PRINT, TEXT AND BOOK CULTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA

476 pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2012

A collection of essays that examine "the relations between the production and consumption of books to present a rich social history of South African print cultures." Michael Titlestad, University of the Witwatersrand

"...a field-defining contribution to the country's literary scholarship. Andrew van der Vlies's introductory essay maps the conceptual terrain in a systematic and engaging way, illustrating its relevance to South Africa's literary and cultural history. The essays that follow demonstrate the archival richness and liveliness of the field, while opening doors to future research. Beyond South Africa, the book will be exemplary in showing how book histories develop under postcolonial conditions." David Atwell, University of York, author of "Rewriting Modernity: studies in Black South African literary history"

Contributions include:
"'Spread Far and Wide over the Surface of the Earth': evangelical reading formations and the rise of a transnational public sphere: the case of the Cape Town Ladies' Bible Association" by Isabel Hofmeyr
"Deneys Reitz and Imperial Co-option" by John Gouws
"'In (or From) the Heart of the Country': local and global lives of Coetzee's anti-pastoral" by Andrew de Vlies
"Colin Rae's 'Malaboch': the power of the book in the (mis)representation of Kgalusi Sekete Mmaleboho" by Lize Kriel
"The Image of the Book in Xhosa Oral Poetry" by Jeff Opland
"'Deeply Racist, Superior and Patronising': South African literature education and the 'Gordimer incident'" by Margriet van der Waal
"The Rise of the Surface: emerging questions for reading and criticism in South Africa" by Sarah Nuttall

Andrew van der Vlies is Senior Lecturer in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary, University of London, and a Research Associate in the Department of English Literature at Rhodes University. He is the author of "South African Textual Cultures" and "J.M.Coetzee's 'Disgrace'".