Art Against Oppression: Literature and Apartheid

The policy of apartheid produced a wide range of literary works

Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of “white-only” jobs. ¹

Although apartheid was only a word, it resulted in untold misery for thousands of people. The notion of apartheid has become obnoxious to the majority of people in the world and has a strong pejorative sense since the apartheid system was introduced as government policy in South Africa in 1948. Ideas and words can also be used to counter evil, and in South Africa literature was used effectively to combat apartheid.

The policy of apartheid or “separate development”’ produced a wide range of literary works during the years of South African oppression. Many of these works were banned under the Nationalist government of the time. However, South African writing against apartheid served an invaluable purpose, spurred on the movement and motivated the drive towards freedom—which eventually came with the collapse of the Afrikaner regime more than a decade ago.

One of the most important vehicles for anti-apartheid literature was the Drum Magazine, which emerged in the 1950s and ’60s. This was an avenue of expression for African writers like Ezikel Mphahlele. Mphahlele wrote about the reality of life for black people living in the many “townships” or slums of South Africa. The government of the time had, according to its policy of separate development, relegated all people of color to these townships of slums, in essence depriving them of the freedom of mobility and individual rights. Writers like Mphahlele exposed these horrific conditions and, by doing so, attracted the attention of the international community to the reality of the South African situation. Among his publications was Down Second Avenue (1959), an autobiographical description of the realities of life in Johannesburg’s African townships. He also published a collection of essays entitled Voices in the Whirlwind (1972).

There were also many white writers who joined in the struggle against oppression. One of the reasons why there has been a peaceful resolution to the South African situation is that many Africans, of all racial and ethnic groups, were united in their opposition to the apartheid laws and ethos, and fought against them together during the dark years of the struggle for freedom. Many of these writers received international acclaim.

One of the most well-known South African writers is Nadine Gordimer, who has been called a “guerrilla of the imagination.” ² She became the first South African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. She was deeply involved in the anti-apartheid struggle and her stories provide a sensitive and telling view of the country at that time. She also refused to leave South Africa during the bleak years of apartheid and “kept her lines open inside South Africa, out of commitment to black liberation and also for the sake of her own creativity and that of black South African writers who were silenced, and for whom she had to speak.” ³ The Nobel Prize awarded to her also served to focus world attention on the plight of black people in the country. Her works are seen as an artistic record of apartheid and South Africa. “For fifty years, Gordimer has been the Geiger counter of Apartheid and of the movements of people across the crust of South Africa. Her work reflects the psychic vibrations within that country, the road from passivity and blindness to resistance and struggle, the forbidden friendships, the censored soul, and the underground networks.” ⁴ Gordimer’s oeuvre includes novels such as The Conservationist, Burger’s Daughter,  and July's People.

Another internationally known writer whose plays critiqued the apartheid system was Athol Fugard. His dynamic influence on the world of theater also served to galvanize international opinion and support against apartheid. He was one of the first white playwrights to work and collaborate directly with black actors. The themes of his plays revolve around the frustration and complexities of life in South Africa, with strong focus on the physical and psychological effects of the apartheid system on ordinary people. Many of his works, for example, the acclaimed Blood Knot (1960), were banned by the South African government of the time. His many world-famous plays include Boesman and Lena (1969), Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (1972), A Lesson from Aloes (1978), Master Harold and the Boys (1982), The Road to Mecca (1985), and Playland (1993).

There are many other writers whose works helped to raise national and international consciousness about the situation in the country under apartheid rule. These include literary figures such as Jack Cope, acclaimed author Bessie Head, as well as a host of other recognized poets, novelists, and playwrights. Recently, novelist J. M. Coetzee received the Nobel Prize for literature for his many scathingly sensitive interrogations of the South African political and social situation. Coetzee produced a number of insightful and cutting novels during the apartheid years that revealed the reality of the oppression in the country. Two of the better known of these are Waiting for the Barbarians and The life and Times of Michael K, which is set in an imagined future when South Africa is in a state of civil war. These novels and others were not only artistically relevant but also provided crucial insight into the reality of life in a country under an oppressive regime.

There is nothing new about the use of art and literature as a weapon against dictatorships and worldly evils. However, the literary output of South African writers was especially intensive and rich in its reaction to the policy of apartheid. While the effect of their writing cannot be measured or quantified, there is little doubt that their contributions played a major role in the struggle against an intensely unjust system of government. The corpus of South African literature produced during the apartheid years attests to the dictum that sometimes the pen can be mightier than the sword.

Gary Bruce Smith is a freelance journalist and researcher based in South Africa. His special field of research is the situation in Iraq. You can reach him at gary@imaginet.co.za

[1] The History of Apartheid in South Africa. August 3, 2004.

[2] Biographies of Famous South Africans: Nadime Gordimer. August 6, 2004.

[3] Biographies of Famous South Africans: Nadime Gordimer. August 6, 2004.

[4] Biographies of Famous South Africans: Nadime Gordimer. August 6, 2004.