Bibligraphy: p.148-155. / This study is an investigation of the magical attribute inherent in poetry, as perceived in "Klipwerku by N.P. van Wyk Lauw (from Nuwe Verse) and "Kroniek van Kristien" by O.J. Opperman (from Blom en Baaierd). The thesis is divided into two sections: the first is an attempt to describe and define magic, while the second section consists of text analyses where the theoretical base (as established in section one) is applied to the poem. Section 1.2 defines magic through the description of a framework within which the phenomenon can be projected: the magical milieu lies within the area which is demarcated by the following defining points: "art" , "religion" and "science" In section 1.3 the above-mentioned spatial distribution is elaborated on, but the focus eventually shifts to the relationship between "magic" and "art". Section 1.3.1 gives an eclectic view on the depth psychology of C.G. Jung and the way in which his studies link the psychology of archaic man to that of modern man. It will become apparant that the magic, which played a very important role in the tribal life of archaic man, is present (although suppressed) in our society today. Section 1.3.2 gives examples of the earliest documentations of the magical process. The oeuvre of Eugene Marais is viewed briefly in section 1.3.2.1 and the character "Maeldegijs" (from Middle Dutch literature) is sketched in 1.3.2.2. In 1.3.3 the spatial character of poetry is investigated and the poem is viewed as a vehicle for varicius implication phenomena. This section serves as an introduction to the method (principally Literary Semantic) which will be applied in the in-depth text analyses in Section two. In 2.1 the primitive dimension of magic in poetry is discovered primarily through the identification of man's basic primitiveness and inseparability from his sensual nature. In "Klipwerk" man becomes nature around him through earth-bound metaphorical projection. In 2.2 the poem, as a medium for man's identification of his relationship to the universe, is investigated in the multitudinous associations of the "Kristien" character with every possible aspect of human experience. In this way "Kristien" becomes a complex implication phenomenon and is analysed as a synthetic metaphor, which combines all the poetic spaces (here, symbolic configurations of "Kristien" with every aspect of the universe) into a complex, but densely integrated whole. The magical attribute of the above poems lies in the identification of the interpreter's unique field of experience (his existential space) in the attempt to reconstruct the space which is offered and, at the same time, implied within the text.

Bibliography: pages 190-199. / The study attempts to indicate how frames of reading which presuppose a definable subject and a hierarchy of real poet and poem are problematized and transgressed by the Breytenbach texts. How these texts confront the normative, predetermined and rigid definitions of the subject and subject positions is one of the challenges faced in this work. It is argued that the texts under scrutiny depict literature as a terrain where stereotypical social codes are destroyed and recreated and where the symbolic order is challenged.

Bibliography: pages 184-194. / This dissertation comprises a study of the postmodernist tendencies in Wilma stockenstrom's poetry text Die heengaanrefrein (1989). It is argued that the postmodernist text carries with it certain political implications, among which are an interrogation of the way in which history is represented, as well as an interrogation of the ways in which each literary text can be read as a rewriting of existing, or precursor texts. It is further argued that the interrogation of historical representations opens up links between the postmodern debate and postcolonial discourse. This is especially pertinent when reading literary texts from a former colony such as South Africa, and specifically a text which focuses on an event which forms part of the country's colonial history, that being the arrival at the Cape of the Huguenots in 1688-89. Finally it is argued that this postmodernist text, by way of intertextual references, not only implies a rewriting of colonial perspectives on history, but also a rewriting of a literary history, thereby contributing to the decolonisation of the Subject.

Bibliography: pages 360-374. / This thesis is, in a sense, a continuation of the literary theories of the Prague school, especially those of Jakobson and Ehrlich. It explores the role of the implication in the interpretation of a poem, and also points out the referencialities of implicati.o n which could influence the evaluation of a literary text. The study largely concerns itself with theory, but the theoretical points of view are constantly tested against specific Afrikaans texts. On the whole, fairly well known texts are dealt with. In this way the theoretical points of view which are introduced in this thesis can be gauged against recognized interpretations of the texts concerned. The problems which the study concerns itself with are: (a) the ways in which the implications in a poem can be recognized (b) the various forms of implication which can occur in a poem, and (c) the relationship between these respective phenomena. In the first chapter the term implication is defined within the framework of linguistic referencialities; in chapter two the implication is examined in conjunction with the formal characteristics of a poem; in chapter three the phenomena of metaphor, metonymy and symbol are examined in conjunction with each other; in chapter four the diverse forms in which the metaphor manifests itself are examined; in chapter five the interaction between the metaphor and the symbol within a volume of poems is analyzed. In chapter six the relationship of irony with regard to hyperbole, understatement (litotes), satire, sarcasm and parody is investigated. At the end of this chapter the connection between irony and metaphor is carried through. The last chapter, i.e. chapter seven, points to the literary evaluative qualities of the implication references. As a whole this study belongs to the relatively new literary science called Literary Semantics. As such it has few precedents in English as well as in Afrikaans. Being a pioneering work, it does not lay claim to final answers, but wishes to act as a stimulant to further research.

Bibliography: pages 336-357. / Die skripsie ondersoek die rol van die auteur in moderne literêre teorieë, en bevat hoofstukke oor Russiese formalisme, Praagse strukturalisme, Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, semiotiek en dekonstruksie. Hierdie teorieë en teoretici word verbind deur 'n ontkenning van die auteur. Barthes vorm die spil van die ontwikkelingslyn in soverre hy "die dood van die auteur" verkondig en die moontlikheid skep vir 'n hedonistiese benadering tot letterkunde; so 'n benadering is inderdaad die logiese eindpunt van die geleidelike ontwikkeling weg van die auteur en na die leser. 'n Onderskeid kan daarbenewens getref word tussen "behoudende" en "radikale" benaderings, met eersgenoemde wat gestalte vind in semiotiek en laasgenoemde in dekonstruksie; die onderskeid is weer eens gebaseer op die rol wat aan die auteur toevertrou word. Die sogenaamde "afgrond" veroorsaak deur 'n hedonistiese benadering kom uiteindelik waardeloos voor, en daar is gevolglik by sowel die latere Barthes as by dekonstruksie pogings om die beweging te bekamp deur opnuut erkenning aan die auteur te gee. Om erkenning aan die auteur te gee impliseer nie 'n terugkeer na 'n naïewe biografiese benadering waar die auteur as aanvanklike uitgangspunt figureer nie. Dit beteken wel 'n bereidwilligheid om letterkunde as 'n kommunikatiewe stelsel - na aanleiding van Roman Jakobson se skema - te sien, wat lei nie tot 'n beperking op die spel-element in literêre teorie en kritiek nie, maar inderdaad tot 'n verbreding daarvan deur nie die teks te sluit met betrekking tot die oorsprong daarvan nie. Die rol van die auteur word tekstueel ondersoek na aanleiding van die ek-poësie van Breytenbach en Opperman se Komas uit 'n bamboesstok. Breytenbach-kritici fouteer deur òf vir hom van "ekkerigheid" te beskuldig òf die outobiografiese verwysings te probeer verdoesel. In stede daarvan behoort Breytenbach se oeuvre gelees te word juis in terme van die ek; kritici wat vir Breytenbach as middelpunt ontken beperk sy poësie deur dit op 'n tradisionele manier te wil benader. Komas word betrek ten einde 'n moontlike beskouing van Breytenbach as 'n eenloper teë te werk. Wanneer twee van die vooraanstaande Afrikaanse digters so sterk outobiografies skryf, is dit nie meer moontlik om die rol van die auteur te ontken in moderne literêre kritiek of teorie nie.

In die skripsie word die hiaat ondersoek wat tussen die oorspronklike konsepsies van die "Erotiek", waar dit beskou is as 'n kosmogoniese mag, die Primêre Beweger, wat die skepping mitologies laat afspeel het, en die moderne opvattings en toepassings van betekenis dieselfde term waar die betekenis oënskynlik gereduseer is tot slegs een aspek van die oorspronklike term - die seksualiteit. Die evolusie van die begrip word nagegaan vanaf die vroegste verskyning, by die Griekse digter Hesiodus (c. 700 v.C), en Plato (asook ander Griekse wysgere) se filosofiese uitbouing, die omvorming van die liefdesidee deur die Christendom tot Agape, en die uiteindelike kulminasie van die moderne erotiek soos dit verskyn in die Afrikaanse literêre teks. Die roman Mahala van Chris Barnard word vanuit 'n Freudiaanse perspektief benader en wys op die sado-masochistiese boublokke van die Afrikanerliefde: die sosio-psigologiese regressie van die hoofkarakter word nagegaan namate hy ondergaan weens die skuld teenoor die Vader. Sewe Dae die Silbersteins skets die teenoorgestelde proses, waar die enkeling geïnisieer word in die gesofistikeerde Westerse wêreld, deur die Jungiaanse individuasieproses trapsgewys, maar ironies te voltooi, as die Self/Seun-offer hier gemaak word aan die die Moeder, sonder die regenerasie van die lewende mite/simbool vir die tyd. Die gedig "Snol" uit van N.P. van Wyk Louw is die slotteks en wys op die konfrontasie van die denker met homself, waar hy in 'n post-koïtale melancholie deurdring tot die gnosis dat die waarheid/ heling/verlossing diep in sy skeppende self lê.

Bibliography: pages 157-163. / This dissertation examines the corresponding symbols and imagery in N. P. van Wyk Louw's "Groot Ode" and DIE HEENGAANREFREIN by Wilma Stockenström. The poetic approach in both works is similar and comparable, because both poets are concerned with mankind's questing nature. In both texts man is portrayed as searching for omnipotence through omniscience. A section of the analysis is devoted to extra-textual influences on the two works. Examples of these are: genre expectations, poetic influence and the fact DIE HEENGAANREFREIN was commissioned for a special celebration. Previous analyses are also discussed briefly. The two main sections of this dissertation are dedicated to analysing the parallel (1) images and (2) motifs. The similarities in the application of mirror and colour imagery are but two examples of corresponding threads in both works. Motifs are discussed as the organic entities of a text: they develop in the text and are not the stagnant components that images are. Themes of evolution and of the apocalypse are examples of motifs covered. Language as motif is very important in this analysis, because it is not only an intra-textual occurrence, but also becomes an extra-textual determination. The last section is concerned with the role that language plays in ordering the chaos of the universe. The anxiety that the poet experiences as ephebe/successor to God and to earlier poets is also briefly discussed.

This dissertation examines the role of the egocentric author in the poetry of Antjie Krog and its development through seven volumes of verse. The term "egocentric author" here signifies that author which is the writing subject and which insists that the reader take cogniscence of him or her. The second chapter of the dissertation focuses on the development in literary theory in the twentieth century which has seen the author increasingly marginalised in the process of asserting the autonomy of the text. Barthes in 1968 proclaimed the author dead and early poststructuralism has no place for the author in its approach to discussing literary texts. However, a definite role has lately been assigned to the author, not as the divine artistic source of the meaning in a text, but rather as an agent or textual strategy by which the material or historical discourse present in literary texts can be examined. The study further examines the way in which Antjie Krog's oeuvre shows a definite line of development in respect to the speaking subject which admits that it is also the poet. In no way is dwelt on the specific biography of the "real" poet unless biographical information is obviously a textual element. With Krog the "biographical" information that she is a mother, wife and an Afrikaans speaking poet is an integral component of the textual composition. The last section deals with the fact that in Lady Anne, Krog uses the historical figure of Lady Anne Barnard (born Lindsay) (1750-1825) to function as an objective correlative for the white female poet who is increasingly concerned with the oppressive political climate in her country, her part in the oppression of its disenfranchised citizens. The interaction between the self-conscious poet and her metaphor enables the poet in a singular way to pose the important question of whether she has the power through her poetry to address the injustices which her artistic sensibility witnesses around her.

Bibliography: pages 161-168. / Hierdie studie het gemik op 'n herwaardering van Elise Muller se bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Hennie Aucamp het met Elise Muller. Verhale en essays 1942-1981, die eerste stap tot herwaardering geneem ten opsigte van Elise Muller en haar prosawerk. So ook het Nel in haar skripsie met waardering gekyk na die bekende en haas onbekende werk van Muller. Hierdie nuwe kyk na die werk van Elise Muller word in die tesis verder gevoer. Dit poog om die onbekende, "ander" Elise Muller op die voorgrond te stel. Ten einde die "ander" Muller te belig, was dit nodig om te let op die tradisionele Muller. 'n Ondersoek na beide Muller se vernuwende en tradisionele bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde het dit duidelik laat blyk dat sy heel gebalanseerd en genuanseerd te werke gaan met die tradisionele Afrikaner ideologieë.

Bibliography: p. 274-279. / The aim of this thesis was the systematic investigation of the relative pronoun in South African texts from 1652 to 1900 to ascertain when the first divergences from the Dutch occurred, to what extent these increased and how far the use of the Afrikaans relative pronoun was established by 1900.