75 jaar van Tydskrif vir Letterkunde – ’n voorlopige verkenning

Abstract

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde was founded in 1936 as the Jaarboek van die Afrikaanse Skrywerskring (Yearbook of the Afrikaans Writers’ Circle). This article explores the history of the Skrywerskring and its journal, particularly its establishment and early history, as well as its surrounding political and literary environment. Primary research for this study was undertaken in the archives of the National Afrikaans Literary Museum and Research Centre in Bloemfontein and the documentary holdings on the Afrikaanse Skrywerskring at the Universities of Stellenbosch and South Africa. In this study, particular attention is paid to the so-called North-South divide in Afrikaans literature, the political milieu, the writers’ organisation’s attitude to censorship, its withdrawal from PEN International and lastly, a brief overview of the role of its six editors since 1936. In its initial years the Skrywerskring demonstrated a proximity to the political powers of the day, suggesting a lack of critical distance. With the demise of the Skrywerskring during the last decade of the 20th century the journal almost floundered. Since 2003 the journal was fundamentally repositioned to reflect not only Afrikaans Literature but also literatures from the rest of the African continent and African diaspora.