Refracted Modernism

In addressing the complicated issue of Refracted Modernism, Dr Tony Voss was asked by the Cambridge History of South African Literature department to look at three writers, which in itself was difficult because of the consequential exclusion of other equally notable writers, and calls into question the notion that a useable past also denotes an unuseable past.

Modernism, as an idea, originated in Europe and America, but as it spread throughout the world, was refracted. The concept was taken up and then adapted from country to country. None of the South African writers that Voss speaks about conformed to the conventions of modernism because South Africa had a different frame of reference, yet all writers invoked a certain edge to what they had to say.

Voss’ guidelines were to write about two white authors and one black, with two who wrote in English and the other in Africa’s postcolonial language, Afrikaans. This led to a somewhat eclectic grouping of writers Roy Campbell, H.I.E Dhlomo, and N. P. Van Wyk Louw who have been included together only once before in the publication Poets in South Africa.

Roy Campbell (1901-1957), a white South African, lyrical poet, satirist and devout Catholic, made his name as a young man while abroad and was much celebrated upon his return to South Africa. He was a modernist of a distinctive time with the 1930s being the high point of his career. He had a tense relationship to South Africa, continually returning only to leave again due to the burdens of living there. He even published a journal that was quite critical of the living conditions, specifically, of the serf.

H.I.E. Dhlomo (1903-1956) was a black South African who used literature as a means for his people that would endure. He had a varied career as a playwright and poet, later becoming a librarian, and then a journalist and broadcaster. Dhlomo’s journalism is a series of prose poems giving an idea of the African experience of the 20^th century. His 1940s poetry harks back to the language of the Victorian era as he explores the idea of writing in English as an African. Voss distinguishes between here between European modernism in Africa (Campbell) and African modernism in Africa (Dhlomo).

N. P. Van Wyk Louw (1906-1970) was a white South African who celebrated writing in Afrikaans and believed Africa to be the centre of the world. Most of what he wrote can be aligned with a sense of African nationalism and his style parallels strong militant political poems. Despite being disappointed in his country for various reasons – the main being apartheid – he never turned away from his people, and always argued for a universal literature.

The writers are received differently in modern times, with Dhlomo not really having a place, due to the dispersion of his Zulu audience. Louw however, is very much a presence especially for Afrikaans speaking people, with annual lectures on his work. If you are a poet today you must determine yourself in relation to Louw.

In regards to modernism, Campbell drew a degree of inspiration from Europe, which informed on his African modernism, however overall, he rejected the concept and would not classify himself as modernist. In South Africa, it is not so much about modernism, as it is about literature.