To Be a Cosmopolitan: Lewis Nkosi and Breyten Breytenbach

Still Beating the Drum: Critical Perspectives on Lewis Nkosi ,Stiebel Lindy & Gunner, Liz (eds) 2005. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi. a.k.a. Breyten Breytenbach: Critical Approaches to His Writings and Paintings Coullie, Judith Lűtge & Jacobs, J.U. (eds) 2004. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi.

Abstract

Using as a starting point the recent publication of two review anthologies, the paper enters a debate that has currency in both South Africa and abroad: What purchase has the cosmopolitan project – as Kwame Anthony Appiah asks in his new book, Cosmopolitanism – in a world increasingly conservative post-9/11? To focus on South Africa, if Nkosi and Breytenbach were self-styled cosmopolitans, what would constitute their value in our literature, indeed in our society?

Opsomming
Hierdie artikel gebruik as uitgangspunt die onlangse verskyning van twee resensiebundels om aan ’n debat deel te neem wat in Suid-Afrika sowel as in die buiteland relevant is: Wat is die sin van die kosmopolitaanse projek – soos Kwame Anthony Appiah vra in sy nuwe boek Cosmopolitan – in ’n wêreld wat sedert 9/11 toenemend konserwatief raak? Met betrekking tot Suid-Afrika, kan gevra word watter bydrae Nkosi en Breytenbach as selfgenoemde kosmopolitane in ons literatuur en inderdaad in ons gemeenskap lewer.