Antjie Krog

“Quiero ser negra” articula en sus capítulos tres motivos diferentes cuya relación crece y se intensifica a medida que avanzamos en su lectura. El primero aborda la violencia y la represión policial

The first free elections in South Africas history were held in 1994. Within a year legislation was drafted to create a Truth and Reconcilliation Commission to establish a picture of the gross human rights violations committed between 1960 and 1993. It was to seek the truth and make it known to the public and to prevent these brutal events ever happening again. From 1996 and over the following two years South Africans were exposed almost daily to revelations about their traumatic past. Antije Krogs full account of the Commissions work using the testimonies of the oppressed and oppressors alike is a harrowing and haunting book in which the voices of ordinary people shape the course of history.WINNER OF SOUTH AFRICAS SUNDAY TIMES ALAN PATON AWARD

En 1994, après quarante années d?apartheid, l?Afrique du Sud met en place la Commission Vérité et Réconciliation. Pendant deux ans, victimes et bourreaux vont dire l?horreur. La poétesse Antjie Krog

En 1994, après quarante années d?apartheid, l?Afrique du Sud met en place la Commission Vérité et Réconciliation. Pendant deux ans, victimes et bourreaux vont dire l?horreur. La poétesse Antjie Krog

El estilo de la obra de la autora, la estructura de su relato, son poco convencionales. Quiero ser negra articula en sus capítulos tres motivos diferentes cuya relación crece y se intensifica a medida que avanzamos en su lectura. El primero aborda la violencia y la represion policial, tambien la violencia ciudadana, en el pais sudafricano. En el segundo, Krog narra la historia del rey Moshoeshoe I, y con el la historia de Lesoto, la condicion de sus costumbres, la naturaleza de sus valores, tan diferentes de los occidentales. En tercer lugar, la propia vida de la autora en Berlin, su conciencia de la vida europea, de la cultura occidental, de un mundo completamente distinto, y la necesidad de integrarse en la sociedad a la que pertenece: "quiero ser negra" es un deseo que no llega a satisfacer, pero que esta en el horizonte de su existencia.

One of South Africas greatest living poets selects from her most recent poems and also from the poems and the themes that best represent her from across her long career.Part One of Skinned contains poems about writing, family and love poems. The poems in second part were chosen from a volume featuring a long epic poem based on the life of Lady Anne Barnard from Scotland, who accompanied her husband to Cape Town and lived in the castle there from 1797 until 1802. This volume was written during the height of apartheid and the poet chose Lady Anne as representative of the colonial vision. Part Three contains extracts from several speakers who lived in the land before the likes of lady Anne arrived. Krog includes here interviews with inhabitants of the stone desert, three re-workings of Bushmen or Xam narratives, as well as a translation of an oral Xhosa praise poem. Part Four represents the political turmoil of South Africa and the divisions within Africa. The poems come from volumes that explored how blacks and whites identifying with the oppressed were removed from official history. The present volume as a whole explores the necessity of "a change of tongue" in order to be.