''A Dry White Season'' (Afrikaans: ') is a fictional novel written by

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

novelist André Brink and first published by Taurus in 1979. The title quotes a line from the struggle poem For Don M. - Banned by

Mongane Wally Serote Mongane Wally Serote (born 8 May 1944) is a South African poet and writer. He became involved in political resistance to the apartheid government by joining the African National Congress (ANC) and in 1969 was arrested and detained for several m ...

. The novel focuses on the death during detention of a man wrongly suspected of being a black activist. The novel challenges

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, depicting the transformation of a ruling class Afrikaner's opposition to the governing, white supremacist regime. The novel was initially banned in South Africa, though Brink had 3,000 copies published through an underground press. The novel was adapted into a 1989 film which starred

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...

Zakes Mokae Zakes Makgona Mokae (5 August 1934 – 11 September 2009) was a South African-American actor of theatre and film. Life and career Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to the United Kingdom in 1961, and to the United States ...

and

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

. The film was subsequently banned in South Africa.Ebert, Roger
"''A Dry White Season''
" ''Chicago Sun-Times'' (Sept. 22, 1989).

Reception

Reception of the novel was generally positive, and praising the novel's critique of apartheid, ''The Christian Science Monitor'' was generally positive about the book, though noted that it has elements of being a "white book." ''The New York Times'' called the novel "both an exposé and a passionate appeal for social justice" and an excellent piece of work which "demonstrates André Brink's continuing refinement of his fictional technique". The novel was awarded the 1980

Martin Luther King Memorial Prize The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize was instituted by novelist John Brunner and his wife and was awarded annually to a literary work published in the US or Britain that was deemed to improve interracial understanding,Derek Humphry''Good Life, Go ...

.Carolyn Turgeon
"A Dry White Season"
at encyclopedia.com.

References

1979 novels 20th-century South African novels Afrikaans literature Apartheid novels Novels by André Brink W. H. Allen & Co. books {{Apartheid-sa-novel-stub