Now what? Dystopian futures in South African speculative fiction

Abstract

This thesis explores the rapidly expanding field of speculative fiction in South Africa through an exploration of Fever (2016) by Deon Meyer; Dub Steps (2015) by Andrew Miller; Triangulum (2019) by Masande Ntshanga; and The Raft (2015) by Fred Strydom. In engaging with these narrations of dystopian futures, the study explores the authors’ representations and conceptions of South Africa. The novels grapple with postapartheid South Africa’s relationship with its pasts, its memories, its failures, and its broken promises, and trace speculative narrative lines into an imagined future. Their future-directed narratives speak in interesting ways to our present conditions.