This research is premised on Armstrong's (1990:7) argument that „every interpretive approach reveals something only by disguising something else, which a competing method with a different assumption might disclose.‟ This statement indicates that preference or marginalisation of some literary theories impedes progress in African-language literary criticism because different literary theories tend to focus on one or a few selected aspects of a work art. This flows from the assumption that no literary theory can unearth all aspects and meanings of a literary text. This research comes against rigidity, conservatism and narrow-mindedness of those literary critics and scholars who refuse to open up and embrace literary theories which they are opposed to. The research is an attempt to demonstrate the benefit of flexibility and ability to accommodate even those opposing literary views that can make positive contribution in the field of African-language literary criticism. The research further calls for pragmatism, tolerance and co-existence of opposing literary views for the benefit of progress in the field of African-language literary criticism. This research is an acknowledgement of the fact that no literary theory is infallible because all literary theories have their own strong and weak points. In this research, a survey of literary approaches commonly applied in African-language criticism is conducted. This is followed by an analysis of a Tshivenḓa novel (i.e. A si ene) from different literary angles to prove that every literary theory can help to unmask a particular meaning of a literary text which no any other literary theory can do. For example, the intrinsic literary approaches will, most certainly, unlock the meaning of a literary text differently from the way the extrinsic literary theories do because diverse literary approaches focus on different aspects or elements of a work of art. This research is an endorsement of the argument that through multiple-reading of a literary text, readers‟ understanding of the same literary text is broadened and deepened. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil (African Languages)

This study is an interpretive analysis of Zimbabwean political auto/biographical narratives in contexts of changing culture, race, ethnicity and gender identity images of the self and nation. I used eclectic theories of postcolonialism to explore the fractured nature of both the processes of identity construction and narration, and the contradictions inherent in identity categories of nation and self. The problem of using autobiographical memory to recall the momentous events that formed the contradictory identities of self and nation in the creative imagination of the lives of Ian Smith, Maurice Nyagumbo, Abel Muzorewa, Joshua Nkomo, Doris Lessing, Fay Chung, Judith Garfield Todd, Tendai Westerhof and Lutanga Shaba have been highlighted. The study concluded that there are narrative and ideological disjunctures between experiencing life and narrating those experiences to create approximations of coherent identities of individual selves and those of the nation. The study argued that each of the stories analyzed in this study contributed a version of the multiple Zimbabwean narratives that no one story could ever tell without being contested by others. Thus the study explores how white Rhodesian auto/biographies depend on the imperial repertoire to construct varying, even contradicting, images of white identities and the Rhodesian nation, which are also contested by black nationalist life narratives. The narratives by women writers, both white and black, introduced further instabilities to the male authored narratives by moving beyond the conventional understanding of what is ‘political’ in political auto/biographies. The HIV and AIDS narratives by black women thrust into the public sphere personalized versions of self so that the political consequence of their inclusion was not only to image Zimbabwe as a diseased society, but one desperately in need of political solutions to confront the different pathologies inherited from colonialism and which also have continued in the post-independence period. / English Studies / (D. Litt. et Phil. (English))

The new dawn that brought about democracy in South Africa in 1994 and the social and political experiences have since changed the expectations of women’s roles in society. Literature is the important part of this experience because it mirrors and interprets the experience from the point of view of those who write about it. This study, therefore, attempts to examine the image of women in Xitsonga literature, to investigate whether there is a link in the expected cultural roles of Vatsonga women and their roles as characters in Xitsonga literature; and whether there is a shift in the way women characters are portrayed to represent the current social and political reality. The study employs African feminist literary criticism as a tool in critically analysing the various literary genres. It also adopts purposive sampling of Xitsonga novels, poetry and proverbs that have women characters in them and analyse how these women characters have been portrayed. The naming of female characters is examined in relation to their roles in the texts and the titles of the texts are also investigated and critically analysed to establish whether they portray any gender stereotypes. The themes of the selected texts are also examined to establish if there is any gender biasness. Both male and female-authored texts have been investigated to explore whether male authors depict women differently from their female counterparts. The study concludes that there is gender-biasness in the manner in which women characters are depicted that do not reflect the current political and social order, however, some women authors, unlike their male counterparts do not reflect gender-biasness in their depiction of female characters. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The aim of this study is to investigate the position that has been allocated to women authors by literary theorists. Some literary theorists are of the opinion that the action of writing can be compared to fatherhood, ownership and being a creator, all of which are male dominated images. Women writers have historically been marginalized by literary theorists, since there is a perception that women cannot write because they are not male. Harold Bloom has postulated that a male writer looks to a precursor in order to write and find his own voice. Before the writer can claim his own, original voice, he must enter into an Oedipal battle with the precusor, and, figuratively speaking, ‘kill’ him in his writing. According to Gilbert & Gubar, who serve here as representatives of the feminist literary theorists, women writers make use of monsterlike figures which serve as metaphors for the inner battle they have to endure to put pen to paper. The problem, however, is that women writers have no (female) precursors to look to. Elaine Showalter postulates 4 models that women writers may use in search of a female precursor or female body of writing, but she does not offer a clear solution. I am of the opinion that women writers can identity with a female figure or role model. The figure that I propose is Scheherazade, a storytelling character from the Thousand and One Nights, who told stories for a thousand and one nights in order for escape death. I identify a few texts from international literature that make use of this figure, whether as a character in the text, a metaphor for the female character who tells stories or as a metaphor for the author herself. This study focuses on texts from 3 genres in Afrikaans literature, namely children’s stories, short stories and a novel. It appears from the analysis of the texts that women writers have successfully made use of the Scheherazade character, to address issues concerning the social role and position allocated to women by a patriarchial society. Along with this women writers’ search and longing for a voice of their own and their own identity gets highlighted with the use of a Scheherazade-like female character who tells stories. Lastly it became clear that this figure is also being used by women writers to contemplate the dynamics of writing and to contextualise the role that self-doubt and self-actualisation play in telling and writing stories. Scheherazade thus becomes a vehicle for finding a voice as well as agency.

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / In this thesis I examine the Gothic elements in François Bloemof’s debut novel, Die nag het net een oog (1991). There are two reasons this novel can be seen as an exemplary text in Afrikaans: firstly, it contributes to a genre of which there are very few examples in Afrikaans, namely the Gothic novel. Secondly, it leads to a reevaluation of texts of C.J. Langenhoven, C. Louis Leipoldt and Marius Gie (pseudonym of Martha C Gieseke). Apart from a discussion of the Gothic novel in general and specifically Bloemhof’s novel, this thesis also examines his large oeuvre, constant focus on renewal and his position in the Afrikaans literary system. The Gothic novel is generally regarded as a form of popular literature. This aspect, together with the history, function, development and characteristics of the Gothic novel, is also looked at in the thesis in an attempt to contribute to the minimal theoretization on this subject in Afrikaans. Lastly I will discuss the Gothic elements in Bloemhof’ s debut novel. Die nag het net een oog has many of the characteristics of the earlier Gothic novels, but Bloemhof renews them by crossing over conventional boundaries. The heroine being the rescuer instead of the rescuee, is one such example. The study is concluded with short summarizing comments and suggestions for further study.

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the representation of the female subject in Marlene van Niekerk’s novel, Agaat (2004). The female subjects, Milla and Agaat, are the focus of this study. Both women are subjected to drastic situations, which not only influence their relationship, but also their respective identities. This turn of events lead up to a power struggle between Milla and Agaat, which eventually gets reversed throughout the course of the narrative. The focus is essentially on the complex structure of the novel, where a prologue and epilogue serve as a framework for the four different story lines, each with its own narrative technique. A number of theoretical approaches will be employed in order to explore the discussion of the female subject. The novel, which is presented throughout by a single narrator, leads the study to concepts such as representation, subjectivity and identity. In an attempt to understand “the other”, the central role of language and mirrors with regard to representation is explored. Van Niekerk’s reinvention and even subversion of the farm novel of the late twentieth century involves ideologies of the Afrikaner such as land and religion, gender, politics and culture. This strategy results in the focus on concepts like subjectivity and identity. Both these processes will be explored in an attempt to gain insight into the characters. Key elements such as displacement, substitution and revenge give momentum to the chain of events in the story and lead up to introspection by both women. It is especially Milla’s terminal illness that induces introspection and preparation, for both Milla and Agaat, towards death. The influence of all these events, Milla and Agaat’s mutual dependence on each other, as well as the way in which they position themselves in the face of death, prompt this study. This study explores the influence of these events on women, the power struggle that developed out of this and the way in which their respective roles are reversed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die representasie van die vroulike subjek in Marlene van Niekerk se roman Agaat (2004). Daar word gefokus op die twee vroue in die verhaal, Milla en Agaat. Beide vroue word aan ingrypende situasies onderwerp, wat ʼn invloed op hulle verhouding sowel as hulle onderskeie identiteite het. Hierdie gebeure lei tot ʼn magspel tussen Milla en Agaat, wat tydens die verloop van die verhaalgebeure volledig omgekeer word. Die fokus val eerstens op die roman se ingewikkelde vertelstruktuur waarin daar sprake is van ʼn pro- en epiloog as raamwerk waarbinne vier verhaallyne, elk met sy eie verteltegniek, gebruik word. ʼn Verskeidenheid teoretiese uitgangspunte word nagegaan ten einde die representasie van die vroulike subjek te ondersoek. Die roman, wat deurentyd uit die perspektief van een verteller aangebied word, lei die studie na ondersoekterreine soos representasie, subjektiwiteit en identiteit. Die sentrale rol van taal en spieëls ten opsigte van representasie en in die poging om die “ander” te kan verstaan, word nagegaan. Van Niekerk se herskrywing van die plaasroman in die laat twintigste eeu betrek op subtiele wyse die ideologieë van die Afrikaner rondom grond en religie, gender, politiek en kultuur. Dit lei tot die fokus op subjektiwiteit en identiteit. Beide hierdie prosesse word in die studie ondersoek ten einde begrip vir die karakters te probeer vind. Elemente soos verplasing, plaasvervangerskap en vergelding gee stukrag aan die verhaalgebeure en lei tot besinning by albei vroue. Dit is veral Milla se terminale siekte wat aanleiding gee tot bestekopname en voorbereiding op die dood. Die invloed van al dié gebeure en hoe twee vroue wat op mekaar aangewese is, hulleself posisioneer ten opsigte van die dood, gee aanleiding tot hierdie studie. Die studie onderneem om ondersoek in te stel na die invloed van gebeure by beide vroue, die magspel wat hieruit ontwikkel en hoe die rolle stelselmatig omruil in die verhaalgebeure.

Thesis (DLitt)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation I attempt to open up new perspectives on the literary qualities and the unity of Augustine's Confessions by reading the work in the light of the context within which it first functioned. Part 1, Prolegomena, consists of a survey of secondary literature (in chapter 1) that focuses on research on the literary characteristics of the work, followed by a theoretical exploration of the two aspects that constitute the focus of this study, the genre and the audience of the Confessions. Chapter 2.1 examines how the literary practices and generic conventions of late Antiquity should inform our reading of the work. This is achieved through a discussion of the implications of genre analysis in general (2.1.1), followed by an examination of the conventions of the ancient protreptic genre (2.1.2), a look at the parallels between the Confessions and three of its literary antecedents and between the Confessions and Augustine's Contra Academicos (2.1.3), and an evaluation of the perspectives offered on the unity of the work by this procedure (2.1.4). Chapter 2.2 starts with a discussion of the concept of intended audience (2.2.1) and proceeds to provide the background needed to follow the arguments on the specific segment of Augustine's audience that I consider here, the Manicheans (2.2.2). Part 2 of the dissertation consists of the analyses of selected passages but attempts at the same time to give an accurate account of how genre and intended audience are embodied in the text as a whole. In chapter 3 I show that Augustine's meditation on Ps 4 in the central section of the Confessions (9.4.8-11) is a protreptic that targets a Manichean audience (3.1) through Augustine's identification with this audience (3.2) and the prevalent use of Manichean terminology and categories (3.3). In chapter 4 I analyse in a more systematic way the expression of protreptic purpose through various devices throughout the Confessions: foreshadowing in the opening paragraph (4.1), the use of a shifting persona (4.2), allusion to Matt 7:7 (4.3), and the theme of the protreptic power of reading and listening (4.5). I evaluate how pervasive the expression of protreptic intent is (4.4) and end with an examination of the protreptic-paraenetic purpose of the first section of the allegorical exposition of the creation story in book 13 (4.6). Chapter 5 examines the degree to which the Manicheans are targeted by the text as a whole as an important segment of its intended audience. I examine the use of the theme of friendship to evoke Augustine's erstwhile Manichean friendships and the history of failed communication with this group (5.1), the role Augustine intends curiositas to play in coaxing the Manicheans into reading yet another attempt to convert them (5.2), and once again how pervasive the concerns with a Manichean audience is (5.3). I conclude this chapter, like the previous one, with an analysis of the last section of the allegory in book 13, where I discern towards the end an intensification of indications that Augustine is preoccupied with his Manichean audience (5.4). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif probeer om nuwe perspektief te bied op die literêre eienskappe en die eenheid van Augustinus se Confessiones deur die werk te lees in die lig van die konteks waarbinne dit aanvanklik gefunksioneer het. Deel 1, Prolegomena, is In oorsig oor die sekondêre literatuur (in hoofstuk 1) wat fokus op studies van die literêre tegnieke in die werk, gevolg deur In teoretiese verkenning van die twee aspekte wat die fokuspunt van die studie vorm, naamlik die genre en die gehoor van die Confessiones. Hoofstuk 2 ondersoek hoe literêre praktyke en genre-verwante konvensies van die laat Antieke die lees van die werk behoort te beïnvloed. Dit word gedoen aan die hand van In bespreking van die implikasies van genre-analise in die algemeen (2.1.1), gevolg deur In oorsig oor die konvensies van die antieke protreptiese genre (2.1.2), In bespreking van die paraIIele tussen die Confessiones en drie literêre voorlopers daarvan asook tussen die Confessiones en Augustinus se Contra Academicos (2.1.3) en In evaluering van die perspektiewe wat hierdie werkwyse bied op die eenheid van die werk (2.1.4). Hoofstuk 2.2 behels In bespreking van die konsep teikengehoor (2.2.1), gevolg deur In opsomming van die agtergrondinligting wat nodig is om die argumente oor die spesifieke segment van Augustinus se gehoor wat hier oorweeg word (die Manicheërs), te volg (2.2.2). Deel 2 van die proefskrif bestaan uit die analises van geselekteerde passasies maar probeer terselfdertyd om In getroue weergawe te bied van hoe genre en gehoor in die teks as geheel beliggaam word. Hoofstuk 3 toon dat Augustinus se oordenking van Ps 4 in die sentrale gedeelte van die Confessiones (9.4.8-11) In protreptiese werk gerig op In Manichese gehoor is (3.1). Augustinus vereenslewig hom met sy teikengehoor (3.2) en gebruik deurgaans Manichese terminologie en kategorieë (3.3). Hoofstuk 4 ondersoek hoe die protreptiese doelwit in die Confessiones uitgedruk word deur die gebruik van verskeie tegnieke: voorafskaduing in die aanvangsparagraaf (4.1), die gebruik van In verskuiwende persona (4.2), verwysing na Matt 7:7 (4.3) en die tema van die protreptiese uitwerking van lees en luister (4.5). Ek evalueer hoe verteenwoordigend ten opsigte van die geheel die uitdrukking van die protreptiese doelwit is (4.4) en sluit met In analise van die protrepties-paranetiese funksie van die eerste deel van die allegoriese interpretasie van die skeppingsverhaal in boek 13 (4.6). Hoofstuk 5 ondersoek die mate waarin die teks as geheel die Manicheërs as die teikengehoor van die werk aandui. Dit toon hoe Augustinus die tema van vriendskap gebruik om sy vroeëre Manichese vriendskappe op te roep en verwys na die geskiedenis van onsuksesvolle kommunikasie met hierdie groep (5.1); dit toon hoe curiositas 'n rol speel om die Manicheërs oor te haalom nog 'n poging om hulle te bekeer te lees (5.2) asook hoe verteenwoordigend ten opsigte van die geheel die bemoeienis met 'n Manichese gehoor is (5.3). Die hoofstuk sluit af, soos die vorige een, met 'n analise (nou van die tweede deel) van die allegorie in boek 13, met klem op die sterker wordende aanduidings dat Augustinus hier 'n Manichese gehoor in die oog het (5.4).

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Jack-Alain Léger committed suicide on 17 July 2013 at the age of 66, leaving behind him a large amount of work that has not formed the object of any academic study, not even partially. Many articles have been written about the author but none about his novels. Léger was especially known for his multitude of pseudonyms, his manic-depressive tendencies, his conflicts with all his editors, his homosexuality, the controversy linked to the alias Paul Smaïl or for his Islamophobia, his hatred towards his biological father and towards an alleged brother who died before his birth but also for his literary talent, his wide erudition and his brilliant and provocative mind. Underneath these characteristics hides an author whose work, that appears incoherent at first sight, reflects a profound reflection on the aesthetic, the essence and the ultimate purpose of art. Although Léger’s art involves the domain of aestheticism, it is also intended to subvert and oppose a society that limits imagination and individual potential by imposing a uniform identity. In this way, Léger illustrates in all his works the separation and alienation of the self through the dead child motive, emphasizing his refusal to acknowledge having been born as an alienated self. Lost in the ambiguity of an image that had not been received by society, Léger wanders in the infinite game of mirrors like Narcissus searching for an ideal self and an ideal beauty in the lake’s waters where he gazes upon his reflection. In this multidisciplinary research, I will study the entirety of Léger’s work in the light of the notion of narcissism and the multiple reflections that it includes. The narcissistic force that serves as a fermenting agent for the creation of Léger’s work is developed through a literary, sociological, psychoanalytical and philosophical interpretation. The final chapter discusses the elements these different perspectives have in common and they are drawn together in the concept of tertiary narcissism, as a mechanism of self-protection and self-recreation which is, however, not without danger as revealed in the tale of Narcissus. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Jack-Alain Léger het op 17 Julie 2013 in die ouderdom van 66 selfmoord gepleeg. Hy laat ‘n talryke oeuvre agter wat nog nie die onderwerp gevorm het van ‘n akademiese ondersoek nie, selfs nie gedeeltelik nie. Die skrywer word wel dikwels genoem in artikels en tekste maar nie sy werk nie. Léger was veral bekend vir sy verskeidenheid pseudonieme, sy bipolêre tendense, gedurige konflik met sy uitgewers, sy homoseksualiteit, die polemiek rondom die gebruik van die pseudoniem Paul Smaïl of sy Islamofobie, die haat vir sy pa en vir ‘n putatiewe broer wat voor geboorte dood is – maar ook vir sy literêre talent, sy uitgebreide kennis en sy briljante uitdagende gees. Onder al hierdie eienskappe is daar egter ook ‘n skrywer waarvan die oeuvre met die eerste oogopslag onsamehangend mag voorkom maar in werklikheid ‘n diep besinning inhou oor estetika, die essensie en die einddoel van kuns. Alhoewel Léger se kuns raak aan die veld van estetika, is die bedoeling daarvan ook subversief en gemik teen ‘n samelewing wat die verbeelding probeer hok slaan en die individu se potensiaal beperk deur die oplegging van ‘n eenvormige identiteit. Só illustreer Léger in sy werk die afsondering en die vervreemding van die self deur die motief van die dooie kind ; die versinnebeelding van sy weiering om gebore te word as ‘n vervreemde self. Verlore in die dubbelsinnigheid van ‘n beeld wat nie deur die samelewing ontvang kon word nie, dwaal Léger tussen die oneindige spel van spieëls soos Narcissus wat ‘n ideaal soek van homself en van skoonheid in die water van die meer waarin hy staar na sy beeld. Hierdie multidissiplinêre studie ondersoek Léger se oeuvre in sy geheel in die lig van die begrip van narcissisme en die veelvoudige weerspieëlings daarvan. Die narcissistiese krag as gis vir Léger se kreatiewe werk word ingeknie in ‘n literêre, sosiologiese, psigoanalitiese en filosofiese ontleding. In die laaste hoofstuk, bespreek ek dit wat hierdie verskillende perspektiewe in gemeen het en verwerk dit deur die konsep van ‘n tersiêre narcissisme, ‘n meganisme van beskerming en selfherskepping want nietemin ook sy eie gevaar inhou, soos dit onthul word in die verhaal van Narcissus. / RESUME: Jack-Alain Léger qui s’est donné la mort le 17 juillet 2013 à l’âge de 66 ans laisse derrière lui une oeuvre considérable qui n’a pas - même partiellement - fait l’objet d’études. Bien des articles ont été écrits sur l’auteur même mais aucun sur ses romans. Léger était surtout connu pour sa multitude de pseudonymes, sa tendance maniaco-dépressive, ses conflits avec tous ses éditeurs, son homosexualité, les controverses liées au pseudonyme de Paul Smaïl ou à son islamophobie, sa haine de son géniteur et d’un frère putatif mort avant sa naissance mais aussi pour son talent littéraire, son érudition, son esprit brillant et provocateur. Au-delà de ces attributs se dissimule un écrivain dont l’oeuvre qui paraît au premier abord incohérente reflète une réflexion profonde sur l’esthétique, sur l’essence et les finalités de l’art. Si l’art de Léger touche au domaine de l’esthétisme, il se veut aussi subversif et s’oppose à une société qui restreint l’imagination et les potentialités de chacun en imposant une uniformisation de l’identité. Léger illustre ainsi dans toute son oeuvre la séparation et l’aliénation du moi par le motif de l’enfant mort soulignant son refus de naître à un moi aliéné. Perdu dans l’ambiguïté d’une image qui n’a pas été capturée par le social, Léger erre dans le jeu infini des miroirs tel Narcisse qui cherche un idéal de soi et de beauté dans l’eau du lac où il se mire. Cette recherche multidisciplinaire explore l’intégralité de l’oeuvre de cet auteur à la lumière de la notion du narcissisme et des multiples reflets que celui-ci englobe. La force narcissique en tant que ferment du travail de création de Léger sera mise en valeur par l’interprétation littéraire, sociologique, psychanalytique et philosophique. Au chapitre final, je relèverai ce que ces différentes perspectives analytiques ont soulevé de commun et synthétiserai cela par le concept du narcissisme tertiaire, un mécanisme de protection et de recréation de soi qui n’est cependant pas sans danger comme nous le révèle le conte de Narcisse.

Thesis (DLitt (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation studies the depiction of character subjectivity in two text series of Alexander Strachan and Breyten Breytenbach. Strachan’s first three prose works are dealt with as a trilogy wherein one main character, Lenka, traverses three texts. Breytenbach’s five autobiographical prose works about visits to South Africa are also dealt with as a text series wherein one main character, Breytenbach, is depicted. In both instances the subjectivity, as portrayed by these authors, is read as a nomadic subjectivity, a term borrowed from the French thinkers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The study assumes the form of a Deleuze-Guattarian reading of Strachan and Breytenbach’s work with a sustained focus on the depiction of the nomadic subject in the works of both authors. During the course of the study many philosophical concepts, developed in the work of Deleuze and Guattari, are explained and implemented as thinking and reading instruments whereby the prose texts are read in a new perspective. Although a Deleuze-Guattarian reading of prose texts is a relatively uncharted territory in circles of Afrikaans literary theory, this study purports to indicate that when a schizo-analytical view of subjectivity is used to analyse the functioning of character subjectivity within literary works, the texts gain new life in interesting ways. Using the concept of the nomadic subject empowers me to establish a useful reading strategy for the reading of a character who refuses to become wholly subjected to the text and the world within which he lives and who rather experiences an existence of perpetual becomings. Eventually it is suggested that the creation of a nomadic character is not only dependent upon a different grasp of subjectivity as indicated in the text, but that the writing of a particular, revolutionary form of literature, a minor literature, is implied. The nomadic subject’s being implies perpetual becomings, and a successful literary portrayal of this subject must depict such becomings at stylistic and formal levels. This study moves systematically from an analysis of nomadic subjects in literary texts to the more general question of how a minor literature functions so that the nomadic being of the character is also kept alive in the form and style of the text.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis contains the results of an investigation into constructions of cultural identity in recent works of short fiction written in Afrikaans. The investigation was conducted within the framework of postcolonial literary theory, with specific reference to the work ofHomi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Vijay Mishra and Bob Hodge. The conceptual apparatus concerning postcolonial reconstruction of cultural identities in reaction to the discourse of colonialism were applied to certain Afrikaans short stories to establish to what extent these texts could be considered a '<writing back" to the colonial discourse of Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. The research focused on texts that had been published after 1994, being the date of the first democratic elections in South Africa, but also investigated their relation to certain literary traditions that preceded this date. From the Afrikaans short stories that were read within a postcolonial framework, it could be concluded that Afrikaans literature after 1994 could still be read in terms of what Mishra and Hodge (1994) called a fused postcolonial, a typification that according to Viljoen (1996) was applicable to the Afrikaans literature of before 1994. The cultural identity that was constructed in these texts showed similarities with the two moments of cultural reconstruction that Hall (1992) mentioned, namely either a strategic essentialism of the colonized subject or a hybridized cultural identity as the result of an ongoing, dynamic process of negotiation in a Third Space as Bhabha (1994) pointed out. A discourse of resistance against new forms of cultural imperialism, arising from a broader disillusion with the perceived dystopia of post-colonial South Africa, could also be inferred from certain Afrikaans short stories that have appeared since 1994. As far as a renewed undermining of imperialising tendencies is concerned, these texts can therefore be considered a continuation of the dissidence that has been characteristic of Afrikaans literature for several decades. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif bevat die resultate van 'n ondersoek na konstruksies van kulturele identiteit in onlangse kortverhale in Afrikaans. Die ondersoek is gedoen binne die raamwerk van die postkoloniale literêre teorie, met spesifieke verwysing na die werk van Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Vijay Mishra en Bob Hodge. Konseptuele apparatuur rakende postkoloniale herkonstruksie van kulturele identiteit in reaksie op diskoerse van kolonialisme, is toegepas op bepaalde Afrikaanse kortverhale om vas te stel in watter mate hierdie tekste beskou kon word as 'n terugskrywing teen die koloniale diskoers van Afrikanernasionalisme en apartheid. Die navorsing het gefokus op tekste wat gepubliseer is na 1994, die datum van die eerste demokratiese verkiesings in Suid- Afrika, maar het ook hul verhouding ondersoek tot sekere literêre tradisies wat hierdie datum voorafgegaan het. Uit die Afrikaanse kortverhale wat gelees is binne 'n postkoloniale raamwerk, is daar tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die Afrikaanse letterkunde na 1994 steeds gelees kan word in terme van wat Mishra en Hodge (1994) 'n "saamgestelde postkolonialisme" genoem het, 'n tipering wat volgens Viljoen (1996) toepasbaar was op die Afrikaanse letterkunde van voor 1994. Die kulturele identiteit wat gekonstrueer is in hierdie tekste toon ooreenkomste met die twee momente van kulturele herkonstruksie waarna Hall (1992) verwys, naamlik enersyds 'n strategiese essensialisme van die gekoloniseerde subjek en andersyds 'n gehibridiseerde kulturele identiteit as die gevolg van 'n voortgaande, dinamiese proses van onderhandeling in wat Bhabha (1994) 'n Derde Ruimte genoem het. 'n Diskoers van weerstand teen wat ervaar word as nuwe vorme van kulturele imperialisme, voortspruitend uit 'n breër ontnugtering met wat beskou word as 'n distopiese post-koloniale Suid-Afrika, kon ook afgelei word uit sekere Afrikaanse kortverhale wat sedert 1994 verskyn het. Wat betref 'n hernieude ondermyning van imperialiserende tendense kan hierdie tekste daarom gesien word as 'n voortsetting van die tradisie van weerstand wat die Afrikaanse literatuur dekades lank reeds kenmerk.