Wicomb, Zoe

New York. 1987. April 1987. Pantheon Books. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0394560302. 185 pages. hardcover. Jacket photograph by Roger Palmer. Jacket design by Louise Fili. keywords: Literature South Africa Women . FROM THE PUBLISHER - You Can 't Get Lost in Cape Town introduces American readers to a compelling new voice from South Africa. Zoe Wicomb's book of connected stories is a superb portrayal of a woman coming to terms with her rejected past, acknowledging the price of having strayed from the culture that shaped her. Frieda Shenton has returned from England, a reluctant visitor to the country from which, as a young woman, she sought to escape. She had left behind her childhood in a rural South African township and later experiences of living and working in Cape Town, where she discovered - despite her father's optimism - that education, for a black woman, means neither freedom nor an end to personal insecurity. Now, years later, return brings a fresh perspective on life in Namaqualand and life in exile, as Frieda visits family, talks with friends, and glimpses the clandestine resistance movement. Through Wicomb's subtle and compelling portraits, we discover the daily frustrations of life under the twin banes of colonialism and segregation. We meet Frieda's quirky family - her cousin Jan Klinkies, who recites years-old weather reports and refuses to drink the coffee that comes in a box decorated with Boer figures; her mother, humiliated in her attempts to master the intricacies of spoken English. We also encounter the odd side-effects of prejudice with Frieda as a young girl, waiting at a train station to be delivered to the formerly all-white high school when a defiant black man challenges her decision to attend. And, through Frieda, we discover the link between the personal and the political, the concept of apartheid and the reality of waiting at the clinic until the doctor finishes with the white patients across town. Zoe Wicomb lends a personal and eloquent dimension to objective reports, taking us inside the lives of the people to create an important and evocative work of literature. Zoe Wicomb was born in Cape Province, South Africa, and moved to England in 1970. She is a teacher of English and lives in Nottingham. inventory #8076 ISBN: 0394560302.