Unity in Flight

A powerful collection of stories that traces the political, personal, and social fractures of South Africa from the 1980s into the aftermath of apartheid.

Maropodi Mapalakanye’s stories focus on the political-military struggle against apartheid, emphasizing the deadly “twists of fate” that insurrection spawns, particularly in relation to the need to resist and its collateral damage to oppressed people. Peter Rule turns to more personal terrain, exploring the anguish of sexual and homophobic violence, the devastation of AIDS, and the trauma of surviving police interrogation. Zachariah Rapola brings a surreal and tragic touch to stories of lonely misfits in Alexandria, Johannesburg’s oldest African township. Michael Vines, on the other hand, writes about arty white suburban youth whose alienation is just as acute despite their more privileged environment. Phaswane Mpe’s stories foreshadow his novel Welcome to Our Hillbrow, also engaging student life in Johannesburg and the ramifications of the AIDS epidemic. Lastly, Kolski Horwitz moves between the broader political landscape of decolonization, internal corruption within liberation movements, and the shifting tides of sexual behaviour.