Research Catalog

Title

Postcolonial opera : William Kentridge and the unbounded work of art / Juliana M. Pistorius.

Author

Pistorius, Juliana Maryna, 1988-

Publication

• New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]
• ©2025

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Alternative Title

William Kentridge and the unbounded work of art

Subject

• Kentridge, William, 1955- > Criticism and interpretation
• Handspring Puppet Company
• Opera > Political aspects > South Africa > History > 20th century
• Opera > Political aspects > South Africa > History > 21st century
• Opera > Social aspects > South Africa > History > 20th century
• Opera > Social aspects > South Africa > History > 21st century
• Postcolonialism and music > South Africa
• Puppet theater > South Africa
• Opera > Production and direction > South Africa > History > 20th century
• Opera > Production and direction > South Africa > History > 21st century

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction -- Return -- Confession -- Mourning -- Time -- Place -- Totality -- Conclusion : Future.

Call Number

Sc E 25-1238

ISBN

• 9780197749210
• 0197749216
• 9780197749203
• 0197749208

LCCN

• 2025004496
• 9780197749210

OCLC

1525302661

Author

Pistorius, Juliana Maryna, 1988- author.

Title

Postcolonial opera : William Kentridge and the unbounded work of art / Juliana M. Pistorius.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Copyright Date

©2025

Description

xii, 284 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary

"Opera has long been known for its ability to be used as a tool for colonial expression. But it is increasingly used to narrate histories of colonial trauma, oppression, and struggle. What does it mean for a colonial form to represent the experiences of those it used to exclude and undermine? How can opera adapt to meet the challenges of ethical representation and reparation? In response to these questions, Postcolonial Opera: William Kentridge and the Unbounded Work of Art examines the social and political role of opera in the postcolony. Taking the multimedia operatic experiments of William Kentridge, South Africa's most celebrated contemporary visual artist, as a starting point, author Juliana M. Pistorius investigates contemporary opera's potential to process the troubled histories that haunt post- and decolonial societies. Centered around the critical-theoretical themes of return, confession, mourning, time, displacement, and totality, the book considers Kentridge's productions for puppets (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, 1998; Confessions of Zeno, 2002), his operatic installation for a miniature automated theatre (Black Box/Chambre Noire, 2005), his chamber work for performers and machines (Refuse the Hour, 2012), and his 'processional operas' (Triumphs and Laments, 2016; The Head & the Load, 2018). Pistorius argues that the artist's newly conceived operatic form, built on ideas of unboundedness rather than totality or formlessness, offers opportunities to engage anew with questions of race, coloniality, and cultural belonging in the postcolony. While Kentridge's pieces take the artist's responsibility to deal with the genre's colonial past seriously, she shows how they also offer humor, beauty, and catalytic opportunities to reimagine the form and function of opera in the postcolonial present. Postcolonial Opera intervenes in contemporary debates about opera's relevance and contributes to the growing study of the art form's relationship with race and coloniality. Ultimately, Pistorius argues that Kentridge's multimedia experiments--at once local and global--present compelling perspectives on the contradictions and compromises of the genre's position in the postcolony"-- Provided by Amazon.

Chronological Term

1900-2099

Other Form:

Online version: Pistorius, Juliana Maryna, 1988- Postcolonial opera. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025] 9780197749241 (DLC) 2025004497 (OCoLC)1504691511

Other Standard Identifier

9780197749210

Research Call Number

Sc E 25-1238