Rachel Matteau a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Humanities

REAL AD IMAGIED READERS : CESORSHIP , PUBLISHIG AD READIG UDER APARTHEID Rachel Matteau A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, October 2011 © Rachel Matteau 2011 2 ABSTRACT This thesis studies the readership of literature that was banned under the various laws that comprised the censorship system, focusing on the apartheid period, from the 1950s until the early 1990s. It investigates the conditions under which banned and subversive literature existed in the underground network despite the ever-looming censorship apparatus. It is based on theories drawn from the history of the book, sociology of literature, South African literary histories, and on data from secondary and primary sources such as archival material and interviews with, and testimonies from, readers. This thesis focuses on the roles of readers in alternative circuits, by examining the modalities of sourcing, distributing, reading and sharing of imported and local banned publications. It seeks to demonstrate that readers did read banned books and books likely to be banned, showing creativity in the various strategies used to get these books into the country and to share them amongst the largest number of readers, using texts in various fashions, and actively participating to the South African literary industry and broader socio-political affairs. KEYWORDS : African literature, alternative literary networks, banned publications, censorship, history of the book, literature, literary history, reader studies, readership, South Africa. 3 DECLARATIO I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in other university. ____________________________ Rachel Matteau On the 6th day of October, 2011 4 This thesis is dedicated to my late father, Marcel Matteau, and to my soon-to-be-born first child, who gave me the strength and motivation to complete this thesis. 5 ACKOWLEDGEMETS I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to the following people, for having helped me to complete this thesis: First and foremost, my supervisor, Professor Isabel Hofmeyr (Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand), for her continuous support and patience, for encouraging me to present papers related to this thesis in various seminars and conferences, and for her valuable comments and insights. The National Research Foundation (NRF), for the financial support provided throughout my doctoral studies. All the persons interviewed for this thesis, for their generosity in taking time to answer my questions. Ashley Gresh, for proofreading and editing my thesis, and for her helpful inputs and encouragements. Allison Broster, for helping with translation from Afrikaans. Pierrette and Marcel Matteau, my mother and late father, for their continuous support and encouragement. Merci à vous deux! 6 TABLE OF COTETS ABSTRACT 3 DECLARATIO 4 ACKOWLEDGEMETS 6 ACROYMS 10 CHAPTER 1 | ITRODUCTIO 11 Background Information 11 Research Questions 13 Thesis Statement 13 Delineations and Limitations 14 Definition of Terms 15 Rationale 15 Chapter Overview 16 CHAPTER 2 | LITERATURE REVIEW AD METHODS 18 Introduction 18 Theory Base 19 Context of this Thesis 30 African and South African Literary and Book History 30 Censorship in South Africa 34 Conclusion: Literature Review 37 Method: Introduction 38 Research Design 38 Methodology 41 Limitations 44 Ethical Procedures 45 Conclusion: Method 45 CHAPTER 3 | CESORED: POLITICO-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ISTITUTIOALISED CESORSHIP & READERS I APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA 47 Censorship in South Africa Before 1950 50 The Suppression of Communism Act No. 44 of 1950 51 The Press Commission 56 The Commission of Inquiry in Regard to Undesirable Publications 59 The Publications and Entertainments Act No. 26 of 1963 66 Towards the Publications Act No. 42 of 1974 74 The Publications Act No. 42 of 1974 80 The “Repressive Tolerance” of the 1980s 85 The Likely Reader Test 87 Post-1990 Developments 90 7 Censors’ Definitions the Reader 91 Conclusion 96 CHAPTER 4 | THE EMERGECE OF A ALTERATIVE LITERARY IDUSTRY: CESORSHIP VS. PUBLISHERS, LIBRARIAS AD BOOKSELLERS 98 Overview of Mainstream Publishers in Apartheid South Africa 99 South African Alternative Publishers 106 Distribution Strategies 123 Distribution and Circulation of Books in Libraries 126 Distribution and Circulation of Books in Bookshops 135 Conclusion 137 CHAPTER 5 | THE READERS’ ROLES I THE ALTERATIVE LITERARY CIRCUIT 140 Readership of Banned Books 142 Genres of Books Discussed in this Chapter 152 Sourcing, Storage and Dissemination of Banned Books 157 “Marketing” of Banned Books amongst Readers in the Alternative Circuit 167 Reading Modalities in the Alternative Circuit 171 Readers: Creators of an Alternative Social Order 181 Conclusion 187 CHAPTER 6 | READIG THROUGH THE CESORS’ LESES: READERS AD READIGS I THE CESORS REPORTS 190 The Reader in the Pre-1963 Legislations 191 The Reader in the Publications and Entertainments Act No. 26 of 1963 193 The Reader in the Post-1974 Censors’ Discourse 202 Case study 1: Down Second Avenue 207 Case study 2: Dennis Brutus 217 Case study 3: Staffrider magazine & Staffrider series 223 Conclusion 240 CHAPTER 7 | COCLUSIO 243 Summary of Findings 243 Conclusions 244 Summary of Contributions 246 Suggestions for Further Research 248 REFERECES 250 AEX 1: QUESTIOAIRE – LIBRARIAS 262 AEX 2: QUESTIOAIRE – PUBLISHERS 263 AEX 3: QUESTIOAIRE – READERS 265 8 AEX 4: VERBATIM REPORT - ITERVIEW WITH DEIS BRUTUS (EXTRACT) 267 AEX 5: VERBATIM REPORT - ITERVIEW WITH CHRIS VA WYK (EXTRACT) 272 AEX 6: VERBATIM REPORT - ITERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER MERRETT (EXTRACT) 285 9 ACROYMS AMS Aksie Morele Standaarde ANC African National Congress APB Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel AWA African Writer’s Association BBFC British Board of Film Censors BCM Black Consciousness Movement BCP Black Community Programme BLAC Black Literature and Arts Congress CLAS Cape Library Assistants Section CNA Central News Agency COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions COSAW Congress of South African Writers FAK Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge FOSATU Federation of South African Trade Unions H&R Human & Rousseau NP National Party NPU Newspaper Press Union NUSAS National Union of South African Students OUP Oxford University Press PAB Publications Appeal Board PAC Pan Africanist Congress of Azania PEN SA PEN South Africa SABC South African Broadcast Corporation SACP South African Communist Party SAIRR South African Institute of Race Relations SACC South African Church Council SALA South African Librarian Association SANROC South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee SASO South African Students Association SPRO-CAS Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society 10 CHAPTER 1 | ITRODUCTIO “It is true that art imitates art, or more precisely that art comes from art, more precisely from the art to which it is opposed.” (Pierre Bourdieu 1984) Background Information Apartheid censorship in South Africa could be thought of as a cultural and political institution, as a system with its own theoretical, historical and practical implications. As Christopher Merrett points out, by controlling the communication and circulation of ideas and information, censorship had an impact on the ways people published, spoke in public, organised collectively, moved around the country, and gained access to information (1994, 2). This thesis proposes to add that censorship also had a specific impact on readers, in terms of the ways they accessed, read and circulated texts, and of the ways they were perceived by censors, who were also readers, ultimately playing a role in the architecture of the censorship system. The complex censorship apparatus that was developed by the apartheid government could be seen as finding its roots in the previous British colonial regime, whereby ideas and publications were filtered and controlled through censorship acts such as the Obscene Publications Act No. 31 of 1892 and later, in the context of the Union of South Africa, through the Customs Management Act No. 9 of 1913 and the Entertainments Censorship Act No. 28 of 1931. The apartheid regime, however, institutionalised censorship and built an unprecedented thought and publications control system that would have a lasting impact on public cultural and political spaces. The Suppression of Communism Act No. 44 of 1950 is often perceived as a milestone of institutionalised censorship in South Africa, as it empowered the Ministry of Justice to ban individuals and organisations thought to be communists or propagating the communistic doctrine. Adopting a very broad definition of “communism”, the Act of 1950 caused the banning of oppositional political parties and political activists from the South African political arena, and of several major writers and intellectuals from the cultural field whose work systematically was declared undesirable and illegal upon banning. 11 With the Publications and Entertainments Act No. 26 of 1963, the censorship apparatus was refined to an extent where literary academics sat on its committees, and marked the introduction of various interpretations and definitions of literature and of readers in the application of censorship. Through the censorship system, a literary discourse was developed within the broader political system,

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