Born in Pretoria, in an English-speaking family with Croatian paternal grandparents, Vladislavić is one of the most important representatives of post-apartheid literature. In 1975 he went to study Afrikaans and English literature at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. His encounter with the works of aesthetically innovative contemporary Afrikaans writers, a literature concerned with South African realities, was inspirational. He made his home in Johannesburg, the vibrant, violent, never-resting city that figures prominently in his fiction.
Working as an editor while also writing fiction, Vladislavić identified two contrary impulses in his engagement with language: the editor's inclination is to keep meaning in check, according to etymology and correct usage, while the
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Citation: Popescu, Monica. "Ivan Vladislavić". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11887, accessed 22 November 2024.]
