This thesis investigates the narrative strategies of Jeanne Goosen, as employed in her short novel, Louoond. I regard this text as an excellent example of modern Afrikaans prose, and particular reference was made to her previous novel: Om 'n mens na te boots which indicates similarities to the text under scrutiny. Chapter One is a close reading of the first chapter of the novel, in order to identify certain prominent codes, and also to determine what the text itself prescribes. My presumption is that the text determines how it should be read, that no single, predetermined strategy can be rigidly applied to it. Thus I formulated my own individual possible reading from the first chapter, and I view it throughout as mere "speculation", since this possible reading remains only a possibility. Chapter Two contains the theoretical background that is necessary for a scientific study of this kind. I followed mainly the strategies of Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, who are pioneers in the post -modernistic theory. It was particularly important to investigate the role of the narrator: the narrator in Louoond presents herself as a writer, therefore it is the process that is paramount. In Chapter Three the code of writing, as identified in Chapter ʺOneʺ of Louoond, is followed closely throughout the text. In Louoond, which is metatextual, violence is textually inherent, and also part of the process of writing. This violence is definitely also part of the South African situation as it is signified in the novel. Throughout the narrator is in a state of tension about her own role in the ʺrevolutionʺ - in which also her own text is a revolution in language, but always within the NOW of South Africa. Chapter Four concerns itself mainly with the role of the woman as narrator, as muse, as primary protagonist. I discuss the code of woman in relation to prominent feminist writers, but it remains in context of the text. Each issue is in the first place determined by the text, the text therefore determines which feminist issues will be investigated. The South African situation, and specifically the Afrikaner situation, serves throughout as intertext for Louoond, as with the code of writing. Other intertextual references are important, because the text is never independent from anything outside itself, and could not exist in such independence. Music plays an important role, with Callas as muse and as fellow female artist, while George Sand functions as fellow writer. Woman, independent of man, is put forward as creator. In my reading, the text remains in the first place a fabrication/imitation of the South African reality, and the fInal scene reaffirms the ʺfinal catastropheʺ that is indicated in the motto as a ʺcondition of controlled hysteriaʺ

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Traditionally the body has been neglected within Western philosophical thought. In this tradition man is seen as a dualist organism whose mind is more highly valued than his or her body. Since the start of the twentieth century, especially, there has also been Western thinkers who deconstruct the traditional, opposisional view of the mind and body. Most of these thinkers are men, and they argue from a male perspective. The deconstruction of the opposition between mind and body is, however, also useful for feminism, as the woman was traditionally seen as more bodily, and less rational, than the man. This view of woman can be used to support arguments that her place is within the home, where she should look after the bodily and emotional needs of her husband and children. First and second wave feminists criticised above-mentioned traditional view of women by arguing that the woman is just as rational as the man. Other feminists make use of the 'male' criticism of the body-mind opposition by arguing that traditionally female attributes and activities are not less valuable than male ones. In this thesis it is argued that the novellas Klaaglied vir Koos, Erf and Louoond should be read against this background as feminist texts in which the traditionally female space of the kitchen is celebrated as a space in which the female subject can create art and develop a perspective on the outside world. Focusing on the body and on traditionally female values (such as the domestic space) have implications for, amongst others, epistemology, ethical thought and literary theory. The way these implications are developed in the three novellas are explored in this thesis. Domestic spaces are not only celebrated in these texts, they are also represented as problematical, limited spaces which isolate the protagonists of the novellas and withhold them from the potential of political solidarity. The novellas are therefore treated in this thesis as complex texts in which the literary focus on domestic space, female embodiment and man‘s relationship with food is both celebrated and problematised. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tradisioneel is die liggaam afgeskeep in die Westerse filosofie. Binne hierdie tradisie is die mens beskou as ‘n dualistiese organisme wie se verstand meer waardevol is as sy of haar liggaam. Veral sedert die begin van die twintigste eeu is daar ook Westerse denkers wat die tradisionele, opposisionele siening van die liggaam en die verstand dekonstrueer. Die meeste van hierdie denkers is mans en neem slegs die manlike perspektief in ag. Die dekonstruksie van die opposisie tussen liggaam en verstand is egter ook nuttig vir die feminisme, omdat die vrou tradisioneel gesien is as meer liggaamlik en minder rasioneel as die man. Hierdie tradisionele siening van die vrou kan gebruik word om te argumenteer dat haar plek in die huishoudelike ruimte is, waar sy kan omsien na die liggaamlike en emosionele behoeftes van haar man en kinders. Eerste- en tweedegolf-feministe het bogenoemde tradisionele opvattings veral gekritiseer deur te argumenteer dat die vrou net so rasioneel soos die man is. Latere feministe bou egter voort op 'manlike‘ kritiek teen die opposisie tussen liggaam en verstand deur te argumenteer dat tradisioneel vroulike eienskappe en aktiwiteite nie minder waardevol is as sogenaamde manlike eienskappe nie. In hierdie tesis word geargumenteer dat die novelles Klaaglied vir Koos en Erf deur Lettie Viljoen en Louoond deur Jeanne Goosen teen hierdie agtergrond gelees kan word as feministiese tekste waarin die tradisioneel vroulike ruimte van die kombuis gevier word as ‘n ruimte waarin die vroulike subjek ‘n perspektief op die buitewêreld kan ontwikkel en kuns kan skep. ʼn Fokus op die liggaam en op tradisioneel vroulike elemente (soos die huishoudelike ruimte) behels implikasies vir onder andere die epistemologie, etiese denke en literêre teorie. Hierdie implikasies word verken soos wat hulle na vore kom in die drie novelles. In die novelles word die huishoudelike ruimte egter ook uitgebeeld as ʼn problematiese, beperkende ruimte wat die hoofkarakters van die novelles afsny van die buitewêreld en van die moontlikheid van politieke solidariteit. Daar word geargumenteer dat die novelles dus komplekse tekste is waarin literatuur wat fokus op die huishoudelike ruimte, vroulike liggaamlikheid en die mens se verhouding met kos sowel gevier en geproblematiseer kan word.