Thesis (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / 207 leaves printed single pages, preliminary pages i-xiii and numbered pages 1-195. Includes bibliography. / Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The object of this study is to examine the expression of tragedy in randomly selected Sesotho novels in two major periods, namely the early period (1925 to 1970s) and the later period (1970s to 1990s). Five Sesotho novels will be discussed in each period and give an indication of tragic expression in that period. It is however not the main emphasis in this work to compare and contrast between the two periods but mainly to observe patterns of tragedy and tragic expressions in Sesotho novels. Chapter One orientates the reader by indicating aspects such as the problem identification, aim of the research, the approach or modus operandi, the scope as well as the organisation of the study, that is, a brief arrangement of chapters and presentation of what would be contained in subsequent chapters. Chapter Two presents the theoretical framework within which the research will be based. As the theoretical framework in this work, aspects of tragedy, namely, character, plot and theme will be discussed. Chapter Three focuses on the early Sesotho tragedies within the literary period 1925 to 1970s. As already indicated, five novels, namely, Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola, and Leshala Ie tswala molora will be discussed in terms of the theoretical principles suggested in Chapter Two. At the end of the chapter, an analysis of the findings and conclusions will be drawn on tragic expressions in these novels. These novels distinguish themselves as largely classical tragedies (there are modern ones also) in terms of the nature of tragic characters available. Chapter Four examines the later Sesotho tragedies ranging between the period 1970s to 1990s. As in early Sesotho novels, five novels will be discussed with a view to highlight tragic expressions in this period. Peo ena ejetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele leo a iphehletseng lona and Lehlaba la lephako will be the novels we analyse. Analysis of the findings will be made and conclusions drawn at the end of the chapter in how tragedy is expressed in all these novels. These novels distinguish themselves as largely modern tragedies in terms of the tragic characters portrayed in them. Chapter Five presents the general conclusions on all the novels discussed in the two periods. A comparison will be made as to how tragic expression differs from one period to another particularly in terms of the three aspects of tragedy. Each novel will be given the individual attention and focussed exclusively as to how it presents tragedy and how perhaps it differs from others. / SESOTHO ABSTRACT: Ka mosebetsi ona wa diphuputso re hlahloba ka moo mahlomola a totobatswang ka teng dingolweng tse kgethilweng dinakong tsena tsa bongodi, e leng ho tloha selemong sa 1925 ho isa selemong sa 1970 le tse hlahlamang esita le nako ya morao e qalang selemong sa 1970 ho isa dilemong tsa 1990 le tse hlahlamang. Re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano mokgahlelong 0 mong le 0 mong wa nako e le ho totobatsa ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng dipaleng tsa Sesotho. Ha se sepheo se seholo sa mosebetsi ona ho bapisa totobatso ya mahlomola mekgahlelong ena ya nako empa sepheo se seholo ke ho bontsha ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng dipaleng tsa Sesotho. Kgaolong ya Pele re tla nyenyeletsa mrnadi diphuputsong tsena ka ho mo tsebisa dintlha tsa bohlokwa malebana Ie mosebetsi ona tse kang totobatso ya qaka, sepheo sa phuputso ena, mokgwa oo phuputso e tla etswa ka ona, dintlha tse tla fuputswa esita le tlhophiso ya mosebetsi ona. Ka tlhophiso ya mosebetsi ona re bolela tatelano ya dikgaolo esita le tlhahiso ya kgaolo ka nngwe, ho tse tla latela. Kgaolong ya Bobedi re hlahisa teori kapa moralo wa tsebo 0 tla sebediswa bakeng sa phuputso ena. Tse ding tsa dikarolwana tsa moralo ona wa tsebo e tla ba dikarolo tsa bohlokwa tsa pale ya mahlomola, mme ka hona mosebetsi 0 tla totobatsa mophetwa, moralo wa kgohlano (poloto) le mookotaba. Dintlha tsena tsa moralo wa tsebo di tla sebediswa dipaleng tsa Sesotho tse tla hlahlojwa dikgaolong tse tla latela. Kgaolong ya Boraro re hlahloba dipale tsa Sesotho tse ngotsweng mokgahlelong wa pele wa nako mme e le nako e qalang selemong sa 1925 ho isa selemong sa 1970 le tse mmalwa tse latelang. Jwalo ka ha re se re hlalositse, re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano e leng Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola le Leshala le tswala rnolora ho latela dintlha tseo re buileng ka tsona kgaolong ya bobedi. Qetellong ya kgaolo ena re tla hlahloba diqeto tseo re di etsang ho latela tseo re di lemohileng dipaleng tsena malebana Ie tlhahiso ya mahlomola. Dipale tsena ke dipale tsa tlelaseki tse tshwanang le tsa.S ekgerike (le hoja ho ntse ho na le dipale tsa sejwalejwale) ho latela semelo sa mophetwa wa mahlomola. Kgaolong ya Bone re hlahloba dipale tsa mahlomola tsa mokgahlelo wa sejwalejwale mme e le dipale tse ngotsweng nakong ya selemo sa 1970 ho tla tihla dilemong tsa 1990 le tse hlahlamang. Jwalo ka ha re ile ra etsa dipaleng tsa kgale, re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano e le ho bontsha ka moo mahlomola a totobatswang ka teng paleng tsa Sesotho. Dipale tseo re tla di hlahloba ke Pea ena ejetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele lea a iphehletseng lana Ie Lehlaba la lephaka. Ha re se re hlahlobile dipale tsena re tla fana ka diqeto tseo re di tihleletseng mabapi le ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng paleng tsena. Dipale tsena di ka tsejwa e le dipale tsa sejwalejwale ho latela mofuta wa mophetwa wa mahlomola ya fumanwang ho tsona. Kgaolong ya Bohlano re fana ka diqeto tse akaretsang malebana Ie dipale tsohle tseo re di hlahlobileng mekgahlelong ena e mmedi ya nako. Re tla bapisa ka moo tlhahiso ya mahlomola e fapaneng ka teng ka lebaka la tshwaetso ya semelo sa mophetwa, diketsahalo kapa moralo esita Ie mookotaba kapa molaetsa. Re tla lekola pale ka nngwe mme re hlahlobe ka moo e hlahisang mahlomola ka teng le ka moo e fapanang le dipale tse ding ka teng. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om die voorkoms van die tragedie in geselekteerde Suid-Soetoe romans gedurende hoofsaaklik twee periodes, naamlik, die vroeere periode (1925 tot die 1970's) en die latere periode (1970 tot die 1990's) te ondersoek. Vyf Suid-Soetoe romans sal bespreek word rakende elke periode en sal 'n aanduiding gee van die tragedie gedurende die betrokke periode. Dit is egter nie die hoofdoel van die werk om vergelykings en onderskeidinge tussen die twee periodes te tref nie, maar eerder om tragedie en tragiese elemente binne Suid-Soetoe romans te bespreek. Hoofstuk Een se doel sal wees om die leser te orienteer aangesien dit aspekte soos die probleem identifikasie, die doel van die studie, die omvang en die voorlopige navorsing gemaak in terme van ander navorsingswerke rakende die onderwerp bevat, naamlik, vorige studies rakende die karakter in Suid-Soetoe romans met spesifieke verwysing na tragiese karakters. Die hoofstuk sal ook die uiteensetting van die studie, soos die uitleg van die hoofstukke en inhoud van daaropvolgende hoofstukke bevat, bespreek. Hoofstuk Twee stel die teoretiese raamwerk bekend waarop die navorsing gebasseer is. As deel van die raamwerk, sal aspekte van die tragedie soos karakter, intrige en tema bespreek word. Hierdie teoretiese aspekte sal dan toegepas word op Suid-Soetoe romans in opvolgende hoofstukke. Hoofstuk Drie fokus op die vroeere Suid-Soetoe tragedies binne die literere periode 1925 tot 1970s. Vyf romans, naamlik Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola en Leshala Ie tswala rnolora sal bespreek word in terme van teoretiese beginsels genoem in Hoofstuk Twee. Aan die einde van die hoofstuk sal 'n analise gemaak word van die bevindinge en gevolgtrekkings rakende die tragedie se voorkoms in hierdie romans. Hierdie romans onderskei hulself grootliks as klassieke tragedies in terme van die tragiese karakters se voorkoms. Hoofstuk Vier ondersoek die latere Suid-Soetoe tragedies gedurende die tydperk 1970 tot 1990. Soos in die vroeere tydperk, sal vyf romans bespreek word met die doel om die aspekte van tragedie te aksentueer. Peo ena e jetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele leo a iphehletseng lona en Lehlaba la lephako sal romans wees waarop gefokus word. 'n Analise van die bevindinge en gevolgtrekkings sal gemaak word aan die einde van die hoofstuk en sal die voorkoms van die tragedie in al die romans beskryf. Hierdie romans onderskei hulself hoofsaaklik as moderne tragedies in terme van die tragiese karakters se voorkoms. Hoofstuk Vyf verskaf algemene gevolgtrekkings waartoe gekom is in die voorafgaande bespreking van die genoemde twee periodes. 'n Vergelyking sal gemaak word oor hoe die voorkoms van die tragedie verskil van een periode na die ander, rakende die tragiese figuur. Elke roman sal individuele aandag kry en klem sal gele word op hoe dit verskil van ander romans.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigates the increase in Afrikaans novels set in the future at the time of publication in the period after 1999. The following seven Afrikaans futuristic novels were published in this time: Oemkontoe van die nasie (2001) by P.J. Haasbroek, Hotel Atlantis (2002) and Raka die roman (2005) by Koos Kombuis, Miskruier (2005) by Jaco Botha, Die nege kerse van Magriet (2006) by Barend P.J. Erasmus, Horrelpoot (2006) by Eben Venter and Wederkoms – Die lewe en geskiedenis van Jannes Hoop (2009) by Louis Krüger. These novels are discussed within the framework of dystopian literature since they all portray a future South Africa that is worse off than it was at the time of the novels’ publication. It is discussed whether the socio-political climate in South Africa after 1999 contributed to the increasing popularity of the dystopian genre in Afrikaans in this time. Dystopian literature in general comments on the present rather than the future. The social commentary in these novels is therefore also discussed. The following aspects of dystopian literature, as identified by critics such as Raffaella Baccolini, Fredric Jameson, Tom Moylan, Lyman Tower Sargent and Brian Stableford, is focused on in the analysis of the seven novels: the typical narrative in dystopian works; the distinction between the classical dystopia, critical dystopia and pseudo-dystopia; the connection between dystopian literature and apocalyptic literature, and common themes within dystopian literature (for example the control of language and the media, history and ecological issues). This dissertation highlights the similarities to as well as differences between the seven Afrikaans dystopian novels and typical dystopian works. It is also discussed how the context of a postcolonial and post-apartheid South Africa makes these novels unique. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die toename van Afrikaanse romans in die tydperk ná 1999 wat ten tyde van publikasie in ʼn toekomstige Suid-Afrika afspeel. Die volgende toekomsromans verskyn in hierdie tyd: P.J. Haasbroek se Oemkontoe van die nasie (2001), Hotel Atlantis (2002) en Raka die roman (2005) deur Koos Kombuis, Miskruier (2005) deur Jaco Botha, Eben Venter se Horrelpoot (2006), Die nege kerse van Magriet (2006) deur Barend P.J. Erasmus en Louis Krüger se Wederkoms – Die lewe en geskiedenis van Jannes Hoop (2009). Dié sewe romans word binne die raamwerk van distopiese literatuur bespreek omdat hulle voldoen aan Lyman Tower Sargent se definisie van ʼn literêre distopie: hulle beeld almal ʼn toekomstige Suid-Afrika uit waarin dit slegter gaan as die tyd waarin die romans gepubliseer is. Daar word ondersoek of die sosio-politiese konteks waarin die toekomsromans van ná 1999 verskyn, moontlik ʼn bydrae gelewer het tot die toename van hierdie tipe roman in die tydperk. Toekomsvoorstellings binne distopiese literatuur lewer dikwels eerder kommentaar op die tyd waarin die werke verskyn as op die toekoms. Daar word ondersoek of dit ook die geval is met die Afrikaanse distopiese toekomsromans van ná 1999. Na aanleiding van teorieë rondom distopiese literatuur deur kritici soos Raffaella Baccolini, Fredric Jameson, Tom Moylan, Lyman Tower Sargent en Brian Stableford word daar op die volgende aspekte van distopiese literatuur gefokus in die analise van die sewe romans: die handeling in tipiese distopiese werke; die onderskeid tussen die klassieke distopie, kritiese distopie en pseudo-distopie; die verband tussen apokaliptiese en distopiese literatuur en algemene temas binne distopiese literatuur (byvoorbeeld die beheer van die taal en media, die geskiedenis en ekologiese vraagstukke). In die bespreking word daar gewys op die ooreenkomste, maar ook die verskille, tussen die sewe Afrikaanse distopiese romans en tipiese distopiese werke. Daar word ook bespreek hoe die konteks van ʼn postkoloniale en postapartheid Suid-Afrika ʼn uniekheid verleen aan dié werke.

published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis analyzed Zakes Mda's The Heart of redness in the tradition of South African pastoral and counter-pastoral. It proposed that the novel is a hybrid of both African and European tradition and perspectives. It adduced Northrop Frye's theory of myth and archetypes in literature as a basis for study. It also analysed the novel in its use of irony.

'n Ondersoek na die armoede-diskoers en die uitings patriargie, bloedskande en apartheid in Triomf van Marlene Van Niekerk.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study seeks to understand the ways that environmental concerns and the phenomenon of oil production in the Niger Delta are captured in contemporary literary representations. In the thesis, I enlist several works, five poetry collections and a Nollywood video film, produced between 1998 and 2010, to investigate and analyse the different ways they engage with the effects of oil extraction as a form of violence that is not immediately apparent. Amitav Ghosh argues that representing something of such magnitude as oil modernity can only be done adequately through narratives of epic quality such as realist fiction or the historical novel. I move away from Ghosh’s assumptions to argue that the texts, poetry and video film have adequately captured the oil encounter, but not on a grand scale or through realist fiction. I situate Niger Delta representations of the oil encounter within the intellectual frame of petrocultures, a recent field of global study which explores the representational and critical domain within which oil is framed and imagined in culture. In their signification of what I call the “oil ontology”, that is, the very nature and existence of oil in the Delta, lived-experience in its actual quotidian specificity, takes precedence in the imagination of the writers that I study. I propose that the texts, in very different ways, articulate these experiences by concatenating social and environmental concerns with representations of the oil encounter to produce a petro-literary form which inflects and critiques the ways in which oil extraction, in all its social and environmental manifestations, inscribes a form of violence upon the landscape and human population in the oil sites of the Delta. I suggest that the texts articulate a place-based, place-specific form of petroculture. They emphasis the notion that the oil encounter in the Delta is not the official encounter at the point of extraction but rather the unofficial encounter with the side-effects of the oil extraction. The texts, in very different ways address similar concerns of violence as an intricate feature in the Delta, both as a physical, spectacular phenomenon and as a subtle, unseen category. They conceive of violence as a consequence of the various forms of intrusion and disruption that the logic of oil extraction instigates in the Niger Delta. I suggest that the form of eco-poetics that is articulated gives expression to environmental concerns which are marked off by an oily topos in the Delta. I maintain that in projecting an artistic vision that is sensitive to environmental and sociocultural questions, the writings that we encounter from this region also make critical commentary on the ontology of oil. The texts conceive the Niger Delta as one that provides the spatial and material template for envisioning the oil encounter and staging a critique of the essentially globalised space that is the site of oil production. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die maniere waarop omgewingsbelange en die instellings van olieproduksie in die Delta van die Niger-rivier vasgevang word in kontemporêre letterkundige voorstellings. In my tesis gebruik ek verskeie werke – vyf versamelings van gedigte en ‘n Nollywood [Nigeriese] video, almal geskep tussen 1998 en 2010 – om die verskillende wyses waarop hierdie tekste omgaan met die gevolge van olie-ontginning, as ‘n vorm van geweld wat nie onmiddellik opvallend is nie, na te vors en te analiseer. Amitav Ghosh argumenteer dat, om ‘n fenomeen van sulke geweldige omvang soos olie-moderniteit uit te beeld, slegs na behore uitgevoer kan word in narratiewe van epiese dimensies; byvoorbeeld realistiese fiksie of die historiese roman. Ek beweeg weg van Ghosh se aannames deur te argumenteer dat die tekste (gedigte en ‘n video-film) wel die olie-ervaring behoorlik vasvang, maar nie op groot skaal soos in realistiese fiksie nie. Ek plaas die Niger-Delta uitbeeldings van die olie-ervaring binne die groter raamwerk van Petro-kulture: ‘n nuwe studiegebied wat die voorstellings- en kritiese domein waarbinne olie gekonseptualiseer en kultureel verbeel(d) word, ondersoek. In hul voorstellings van die olie-ontologie van die Delta neem die ervaringswêreld in sy daaglikse werklikhede (in die gekose skrywers se uitbeelding daarvan) ‘n sentrale plek in. Ek konstateer dat die tekste, hoewel op heel uiteenlopende maniere, hierdie ervarings artikuleer deur sosiale en omgewings-oorwegings byeen te bring met uitbeeldings van die olie-ervaring ten einde ‘n petro-literêre vorm te skep wat die maniere waarop olie-ontginning, in al die sosiale en omgewings-effekte daarvan, ‘n vorm van geweld op die landskap en die menslike bevolking van die olie-ontginningsgebiede van die Delta inskryf, inflekteer en krities analiseer. Ek stel dit dat die tekste ‘n plek-gebaseerde en gebieds-spesifieke vorm van Petrokultuur artikuleer. Hulle benadruk die feit dat die olie-ervaring in die Delta nie die offisiële ontmoeting by die ontginningspunt is nie, maar eerder die onoffisiële ondervinding van die newe-effekte van die olie-ontginningsproses. Op hul verskillende wyses spreek die tekste ‘n ooreenstemmende besorgdheid uit aangaande die ingewikkelde rol wat geweld in die Delta speel – beide as ‘n fisiese, ooglopende fenomeen en as ‘n subtiele, ongesiene kategorie. Die tekste konseptualiseer geweld as seinde die gevolg van die verskeie vorme van ingryping en versteuring wat deur die logika van die olie-ontginningsproses in die Niger-Delta meegebring word. Ek suggereer dat die vorm van eko-poëtika wat hier geartikuleer word, uitdrukking gee aan omgewings-oorwegings wat in die Delta deur ‘n olie(rige) topos omgrens word. Ek maak die stelling dat, deur middle van ‘n artistieke visie wat gevoelig is vir omgewings-en sosiale vrae, die tekste wat in hierdie gebied ontstaan, kritiese kommentaar bied op die ontologie van olie. Die tekste verbeel die Niger-Delta as ‘n gebied wat die ruimtelike en materiële templaat voorsien om die olie-ervaring te visualiseer en te konseptualiseer, om sodoende ‘n kritiek te skep van die geglobaliseerde ruimte van olie-produksie.

This thesis aims to address the Greek attitude to their dream experience in the classical period, as it was conceived in theories and engaged with in dream practices. The emphasis is on the relationship between these elements and the wider cultural frames which surrounded them, in order both to illustrate the manner in which culture influences the conception of dreams, and also to use dreams themselves as a mirror to reflect parts of Greek culture. As a study it has been heavily shaped by the approaches to dreams developed by anthropologists, outlined in Chapter 2, who have emphasised the importance of studying dreams intra-culturally. In Chapter 3 I analyse the language that the Greeks used to express their dreaming experience, drawing from it the important way in which language was both determined by, and determined, the Greeks' understanding of the phenomenon. This forms a base for engaging with dream theories in Chapter 4, both the implicit allusions in literature and explicit explanations proposed by philosophers and medical writers. I then explore the theories at work within Greek culture via dreams as we see them active in the lived religion of the polis: I examine in Chapter 5 the dedications set up by individuals on account of spontaneous dreams, and in Chapter 6 the practice of incubation. I then turn to examine specific relationships: in Chapter 7, the association of dreams with status, i.e. the possibility that powerful people would have equally powerful dreams; in Chapter 8, dreams and gender, assessing the possibility that women considered their dreams to be more important than their male counterparts. In Chapter 9, I position dreams within the context of the other divinatory practices of the period, which allows us to see the unique ways in which dream practices functioned in comparison to the other divinatory forms.

This thesis considers some of the ways in which the sea was written about and written with in English nineteenth-century prose fiction. It has become a commonplace of literary criticism that, in the century preceding modernism, prose fiction about the sea was unthinking and uninteresting: indentured to outworn generic codes, tied to certain clichés of national identity, Empire, or slipshod sublimity, and vaguely evoking some or all of them. This thesis does not attempt a general contradiction of this view. What this thesis does suggest is that Victorian fiction is not always naïve about its subject and, at times, displays an awareness of the generic and stylistic hazards attendant upon writing about the sea. To write about the sea was to risk writing vaguely. However, to Victorian novelists who wished to draw on vagueness, the sea offered a subject and a style that could be put to use. The introduction sets out the terms of my discussion both of vagueness, and of the attitudes of Victorian writers and readers to the sea as a setting and theme for fiction. The terms of philosophical vagueness are compared with the nineteenth century’s most influential aesthetics of obscurity: the sublime. The purchase of these theories is then tested, first in relation to Ruskin’s lifelong interest in representing the sea in painting and prose, and second with reference to novels by George Eliot, Thackeray, and Gaskell. Prior critical approaches are also considered, as is the topic of empire, which I explain is not my primary focus. The body of the thesis is devoted primarily to three author studies: Frederick Marryat, Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad. Each author wrote vaguely about the sea, though vagueness is shown to be, in all three cases, a resource that can be drawn upon with degrees of self-consciousness; if, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, vague language was considered appropriate to the sea, the linguistic resources that the sea in turn offered began to seem increasingly applicable to experiences characterised by uncertainty. I suggest that the sea establishes conditions that invite a rereading of the many repetitions in Marryat’s novels. These repetitions can be viewed, I argue, as traces of Marryat’s struggle to find a language appropriate to the ocean. In Dickens’s writing, the sea is often present as a source both of metaphor and of experience. I suggest that the slippery doubleness of the literary sea is a means by which both Dickens’s characters, and the individuals he encounters as a journalist, can be made to coexist with their ideal or literary doubles. In my chapter on Conrad, I argue that the sea forms a crucial element of the kind of literary impressionism Conrad recommends in his preface to The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ (1897) and elsewhere. Vagueness arises when the border between linguistic concepts becomes blurred. Two short interludes, on the subject of shores and depths respectively, consider such permeable thresholds. These interludes also provide a means of charting changes that occurred across the period, a counterpoint to the more temporally specific focus of the author studies. I conclude with a brief discussion of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves (1931). Critics have distinguished the high modernist sea from what came before; this coda insists that the sort of vagueness valued by Woolf has an earlier origin.

Many critics not satisfied with explaining Moby-Dick in terms of the novel, have sough analogies in other literary genres. Most often parallels have been drawn from epic and dramatic literature. Critics have called Moby-Dick either an epic or a tragedy. After examining the evidence presented by both schools of thought, after establishing a workable definition of the epic and listing the most common epic devices, and after examining Moby-Dick in terms of this definition and discovering many of the epic devices in it, I propose the thesis that Melville has written an epic, not unlike the great epics of the past.

M.A. (African Languages) / The study looks at the socio-economic milieu, the socio-political milieu, the socio-economic themes and the socio-political themes in the three novels written by Sibusiso L. Nyembezi namely; Ubudoda Abukhulelwa, Mntanami-Mntanami and Inkinsela YaseMgungundlovu. The socio-political milieu and socio-economic milieu are viewed from the perspective of the Marxist Literary Theories. These theories are chosen to form the theoretical framework of this study because they best view man in relation to his sociopolitical circumstances and also in relation to the country's system of economic production. We observed that Nyembezi places his characters in real socioeconomic and socio-political circumstances. These in turn determine the thoughts, words, actions and fate of characters...