THE PARTY IS OVER

197pp., paperback, Cape Town, 1997

"The Party is Over, the first full-length novel by short-story writer James Matthews, offers a poignant insight into the life of the artist in circumstances of social drudgery and personal despair. The setting is Cape Town in the sixties; more specifically the aimlessly swinging and hedonistic world of a group of arty friends in what was then the city's coloured Group Areas ... It is an intensely focused personal tale, with an unflinching portrayal of the main character, while the network of relationships with other people offers a subtle picture of the social and political setting of the time." Professor Jakes Gerwel

Poet and writer James Matthews (1929-2024) is the author of four collections of poetry: Cry Rage; Pass Me a Meatball, Jones; Poisoned Wells and Other Delights and No Time for Dreams, and a collection of short stories, The Park and Other Stories. Many of Matthews' books were banned by the apartheid government. He spent six months in detention in 1976, and was denied a passport for 13 years.