The Wall as Signifier in Ivan Vladislavic's Works

In this essay, the transformative nature of the wall will be studied in relation to South African literature, particularly to the writings of Ivan Vladislavić. Indeed, the wall is a massive presence as an icon that works as a shifting and metamorphic signifier in South African literature and society, though here the wall tends to be a tool of separation rather than of union. Thus, the opposing categories of dasein and mitsein will be considered so as to specify better the role, the meaning and the function of the wall in South African narratives. Various short stories and prose pieces by Vladislavić will be analysed with reference to urban studies on the city of Johannesburg (Nuttall, Bremner) and to other South African writers, namely Nadine Gordimer.