Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa
Examines how Afrikaans translations of Frisch and Dürrenmatt's plays shaped identity and resistance in apartheid South Africa. In apartheid South Africa, the plays of the Swiss writers Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt found an unexpected life in Afrikaans. Because they did not follow their intern...
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| Format: | Online |
| Sprog: | engelsk |
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Boydell & Brewer
2026
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| Online adgang: | ONIX_20260621T103019_9781837654499_2 |
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| _version_ | 1869514338387099648 |
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| author | Fourie, Paula |
| author_browse | Fourie, Paula |
| author_facet | Fourie, Paula |
| author_sort | Fourie, Paula |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Examines how Afrikaans translations of Frisch and Dürrenmatt's plays shaped identity and resistance in apartheid South Africa. In apartheid South Africa, the plays of the Swiss writers Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt found an unexpected life in Afrikaans. Because they did not follow their international contemporaries in supporting the cultural boycott, their works were frequently translated and staged there between 1948 and 1994. This book investigates these Afrikaans translations through close readings of surviving scripts, interviews and archival traces to uncover the lives and motives of the people who translated, directed and performed them. In the process, it reveals the sparks generated between the plays themselves and the South African political context in which they circulated. Frisch and Dürrenmatt's plays helped to shape the growth of Afrikaans as a world language and an emblem of Afrikaner identity. Yet they were also enlisted as vehicles of resistance, carrying new ideas into an increasingly airless intellectual environment. Exploring these crosscurrents, this book moves beyond the specific concerns of translating Swiss literature into Afrikaans to consider cultural boycotts, censorship, and the ways translation can be harnessed to promote or subvert political and aesthetic values. On publication this book is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-177796 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Boydell & Brewer |
| publisherStr | Boydell & Brewer |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1777962026-06-22T05:12:10Z Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa Fourie, Paula Apartheid South Africa Swiss Theatre Afrikaans Translations Max Frisch Friedrich Dürrenmatt Cultural Boycott Political Resistance Afrikaner Identity Censorship Archival Research Translation Studies South African Politics thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DD Plays, playscripts Examines how Afrikaans translations of Frisch and Dürrenmatt's plays shaped identity and resistance in apartheid South Africa. In apartheid South Africa, the plays of the Swiss writers Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt found an unexpected life in Afrikaans. Because they did not follow their international contemporaries in supporting the cultural boycott, their works were frequently translated and staged there between 1948 and 1994. This book investigates these Afrikaans translations through close readings of surviving scripts, interviews and archival traces to uncover the lives and motives of the people who translated, directed and performed them. In the process, it reveals the sparks generated between the plays themselves and the South African political context in which they circulated. Frisch and Dürrenmatt's plays helped to shape the growth of Afrikaans as a world language and an emblem of Afrikaner identity. Yet they were also enlisted as vehicles of resistance, carrying new ideas into an increasingly airless intellectual environment. Exploring these crosscurrents, this book moves beyond the specific concerns of translating Swiss literature into Afrikaans to consider cultural boycotts, censorship, and the ways translation can be harnessed to promote or subvert political and aesthetic values. On publication this book is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC. 2026-06-22T05:12:06Z 2026-06-22T05:12:06Z 2026-06-21T09:39:40Z 2026 book book ONIX_20260621T103019_9781837654499_2 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114257 9781837654499 9781837654482 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/177796 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/114257/1/9781837654482.pdf Boydell & Brewer Boydell Press 7b5beb75-2e34-4246-8da6-875fc8894f70 9781837654499 9781837654482 Boydell Press 192 Woodbridge open access |
| spellingShingle | Apartheid South Africa Swiss Theatre Afrikaans Translations Max Frisch Friedrich Dürrenmatt Cultural Boycott Political Resistance Afrikaner Identity Censorship Archival Research Translation Studies South African Politics thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DD Plays, playscripts Fourie, Paula Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title | Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title_full | Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title_short | Translating Swiss Theatre in Apartheid South Africa |
| title_sort | translating swiss theatre in apartheid south africa |
| topic | Apartheid South Africa Swiss Theatre Afrikaans Translations Max Frisch Friedrich Dürrenmatt Cultural Boycott Political Resistance Afrikaner Identity Censorship Archival Research Translation Studies South African Politics thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DD Plays, playscripts |
| topic_facet | Apartheid South Africa Swiss Theatre Afrikaans Translations Max Frisch Friedrich Dürrenmatt Cultural Boycott Political Resistance Afrikaner Identity Censorship Archival Research Translation Studies South African Politics thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DD Plays, playscripts |
| url | ONIX_20260621T103019_9781837654499_2 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fouriepaula translatingswisstheatreinapartheidsouthafrica |