| dc.description.abstract | Visklippie and other Cape Town stories is a collection of short stories, inspired by my
experiences having grown up in the 1960s and 1970s in Cape Town. This is a fictional work
that, however, uses memory and oral history as the main sources for the stories told. I have
conceived my project in the context of South African short stories from the mid-twentieth
century, a very significant part of our literary history, since it encapsulates the volatile years of
Apartheid. Unlike most of the writing of this period, my stories will try to highlight individual
experiences, especially female subjectivity. My fictional engagement is also narrowed down
by region since I will focus more on the short stories which emerge out of and represent Cape
Town. This collection will aim to reflect the diverse voices of the people who have lived in
divided communities in Cape Town. The stories will cover the period from the 1960s to
contemporary times. They will be stories told from the perspective of children and women, but
a few will be focalised through marginal male characters. The collection will be grounded in
local community experience and centre on family relationships where there is triumph over
political and personal adversity. The voices that emanate from these stories are seldom
represented despite the great diversity in South African literature. These voices will sometimes
emanate from the perspective of individuals condemned and ostracised by the same people
dispossessed by Apartheid. The stories will aim for individual perspectives, complex interior
explorations, ironies and paradoxes that will reveal fleeting connections and triumphs despite
adversity. | |
