Alex La Guma
Encyclopedia
Alex La Guma was a South Africa
n novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation
(SACPO) and a defendant in the Treason Trial
, whose works helped characterise the movement against the apartheid era
in South Africa. La Guma's vivid style, distinctive dialogue, and realistic, sympathetic portrayal of oppressed groups have made him one of the most notable South African writers of the 20th century. La Guma was awarded the 1969 Lotus Prize for Literature
.
La Guma was born in District Six, Cape Town
. He was the son of James La Guma, a leading figure in both the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union and the South African Communist Party
.
After graduating from a technical school in 1945, he was an active member of the Plant Workers Union of the Metal Box Company. He was fired after organizing a strike, and he became active in politics, joining the Young Communists League in 1947 and the South African Communist Party
in 1948. He published his first short story, 'Nocturn' in 1957. Although La Guma was an inspiration of and inspired by the growing resistance to apartheid, notably the Black Consciousness Movement
, his connection to these groups was indirect, as he left South Africa in 1966 and spent the rest of his life in exile.
La Guma's works include the following:
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(SACPO) and a defendant in the Treason Trial
Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956....
, whose works helped characterise the movement against the apartheid era
History of South Africa in the apartheid era
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party governments of South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained...
in South Africa. La Guma's vivid style, distinctive dialogue, and realistic, sympathetic portrayal of oppressed groups have made him one of the most notable South African writers of the 20th century. La Guma was awarded the 1969 Lotus Prize for Literature
Lotus Prize for Literature
The Lotus Prize for Literature was a literary award presented annually to African and Asian authors by the Afro-Asian Writers' Association .The Bureau, as the Association was initially known, was founded in Sri...
.
La Guma was born in District Six, Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. He was the son of James La Guma, a leading figure in both the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union and the South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
.
After graduating from a technical school in 1945, he was an active member of the Plant Workers Union of the Metal Box Company. He was fired after organizing a strike, and he became active in politics, joining the Young Communists League in 1947 and the South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
in 1948. He published his first short story, 'Nocturn' in 1957. Although La Guma was an inspiration of and inspired by the growing resistance to apartheid, notably the Black Consciousness Movement
Black Consciousness Movement
The Black Consciousness Movement was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in...
, his connection to these groups was indirect, as he left South Africa in 1966 and spent the rest of his life in exile.
La Guma's works include the following:
- A Walk in the Night and Other Stories, (1962), Mbari (Publishers), Ibadan, Nigeria.
- And a Threefold Cord (1964), Seven Seas Publishers, (East) Berlin, GDR.
- The Stone-Country (1967), Seven Seas Publishers, (East) Berlin, GDR.
- In the Fog of the Season's End (1972), Heineman, London.
- A Soviet Journey (1978), Progress Publishers, Moscow.
- Time of the Butcherbird (1979), Heineman, London.
External links
- Alex La Guma biography from South African History Online
- Language games, Alex La Guma's fiction, and the new post-apartheid reality for the South African writer – analysis of La Guma's contributions against South African apartheid
- Alex La Guma Gains Lotus Prize – news article from 1971, with photograph