Beyond the Threshold

Biographical notes

Hein Viljoen (Volume editor) Chris N. Van der Merwe (Volume editor)

The Editors: Hein Viljoen is Professor of Afrikaans and Dutch literature at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University, South Africa. He received his Ph.D. from the same university in 1985 on a comparative study of three South African novels using a systems approach. Since then he has published widely on Afrikaans literature and literary theory, including a joint volume with Chris N. van der Merwe on methodology and representation and an introduction to literary theory. Van der Merwe and he also co-edited Storyscapes – South African Perspectives on Literature, Space and Identity (Peter Lang, 2004). His current research interests are identity and hybridity in recent Afrikaans and South African literature. Chris N. van der Merwe is Associate Professor of Afrikaans and Dutch Literature at the University of Cape Town. He has written many articles in Afrikaans, Dutch, and English on South African and Dutch literature and theory of literature. He is also the author and editor of a number of books, including Breaking Barriers – Stereotypes and the Changing of Values in Afrikaans Literature (1994) and Strangely Familiar – South African Narratives on Town and Countryside (2001). His current research, in collaboration with Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, focuses on narrative and trauma, and their joint book Narrating Our Healing – Perspectives on Working through Trauma is forthcoming.