Italy, World War II and South African Poetry

Abstract

The focus of this article is Guy Butler, Chris Mann and Memory. Details and texts of poetry, but also fragments of letters, drawings, notebooks, images, photos and a more general visual iconography pertaining to these two South African poets’ life and work will be used to show the way in which Butler and Mann had something important in common: War and Italy. Guy Butler took part in World War II in Italy, whereas Chris Mann indirectly experienced World War II conflict in our country. Their experience has been indelibly recorded both in their personal memories and in their writings: poems, diaries and prose pieces.

Keywords

• Italy. Poetry. South Africa. World War II