A period of optimism (1795-1910) : literacy as the path to equality. Case-study one : translation and transposition : The wrath of the ancestors and Tales from Southern Africa by A.C. Jordan -- Disillusionment sets in (1910-1948) : black Englishmen and urban natives : first signs of indigenization. Case-study two : a detailed stylistic analysis of Sol Plaatje's Mhudi -- Under control (1948-1960) : tsotsis, tough-talking journalists from the urban ghetto and the post-creole continuum. Case-study three : Can Themba, the poet-laureate of the township -- Stylistic analysis of two stories from Drum magazine : The urchin (1951) and Baby come duze (1973) -- Dislocation (1960-1976) : colored or creole? : writing "between two fires" in the sixties. Case-study four : The park and other stories by James Matthews -- Deadlock (1976-1990) : the old is dying and the new cannot be born. Case-study five : stylistic analysis of Oggzee by Don Mattera -- Breakthrough (1990 and after) : multiple identities and "emerging traditions." Case-study six : Welcome to our Hillbrow by Phaswane Mpe.