Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

nces and Selected Bibliography
horizons at the heginning of capitalism ('\\that a piece of work is nian')
aciiie\led ~riucli. RLI~ it is nolhilig coinpared wit11 that individualism \vIiich er, Neville 1990. Edl~cation and the Stvirggie for Ntrtiovznl Liberation in .Soziti~ .4/>icir
nil1 blosson~ wlielr the forces of socialism at-c planting tile clescl.ts \\,it11 corn
cl?,.sarzd.SpeecheLs, 1985-1989. Braat~ifontein: Skotaville.
and conq~lcl-ing nature to rnan's needs. .l'liis is all Ihc iuore importanl to
cli~plrasise hecausc tlrcre is a coilimon arid tlccp-rootcd hogcy fro111 nrrogan!
poets iikc lioy Cariiphcll do\\nwards tliroiipli llic irlllcaverlcd mass of
pcople. flint socinlisnr will produce adead level of-equality' and destroy llle
int1ividu;rl (28 Iaiiuary 1952).
conclusion
iiotli 'lkylor and Van tieyningen share anxieties about the rise ofFascisln in the
and 1940s, and arguc for the need for a Inore critical and indepertde~~t South A
public sphere. They are both rcliaiit on the critical approach of influenti
Iiernisphere thiniters, a~ld work out their critical practice in close collaboration wi
charismatic n~ale colleagues. Neither of them, it seems to me, brings a distinct
feminist perspec,tive to bear in their work, and instcad lerld their considerable talents
elaboratitlg the discoursi' they appropriated and were appropriated by.
Perhaps Inore striking than their silnilarities are the differences between the
MIliilc Van Fleyninget~ remains committeci to the gradualist methods of libe
refonnism, Taylor consistently advances the need for vadical political an
change. With regard to the question of literature's social ft~nction, Taylor's insisten
on the primacy of politics over literature means that she assigns literatu
function in the attainment ofpolitical ends, and is critical ofRomantic individualis
addition, her desire to reveal the connections between literature and its social
allows her to offer penetrating social and political critique that sees the liberation o
South African oppressed as part of the global narrative of anti-capitalist rev
contrast, Van Heyningen's hopes that a democratic citizenry will emerge th
reading of exemplary literary texts, and her elevation of abstract moral and
categories amount to an evasion of politics and an endorsement of the st
Finally, in relation to the South African context, Van Heyningen focuses exc
an all-white caste of writers, and her discourse of liberal patenialism, which endor
colonial-metropolitan hierarchies, is in marked contrast to Taylor's commitment
more inclusive definition of community, which is registered, in part, by the criti
attention she gives to the work of black writers. The disappearance ofthe kin
~iity Movement, 1943-1 986. Transfort~zafion 15: 1-24.
Rolfus Robert n.d. An Africcrn Tragedy: A Novel iw English ~ J a J Zl~lil Writer
social co~nlnentary offered by critics like Taylor, and the rapid institution
South African English Departments of the fonnalist, de-historicised method
om 1983. Blackpolitics inSol~thAfricasince 1935. Johannesburg: Ravan.
Nosipho (Dora Taylor) [1952]1983. The Role of the Missionaries in Conqilest.
practical criticism coincided with an increasingly repressive state policy towards b erwood: APDUSA.
South Africans, which culminated in the triumph of Afrikaner nationalism in the 1
es, David 1979. L,eft Review andLeft Litel.aiy Theory. In Clark, Jon. Margot Heinernam.
elections and the ilnple~nentation of apartheid rule.
Margolies & Carole Snec (eds): Cultrlre and C'visis irz Bvitnirl in the Thiv1ie.v. J,ondon:
rence and Wishart.
Karl [1859]1992. Preface to a Contribution to the Culture of Political Econon~y. In
olletti. ~ucio (cd): Knvl Mnl,.x: Earl,) JVr.Vings. Harmons\~ortli: Penguin.
Ihern. Francis 1974. The Marxist Aesthetics of Christopher Caudwell. New CeJ Revietv