Literature

The traditional literary forms or sources that have influenced contemporary literary creation are mainly: proverbs, stories, fable, and historical narrative.

Oral or written poetry in indigenous language or in a foreign language still represents the most vivid literary form in South Africa and covers various subjects, from traditional medicine, to comment on the laws or the latest news to marital problems or the rate of inflation.

The novel – although distantly related to the story and other narrative forms – can be considered as an important literary form. One of the characteristics of the South African narrative, despite its turbulent historical past, is the absence of the heroic romance or glorification of national figures.

In the oral tradition, a high percentage of authors and storytellers have been women that has resulted today in the existence of a significant proportion of women among the writers.

The broad language has prevented the development of a global record of the history of South African literature and its interaction but the literature is expressed in most of the languages used in South Africa.

African-language literature is an oral tradition and written work. The oral tradition goes back many centuries ago and has been passed down from generation to generation.

The central role of oral tradition in the literary heritage of African people is such that the first publications in native languages were only the role of the transcripts.

In the beginning, in Afrikaans literature focused on the themes of "fatherland" and the political struggles and Afrikaner language. However, gradually began to birth a more objective literary expression.

The beginnings of English literature in South Africa depicting the romance of the border and tragic realism. Later, he followed the production of important works related to the Anglo Boer war and the conditions in the mining settlements.

The first African literature written in English, originated in the missionary schools and training institutes in late nineteenth century. The work was changed from a romantic getaway to a kind of awareness and a portrait of a divided world. After the slaughter of Sharpeville in 1930 and the uprisings in Soweto in 1976, literature flourished called resistance.

It is important to mention in the literature contemporary South African writers Nadine Gordimer (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, JM Coetzee (Nobel Prize for literature in (2003), Zakes Mda and Mongane Wally Serote.