In the writings of Guy Butler, the colonial literary tradition in South Africa finds a late, and possibly most perceptive and articulate, exponent. If the colonial tradition can be characterized as an attempt by the settler writer to enter into a meaningful linguistic and imaginative relation with the South African environment, then Butler has, more than any previous South African writer of European descent, drawn attention to the complexity of this enterprise. The colonial literary tradition comes to self-awareness in his writings.

The quest for a meaningful linguistic and imaginative relation with the South African environment has two aspects. The first has to do with belonging and identity; the second has to do with mastery and control. In his study of Butler's poetry Hennie van der Mescht observes that the "question of belonging amounts to an obsession in the writings of Guy Butler." According to van der Mescht...