Black Ontology in Modisane's Blame Me on History - Bafana Radebe
Part II: Exile, Diasporic Narratives, and Transnational Discourse
Chapter 6 "Corns on my sitters": Bloke Modisane's Dramatic Exit and the Exilic Archive of South Africa - Benjamin N. Lawrance and Vusumuzi R. Kumalo
Chapter 7 Transatlantic Artistic and Intellectual Bromance: The Bloke Modisane and Langston Hughes Connection - Siphiwo Mahala
Chapter 8 Lang and Bloke: Transnational Lines of Flight - Shane Graham
Chapter 9 Bloke Modisane's Cold War Intellectual Itineraries in East Africa - Siyabonga Njica
Part III: Bloke Modisane in His Own Words
Chapter 10 The Kwela - Jazz of the Locations - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 11 Short Story Writing in Black South Africa - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 12 Culture in Crisis - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 13 Repatriate Me - Bloke Modisane
Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms
Introduction - Siyabonga Njica and Siphiwo Mahala
Part I: Johannesburg, Drum, and the Making of a Modern Intellectual
Chapter 1 Restless Spaces in Modisane's Johannesburg - Liz Gunner
Chapter 2 Modisane at Marienbad: Cinema, Time, and Memory in Blame Me on History - Mark Sanders
Chapter 3 Recovering the "Humour and idiom of Damon Runyon" in Bloke Modisane's writing for Drum magazine - Colette Guldimann
Chapter 4 Blame the Present on History? The Depiction of South African Townships and the Facade of Democracy - Molebogeng Sebesho
Chapter 5 Black Ontology in Modisane's Blame Me on History - Bafana Radebe
Part II: Exile, Diasporic Narratives, and Transnational Discourse
Chapter 6 "Corns on my sitters": Bloke Modisane's Dramatic Exit and the Exilic Archive of South Africa - Benjamin N. Lawrance and Vusumuzi R. Kumalo
Chapter 7 Transatlantic Artistic and Intellectual Bromance: The Bloke Modisane and Langston Hughes Connection - Siphiwo Mahala
Chapter 8 Lang and Bloke: Transnational Lines of Flight - Shane Graham
Chapter 9 Bloke Modisane's Cold War Intellectual Itineraries in East Africa - Siyabonga Njica
Part III: Bloke Modisane in His Own Words
Chapter 10 The Kwela - Jazz of the Locations - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 11 Short Story Writing in Black South Africa - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 12 Culture in Crisis - Bloke Modisane
Chapter 13 Repatriate Me - Bloke Modisane
Contributors
Index