The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction

This paper takes as its starting point not those aspects of “form” associated with “formalist” criticism—structure, prose style, figurative language, or other aesthetic elements—but rather the more mundane consideration of length and the related matter of genre. This is a deliberately literal (rathe...

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Main Author: Thurman, Chris
Format: text
Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss18/14
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1314/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n18_2012_5D_203.8_ForumKritika_Thurman.pdf
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-13142024-12-16T14:48:03Z The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction Thurman, Chris This paper takes as its starting point not those aspects of “form” associated with “formalist” criticism—structure, prose style, figurative language, or other aesthetic elements—but rather the more mundane consideration of length and the related matter of genre. This is a deliberately literal (rather than literary) interpretation of “form”: what does a book look and feel like when held in the reader’s hand? What reader expectations are aroused? From the answers to these questions can be discerned certain trends in recent (post-apartheid/transitional) fiction—or, more specifically, in writing and publishing practices. In 2004, Michael Chapman identified the short story as the literary form most suited to prevailing conditions in South Africa. At the time, however, short fiction remained for the most part confined to small magazines and journals; multi-author anthologies appeared occasionally, but single-author collections were rare indeed. 2010, however, seemed to mark a resurgence of sorts: Ivan Vladislavic’s short stories (first collected in 1989 and 1996) were republished under the title Flashback Hotel, while Henrietta Rose-Innes’s Homing appeared along with Arja Salafranca’s The Thin Line and David Medalie’s The Mistress’s Dog: Stories 1996-2010. This conjunction suggests not so much an indication of renewed “writerly” interest in short fiction but regained publisher confidence in the commercial viability of the form. Michael Titlestad, in an Afterword to Medalie’s book, suggests that the (“modernist”) short story “might be particularly suited to our present” insofar as it leaves both “characters and readers on the brink of a recognition that remains ... somewhat inchoate, just out of reach ... this hesitation, this modest authorial purview, seems entirely apt.” 2024-12-16T15:00:11Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss18/14 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.1314 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1314/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n18_2012_5D_203.8_ForumKritika_Thurman.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo long short fiction mezzanine writing short fiction sensibility
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic long short fiction
mezzanine writing
short fiction sensibility
spellingShingle long short fiction
mezzanine writing
short fiction sensibility
Thurman, Chris
The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
description This paper takes as its starting point not those aspects of “form” associated with “formalist” criticism—structure, prose style, figurative language, or other aesthetic elements—but rather the more mundane consideration of length and the related matter of genre. This is a deliberately literal (rather than literary) interpretation of “form”: what does a book look and feel like when held in the reader’s hand? What reader expectations are aroused? From the answers to these questions can be discerned certain trends in recent (post-apartheid/transitional) fiction—or, more specifically, in writing and publishing practices. In 2004, Michael Chapman identified the short story as the literary form most suited to prevailing conditions in South Africa. At the time, however, short fiction remained for the most part confined to small magazines and journals; multi-author anthologies appeared occasionally, but single-author collections were rare indeed. 2010, however, seemed to mark a resurgence of sorts: Ivan Vladislavic’s short stories (first collected in 1989 and 1996) were republished under the title Flashback Hotel, while Henrietta Rose-Innes’s Homing appeared along with Arja Salafranca’s The Thin Line and David Medalie’s The Mistress’s Dog: Stories 1996-2010. This conjunction suggests not so much an indication of renewed “writerly” interest in short fiction but regained publisher confidence in the commercial viability of the form. Michael Titlestad, in an Afterword to Medalie’s book, suggests that the (“modernist”) short story “might be particularly suited to our present” insofar as it leaves both “characters and readers on the brink of a recognition that remains ... somewhat inchoate, just out of reach ... this hesitation, this modest authorial purview, seems entirely apt.”
format text
author Thurman, Chris
author_facet Thurman, Chris
author_sort Thurman, Chris
title The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
title_short The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
title_full The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
title_fullStr The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
title_full_unstemmed The Long and Short of It: Reflection on “Form” in Recent South African Fiction
title_sort long and short of it: reflection on “form” in recent south african fiction
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss18/14
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1314/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n18_2012_5D_203.8_ForumKritika_Thurman.pdf
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