Bringing together leading and emerging scholars, this book asks the question: how has contemporary South African literature grappled with ideas of time and history during the political transition away from apartheid?

Reading the work of major South African writers such as J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and Ivan Vladislavic as well as contemporary crime fiction, South African Writing in Transition explores how concerns about time and temporality have shaped literary form across the country's literary culture. Establishing new connections between leading literary voices and lesser known works, the book explores themes of truth and reconciliation, disappointment and betrayal.

Rita Barnard is Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, USA and Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Her publications include Apartheid and Beyond: South African Writers and the Politics of Place (2006) and, as editor, The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela (2014).

Andrew van der Vlies is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Postcolonial Studies at Queen Mary University of London, UK and Extraordinary Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. His previous books include Present Imperfect: Contemporary South African Writing (2017) and South African Textual Cultures (2007).