Koch’s A History of South African Literature: Afrikaans Literature, Part 2 is an extensive and thorough study of the development of Afrikaans literature during the first three decades of the 20th century. It follows Part 1, in which the earlier origins of Afrikaans and Afrikaans literature as well as the local Dutch writings tradition were discussed. Koch uses the metaphor of mapping to describe the work of the historiographer, and it becomes clear that his study analyses the literary texts within the context of space and time. Accordingly, it includes information on the authors’ lives and times as well as the developments in Afrikaans literature, criticism and literary historiography.

Reviews: 

“This book makes a substantial contribution to South African Literature.”

Prof. Craig Mackenzie, formerly professor of English at the University of Johannesburg

“Koch is an erudite scholar. The discussions of the works of the authors are full of insight, and the descriptions of their lives are often quite moving. I especially appreciated the author’s empathy with these older writers, who often harbored ideas which are not acceptable anymore – there are no easy condemnations from a later perspective. The manuscript is also written in a fluent, readable style.”

Prof. Chris van der Merwe, University of Cape Town