The literary, personal, and scio-political background of William Plomer's Turbott Wolfe

Abstract

This dissertation examines William Plomer's first novel, Turbott Wolfe (1925), within its socio-political and literary context, and also explores the crucial relationship between the author's life and his work. Turbott Wolfe at one level represents Plomer's complex responses to and interpretation of the South African milieu during the early 1920s. During this decade, the foundations of modem Apartheid were being consolidated, and African Nationalism emerged as a powerful challenge to the South African state. Turbott Wolfe is informed by these political developments, and the milieu and events portrayed in the novel vividly express the author's feelings about and attitudes towards the society he finds himself in. Since its publication, ZiZ&stsJBal&a has suffered considerable critical neglect The superficiality of much of the existing criticism about the novel must be challenged, since Turbott Wolfe is not only of tremendous intrinsic literary merit, but also provides valuable insights into the socio-political environment and historical moment in which Plotter wrote. Thus one of the novel's main concerns is the all informing "colour question", which dominated political debate in the 1920s. Plomer's appr< -• "colour question" is unorthodox,« rajor question confronting the reader is how this unusual novel cane to be written. An examination of earlier fiction reveals that Turbott Wolfe is both influenced b; and a reaction against existing literary traditions, while the major themes show in what way and to what extent the novel is engaged with contemporary sociopolitical issues. The key to this crucial question, however, lies in a detailed exploration of the author's personal history. Turbott Wolfe emerges as an important work within the development of South African literature, a novel which encapsulates some of the complexity and diversity of contemporary South Africa, as perceived by its youthful author.