Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
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who, ~n the m~d-to-late 198Os, exempl~tied the dorn~nant Itberal pos~tion on SO<br />
Afrrcan poetly<br />
'the bestwriters in this country'<br />
II [poctryl is tlic loneliest ofarts, the one which in this century can fittingly be<br />
callcd the widow anit widower of all tlie arts. the onc i11ost neglected, most<br />
bereaved. most impotent (Watson 1990: 15).<br />
for the nose of the theor~sts<br />
and the clang~ngniach~nery of the I~be~al Press (Van Wyk 1978 34)<br />
Constrz~ctions of Protest Poetry<br />
ast to Watson's position, Mothobi Mutloatse, writing at around the same<br />
the continuing emphasis by black writers on socio-political issues:<br />
ood in black literature can never be otlienvise but challenging, in that the<br />
whole situation is still the same as the one that prevailed with the previous<br />
generation ofwriters. in that we are still disenfranchised, we have no vote. we<br />
have no land, and-if anything-things are getting worse economically and<br />
otherwise(in Welz 1987:47).<br />
As with other writers like Guy Butler and Douglas I,ivingstone, Watson's pro<br />
iocated in his own marginality, which he projects as a universal characteristic".<br />
of Watson, Ullyatt (1977:58) tried to 'balance' his disapproval of solne poem<br />
October 1976 at the uinetietli anniversary of Jol~aniiesbrtrg ('a singularly inappropr<br />
iod of enormous social division, inequity and conflict, Watson's 1987 essay<br />
of the Old: What's Become of "Black" Poetry' (1990) crudely affinns the<br />
d minority to which he belongs:<br />
occasion to attack any law') by arguingthat:<br />
hlack poets have been succunlbing regularly to debilitating effects of<br />
resentment. and that has blindcd them to tlic creative potential of a Iicaltliy<br />
One simply has to remember who are tlie best writers in this country. Without<br />
exception they are those who have been most aware of other world literatures<br />
and traditions elsewhere (Watson 1990:84).<br />
rebellion. tural and political alienation from the majority of South<br />
Ullyatt and others tried to sustai~~ their power and values through offering gui<br />
the resistance writers who wrote in their medium. In his 1985 essay about the<br />
by focusing defensively on what he calls 'world literatures"'. The most<br />
co~nplaint against resistance writers concerned the 'overly political' nature of<br />
ducts, as in Watson's (1990:91) argument that South African poetry has<br />
poetiy in society Watson (1 990: 19) writes in favour of 'an ivlherently conse 'under the internal siege of its own political obsessions'. By negating the<br />
f~~nction' of poetry as 'one kind of check in a larger system of imbalances ... w<br />
seems sadly neglected these days'. Vet, the deployment of poetry by writers li<br />
van Wyk and Dikobe wa Mogale as a 'check in a larger system of inlbaIances' (sucl<br />
mic and social imperatives that inform oppressed lives,<br />
d to recognise that black poets were responding to the<br />
ditions, and that they adapted English to address the<br />
apartheid and capitalism) is deprecated by Watson. Flowever, Watson's position<br />
be read against the socially committed work that appeared in spite ofthe oi3pr<br />
the i 970s and 1980s.<br />
1,css privileged South African writers were dealing with the decitnatio<br />
ttllo~c artists and cornrrides. Chris %van Wyk's poem 'We ciill't meet Ilere, l ~r<br />
I-harni Mnycle' (1 978:34) was wri~ten after Ole artist and activist. l'halni Mny<br />
cit in Watson's statements regarding 'the best writers in this country' is<br />
s in South African literature, which intensified as<br />
ugh Bantu education began to enter the tertiary<br />
rities. In such a context the invocation of 'the best<br />
claim devoid of articulated criteria; rather it is<br />
1 discourse mobilising pre-emptive mechanisms of<br />
killed in ail S:'I.>F raid or? iiotswanaon 14 June i985, in which twelve peopie, jncl<br />
:I H:irswai>a c!iilil, wrre slaugt~tered. f'hc peen? is not so ~I-ILIG~I a critique offhe<br />
(whicir rnav bc ass~~rnecl)~ iilstead Van Wyk focuses 011 tile distraction catis<br />
ity privileges'! Watson Ignores the fact that aesthetic<br />
powei-hi! and self-serving press and intellectuals. Masquerading as r~niversai Goace<br />
:heir liarrow interests ihreaterled Lo drown out the precarious corngnunicalion rletwo<br />
between oppsesseci people::<br />
1 catl't hear you!~rotIiei-!<br />
is more circumspect formulation is in response to previous challenges. such as Cronin's<br />
8) exhortation tliat South Africans need to 'learn how to speak' to and of themselves. and<br />
stcolonial challenge - that the term 'universal' has served as a sy~~oiiy~i~ for the West.<br />
clr developiilents are not new, as Carey (1 992) suggests. As oppressed people in socielies<br />
'n won access to education, tlie elites developed a discourse of standards and excellence<br />
- -..- - - - -. -- . -<br />
heir advancement. Herbert Vilakazi and Rotlhale Tema point out that i~ierit is usually<br />
ver power, material and einotional security, and tlie desire to perpctuatc lnonopoly over<br />
.Most ~vliite englisli pocts', McCIiniock (1987:237-238) argues, .conifortcd tlieiiiselv<br />
illat ilie lonely poeiic voicc 1~3s also ilic ~Ioquent ~no~ltl~piece or~lriiversal triitli'.<br />
tions for the current incumbents and tlieir kind, be it basetl on class. race, sex, religion