You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (Women Writing Africa) [Paperback]

Zoë Wicomb (Author)

Book Description

Series: Women Writing Africa | Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Zoë Wicomb's complex and deeply evocative fiction is among the most distinguished recent works of South African women's literature. It is also among the only works of fiction to explore the experience of "Coloured" citizens in apartheid-era South Africa, whose mixed heritage traps them, as Bharati Mukherjee wrote in the New York Times, "in the racial crucible of their country.

"Wicomb deserves a wide American audience, on a part with Nadine Gordimer and J.M.Coetzee." - Wall St. Journal

Wicomb is a gifted writer, and her compressed narratives work like brilliant splinters in the mind, suggesting a rich rhythm and shape."-Seattle Times

"[Wicomb's] prose is vigorous, textured, lyrical. . . . [She] is a sophisticated storyteller who combines the open-endedness of contemporary fiction with the force of autobiography and the simplicity of family stories."-Bharati Mukherjee, New York Times Book Review

For course use in: African literature, African studies, growing up female, world literature, women's studies

Zoe Wicomb was born in 1948 and raised in Namaquland, South Africa. After 20 years voluntary exile, she returned to South Africa in 1991 to teach at the University of the Western Cape. She currently lives in Glasgow and teaches at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. Marcia Wright is professor of history at Columbia University and a member of the executive committee for the Women Writing Africa series. Carol Sicherman is professor emerita of English at Lehman College, CUNY.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wicomb deserves a wide American audience, on a part with Nadine Gordimer and J.M.Coetzee." -- The Wall Street Journal

"[Wicomb]is a sophisticated storyteller who combines the open-endedness of contemporary fiction with the force of autobiography ..." -- Bharati Mukherjee, New York Times Book Review

About the Author

ZOE WICOMB was born in 1948 and raised in Namaquland, South Africa. After 20 years voluntary exile, she returned to South Africa in 1991 to teach at the University of the Western Cape. She currently lives in Glasgow and teaches at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.

MARCIA WRIGHT is professor of history at Columbia University and a member of the executive committee for the Women Writing Africa series.

CAROL SICHERMAN is professor emerita of English at Lehman College, CUNY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY; 1 edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558612254
• ISBN-13: 978-1558612259
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful writer, December 1, 2004

By 

kate (Greater London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (Women Writing Africa) (Paperback)

Wicomb is simply the most stunning writer I've come across in ages. Written and published during apartheid (1987), the book has a political history of its own. The beauty of this book, though, is that the art comes first and creates a poignant space for Wicomb's deftly-constructed discussions on South African race, class and gender politics. I've read and taught this book for two years and, with each read, it keeps getting better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Subtle, May 9, 2006

By 

Nwanyi Igbo - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (Library Binding)

Some of the linked stories in this collection were better than others. Freida is Colored in South Africa and becomes the (fat) girl who does well and goes to a private school and later to England. I loved the details - particularly the subtle, non-explaining ways in which Wicomb addresses Apartheid. (sometimes, though, I wanted a little bit of telling to explain some things and make them clearer)

In the final story, Freida is about to have a story collection published, which perhaps means that we can assume there is much autobiography here. Freida/Wicomb feels both shame and guilt and a reluctant love for who she is and where she comes from. And she so wonderfully shows, in the most subtle of ways, how hair is a major political issue for people of color.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent!, July 25, 2011

By 

bookluvver (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (Women Writing Africa) (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of interlinked short stories. She is a sensitive and highly intelligent writer and I just happened upon this book when browsing at the library. The title caught my eye. I am ex-South African but know very little about the history and experiences of the "coloured" people of South Africa. Now I shall read the other books by ZW and also recommend them to friends who may be interested too. I found the last chapter where the mother claims the protea flower as a symbol of the land and the indigenous people rather than of the SA state (and apartheid) very powerful.