Chapter published in:
The Dynamics of English in Namibia: Perspectives on an emerging variety
Edited by Anne Schröder
[Varieties of English Around the World G65] 2021
► pp. 219–240

Chapter 10
Namibian literature in English

An overview

| Heidelberg University
This essay provides a survey of Namibian literature written in English both before and after independence in 1990, but with a focus on post-independence writing. The survey is structured by genre categories, starting with autobiographies, novels and short stories and continuing with drama and poetry. In each section, important authors and anthologies are briefly named and selected works are given more detailed attention. While aiming at a general overview of Namibian literature, this essay puts particular focus on the way the texts negotiate the topic of personal and national identity, either with reference to the country’s colonial past and the liberation struggle or regarding contemporary society and its social inequalities, contrasts and cultural diversity.
Keywords: Namibian literature, post-colonial literature, cultural identity, national identity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Namibian literature and the challenges of cultural identity
  • 2.Prose literature
  • 3.Drama
  • 4.Poetry
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g65.10fra
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