Paperbook of South African English Poetry

This anthology offers a selection of South African poetry written in English, from its beginnings in the 1820s to the mid-1980s. The Paperbook attempts to bring to the reader fresh examples of our poetry, and to indicate something of the developments over the last few years, but also includes the 'significant markers' within the landscape of South African poetry such as Pringle's 'Afar in the Desert', Campbell's 'The Zulu Girl', and Serote's 'City Johannesburg'. Towards the end of the anthology, several writers appear who, although they do not yet have single volumes to their names, have published with some regularity in the 1980s and whose work has been particularly impressive. Over one hundred poets are represented, more or less in the order in which they first came to prominence. This method enables the reader to gain a sense of when, and in relation to whom, poets appeared on the literary scene, something which could not have been as precisely conveyed had poets been arranged chronologically by their dates of birth. The compilation includes a detailed introduction, biographical notes with brief explanatory comments on some of the poems, and a select biography of critical material.