@article{ref1,
title="Re-tailoring Can Themba's "The Suit": Queer Temporalities in Two Stories by Makhosazana Xaba",
journal="Current Writing",
year="2017",
author="Stobie, C.",
volume="29",
number="2",
pages="79-88",
abstract="Can Themba's iconic story, &quot;The Suit&quot; (1963), tells of a devastating punishment visited upon an adulterous wife, Matilda, by her husband, Philemon. This article begins by examining some implications of Themba's story and touching on subsequent adaptations that have re-imagined this haunting tale from various perspectives. I then move on to consider two stories by Makhosazana Xaba (2013) which add significant elements to the original fable. &quot;Behind 'The Suit'&quot; is written in epistolary form by Philemon's dying male lover to his daughter, thus queering the narrative. &quot;'The Suit' Continued: The Other Side&quot; is recounted in first-person narration by Matilda, after her suicide. It delineates the affair between Matilda and another woman, and their plan to have a baby, adding further queer temporalities. Citing theorists of queer and bisexual temporalities, I provide a close reading of the effects Xaba creates in her re-fashionings of Themba's Ur-text. I argue that both stories critique hetero-patriarchy; they queer marriage, procreation, Sophiatown, black communities and the South African nation; and they contribute meaningfully to postcolonial queer writing and reading. © 2017 The Editorial Board, Current Writing.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1013-929X",
doi="10.1080/1013929X.2017.1347421",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2017.1347421"
}