Die erkenning van verskille tussen alle leerders en die strewe om te bou op die ooreenkomste is die grondslag waarop inklusiewe onderwys berus. Verder word daar altyd in ag geneem dat alle leerders op die een of ander tydstip ondersteuning benodig om volle waarde uit onderwys te put. Die onderwysstelsel in die inklusiewe bestel is reeds besig met aanpassings om hierdie ondersteuning aan te spreek, soos dat spesiale skole as hulpbronne dien vir ander hoofstroomskole in hul omgewing. Die skep van voldiensskole is ook ’n aanpassing aan die stelsel. Suid-Afrika beweeg na ’n meer inklusiewe onderwysstelsel, terwyl leerders terselfdertyd ook tussen verskillende stelsels beweeg, naamlik die hoofstroomonderwysstelsel wat merendeels inklusief is in soverre dit lae en matige vlakke van leerderondersteuning betref, en die spesiale onderwysstelsel wat voorsiening maak vir hoër vlakke van leerderondersteuning. Sommige leerders bevind hulle dus in ’n oorgang tussen stelsels. Derhalwe het ek die teoretiese raamwerke van die oorgangsteorie en die liminaliteitsteorie gebruik om die oorgang van leerders van een stelsel na ’n ander stelsel te ondersoek. Oorgang word beskryf volgens die rigting waarin die oorgang beweeg – horisontaal tussen spesifieke omgewings in dieselfde tydperk, en vertikaal tussen verskillende omgewings en oor ’n tydperk. Die oorgang van leerders van ’n hoofstroomklas na ’n klas vir leerders met spesiale onderwysbehoeftes (LSOB-klas) in ’n spesifieke voldiensskool is ’n horisontale beweging, aangesien dit in dieselfde omgewing (dieselfde skool) geskied en dit geskied in dieselfde tydperk waartydens hulle portuurgroep in die hoofstroomklas bly. Leerders met leerhindernisse in so ’n voldiensskool word, as gevolg van die graad van hulle hindernisse, onder sekere voorwaardes by sekere skole na ’n LSOB-klas in hulle skool verskuif. Hierdie klasse dien as ’n tussentydse maatreël totdat leerders weer in ’n hoofstroomklas teruggeplaas kan word. Die vraag hoe leerders die oorgang na sulke klasse ervaar, is in hierdie navorsing ondersoek. Die navorsing is gedoen by ’n voldiensskool in Potchefstroom in die Noordwesprovinsie, wat as gevolg van die graad van sommige leerders se leerhindernisse drie LSOB-klasse het. Onderhoude is gevoer met nege huidige en nege vorige onderwysers van nege geselekteerde deelnemers wat leerders in die LSOB-klasse (drie deelnemers uit elke klas) in die voldiensskool was. Onderhoude is ook met die ouers van die nege deelnemers gevoer. Drie fokusgroeponderhoude is met elke LSOB-klas se geselekteerde leerders gevoer. Alle onderhoude is getranskribeer, gekodeer en ontleed deur middel van tematiese analise. Die bevindings van die empiriese studie is verdeel in intrapersoonlike en interpersoonlike faktore. Hierdie faktore is verder in verskillende temas verdeel. Die intrapersoonlike faktore het die volgende temas ingesluit: Emosionele ontwikkeling; groepsdruk; selfbeeld en selfvertroue; gevoel van verlies; ’n oorgang wat traumaties, senutergend, verwarrend en vol spanning en angs was en aggressie ontlok het; vlak van sekuriteit; en vermoë om sy of haar man te staan in moeilike situasies. Die interpersoonlike faktore het die volgende ingesluit: Sosiale vaardighede, verlies van vriende, verlies van sosiale status, en die gevoel dat die oorgang na ’n LSOB-klas net tydelik is. Hierdie studie het ’n belangrike bydrae gelewer tot die bestaande kennisbasis betreffende die verskuiwing van leerders na LSOB-klasse en die aspekte wat ’n invloed het op hierdie oorgang. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Die erkenning van verskille tussen alle leerders en die strewe om te bou op die ooreenkomste is die grondslag waarop inklusiewe onderwys berus. Verder word daar altyd in ag geneem dat alle leerders op die een of ander tydstip ondersteuning benodig om volle waarde uit onderwys te put. Die onderwysstelsel in die inklusiewe bestel is reeds besig met aanpassings om hierdie ondersteuning aan te spreek, soos dat spesiale skole as hulpbronne dien vir ander hoofstroomskole in hul omgewing. Die skep van voldiensskole is ook ’n aanpassing aan die stelsel. Suid-Afrika beweeg na ’n meer inklusiewe onderwysstelsel, terwyl leerders terselfdertyd ook tussen verskillende stelsels beweeg, naamlik die hoofstroomonderwysstelsel wat merendeels inklusief is in soverre dit lae en matige vlakke van leerderondersteuning betref, en die spesiale onderwysstelsel wat voorsiening maak vir hoër vlakke van leerderondersteuning. Sommige leerders bevind hulle dus in ’n oorgang tussen stelsels. Derhalwe het ek die teoretiese raamwerke van die oorgangsteorie en die liminaliteitsteorie gebruik om die oorgang van leerders van een stelsel na ’n ander stelsel te ondersoek. Oorgang word beskryf volgens die rigting waarin die oorgang beweeg – horisontaal tussen spesifieke omgewings in dieselfde tydperk, en vertikaal tussen verskillende omgewings en oor ’n tydperk. Die oorgang van leerders van ’n hoofstroomklas na ’n klas vir leerders met spesiale onderwysbehoeftes (LSOB-klas) in ’n spesifieke voldiensskool is ’n horisontale beweging, aangesien dit in dieselfde omgewing (dieselfde skool) geskied en dit geskied in dieselfde tydperk waartydens hulle portuurgroep in die hoofstroomklas bly. Leerders met leerhindernisse in so ’n voldiensskool word, as gevolg van die graad van hulle hindernisse, onder sekere voorwaardes by sekere skole na ’n LSOB-klas in hulle skool verskuif. Hierdie klasse dien as ’n tussentydse maatreël totdat leerders weer in ’n hoofstroomklas teruggeplaas kan word. Die vraag hoe leerders die oorgang na sulke klasse ervaar, is in hierdie navorsing ondersoek. Die navorsing is gedoen by ’n voldiensskool in Potchefstroom in die Noordwesprovinsie, wat as gevolg van die graad van sommige leerders se leerhindernisse drie LSOB-klasse het. Onderhoude is gevoer met nege huidige en nege vorige onderwysers van nege geselekteerde deelnemers wat leerders in die LSOB-klasse (drie deelnemers uit elke klas) in die voldiensskool was. Onderhoude is ook met die ouers van die nege deelnemers gevoer. Drie fokusgroeponderhoude is met elke LSOB-klas se geselekteerde leerders gevoer. Alle onderhoude is getranskribeer, gekodeer en ontleed deur middel van tematiese analise. Die bevindings van die empiriese studie is verdeel in intrapersoonlike en interpersoonlike faktore. Hierdie faktore is verder in verskillende temas verdeel. Die intrapersoonlike faktore het die volgende temas ingesluit: Emosionele ontwikkeling; groepsdruk; selfbeeld en selfvertroue; gevoel van verlies; ’n oorgang wat traumaties, senutergend, verwarrend en vol spanning en angs was en aggressie ontlok het; vlak van sekuriteit; en vermoë om sy of haar man te staan in moeilike situasies. Die interpersoonlike faktore het die volgende ingesluit: Sosiale vaardighede, verlies van vriende, verlies van sosiale status, en die gevoel dat die oorgang na ’n LSOB-klas net tydelik is. Hierdie studie het ’n belangrike bydrae gelewer tot die bestaande kennisbasis betreffende die verskuiwing van leerders na LSOB-klasse en die aspekte wat ’n invloed het op hierdie oorgang. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Hierdie studie stel ondersoek in na die voorkoms en funksie van spookkarakters in die roman-oeuvre van Etienne van Heerden, een van Afrikaanse letterkunde se mees bekroonde skrywers. Die doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel watter funksies die spookkarakters in onderskeidelik Toorberg (1986), Die Stoetmeester (1993) en Die swye van Mario Salviati (2000) vervul, en ook of die spookkarakters in hierdie romans ʼn groter funksie buiten dié in hul onderskeie tekste vervul wat nuwe lig kan werp op Etienne van Heerden se hantering van identiteit (ʼn tema wat deurlopend in sy oeuvre na vore kom). Die ondersoek word hoofsaaklik aan die hand van teks- en romananalise gedoen. Die spookkarakters in die betrokke romans word geklassifiseer aan die hand van teorie uit die paranormale wetenskap. Alhoewel die spookkarakters en die tersaaklike romans nie genregebonde gelees word nie, word teorie uit karakterstudies, identiteitstudies, spookstories, die Gotiese, die magiese realisme, die postkolonialisme, die historiese roman en liminaliteitsteorie in die bespreking betrek. Dit word geargumenteer dat die spookkarakters in Toorberg die prototipiese, manlike Afrikaneridentiteit vergestalt en dit deur middel van uitsluiting (eksklusiwiteit) in stand hou; dat die spookkarakter in Die Stoetmeester ʼn liminale figuur in ʼn liminale historiese tydperk vergestalt, en derhalwe ʼn liminale weergawe van Afrikaneridentiteit uitbeeld; en dat die spookkarakters in Die swye van Mario Salviati ʼn meer inklusiewe (Suid-)Afrikaanse identiteit uitbeeld deur identiteite in die Suid-Afrikaanse verlede wat voorheen misken is, in spesifieke spookkarakters te vergestalt. Deur die individuele spookkarakters as verteenwoordigend van groepsidentiteite te lees binne die bepaalde historiese konteks waarin die romans afspeel en gepubliseer is, word daar ten slotte aangevoer dat die spookkarakters in die roman-oeuvre van Etienne van Heerden ʼn evolusie van Afrikaner- na Suid-Afrikaanse identiteit uitbeeld. / PhD (Afrikaans and Dutch), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Hierdie studie stel ondersoek in na die voorkoms en funksie van spookkarakters in die roman-oeuvre van Etienne van Heerden, een van Afrikaanse letterkunde se mees bekroonde skrywers. Die doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel watter funksies die spookkarakters in onderskeidelik Toorberg (1986), Die Stoetmeester (1993) en Die swye van Mario Salviati (2000) vervul, en ook of die spookkarakters in hierdie romans ʼn groter funksie buiten dié in hul onderskeie tekste vervul wat nuwe lig kan werp op Etienne van Heerden se hantering van identiteit (ʼn tema wat deurlopend in sy oeuvre na vore kom). Die ondersoek word hoofsaaklik aan die hand van teks- en romananalise gedoen. Die spookkarakters in die betrokke romans word geklassifiseer aan die hand van teorie uit die paranormale wetenskap. Alhoewel die spookkarakters en die tersaaklike romans nie genregebonde gelees word nie, word teorie uit karakterstudies, identiteitstudies, spookstories, die Gotiese, die magiese realisme, die postkolonialisme, die historiese roman en liminaliteitsteorie in die bespreking betrek. Dit word geargumenteer dat die spookkarakters in Toorberg die prototipiese, manlike Afrikaneridentiteit vergestalt en dit deur middel van uitsluiting (eksklusiwiteit) in stand hou; dat die spookkarakter in Die Stoetmeester ʼn liminale figuur in ʼn liminale historiese tydperk vergestalt, en derhalwe ʼn liminale weergawe van Afrikaneridentiteit uitbeeld; en dat die spookkarakters in Die swye van Mario Salviati ʼn meer inklusiewe (Suid-)Afrikaanse identiteit uitbeeld deur identiteite in die Suid-Afrikaanse verlede wat voorheen misken is, in spesifieke spookkarakters te vergestalt. Deur die individuele spookkarakters as verteenwoordigend van groepsidentiteite te lees binne die bepaalde historiese konteks waarin die romans afspeel en gepubliseer is, word daar ten slotte aangevoer dat die spookkarakters in die roman-oeuvre van Etienne van Heerden ʼn evolusie van Afrikaner- na Suid-Afrikaanse identiteit uitbeeld. / PhD (Afrikaans and Dutch), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Die doel van die navorsing is om vas te stel of liminale prosesse, drumpeloorgange en transformasie deur die verskuiwing van sosiogeografiese omgewing teweeggebring word. Vir die terreinverkenning van die term liminaliteit word gebruik gemaak van die teorië van antropoloë Arnold van Gennep en Victor Turner en word getoon dat die term liminaliteit al hoe meer vryelik in velde buite die antropologie gebruik word. Die toepasbaarheid van die drie fases (pre-liminaire, liminaire en post-liminaire) van die rites de passage en die heropname in die communitas word met betrekking tot die letterkunde toegelig. Die ondersoek van die konsep liminaliteit word ten opsigte van literêre karakters gedoen aan die hand van die oorsake en dryfvere wat tot liminale prosesse lei, asook die uitwerking van daardie prosesse op die geestelike instelling van die verskillende hoofkarakters in die romans ’n Ander land van Karel Schoeman, Die son kom aan die seekant op van Jeanette Ferreira, Lang skaduwees in Afrika van Connie Luyt en die ongepubliseerde roman Paul Roux van die kandidaat self. Die verskillende elemente (dryfvere, karakterisering, milieus, drumpeloorgange en transformasies) wat tot liminale situasies bydra, word behandel. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die verskillende elemente dui op die roete wat na die rites de passage toe kan lei. Navorsingsartikels en essays wat die tussenruimtes en oorskryding van grense in verskillende publikasies bespreek, word gebruik om die ondersoek toe te lig. Besprekings van Louise Viljoen (Woordwerk van Breyten Breytenbach), Adéle Nel (Lykdigte en Ruggespraak van Joan Hambidge), Heilna du Plooy (Niggie van Ingrid Winterbach), Dorothea van Zyl (Vaselinetjie van Anoeschka von Meck), Marlies Taljaard (Kleur kom nooit alleen nie van Antjie Krog) is hiervoor aangewend. Daar word ook na ekspat-literatuur soos dié van Laurens van der Post, Breyten Breytenbach en Gérard Rudolf verwys. Dit is ’n vrugbare tegniek om literêre karakters vanuit Van Gennep en Turner se teorieë te ontleed. Soos wat die konsep liminaliteit toenemend gebruik en toegepas word, sal dit ook meer in die literatuur aangewend word, veral in die werk van ekspatskrywers. Wat hierdie bevindings betref, kan ’n mens begin gis oor die Afrikaanse diaspora-letterkunde wat ’n nuwe communitas vir drumpelfigure geskep het. Die gemeenskaplike kreatiewe energie in hierdie liminale sone kan as bewusmaking dien en sodoende verandering teweegbring. ENGLISH : The purpose of the research is to determine whether liminal processes, threshold crossings or transformation can be brought about by the changing of socio-geographical environment. For the exploration of the term liminality the theories of anthropologists Arnold Van Gennep en Victor Turner are used and it is shown that the term is increasingly used in other fields. The applicability of the three phases (preliminaire, liminaire and post-liminaire) of the rites de passage and the reentering of the structural realm, the communitas, is enlightened with the help of literature. The analysis of the concept liminality regarding these literary characters is done by causes and motivations that lead to liminal processes, as well as the effect of those processes on the spiritual/mental inclination of the characters in the novels ’n Ander land by Karel Schoeman, Die son kom aan die seekant op by Jeanette Ferreira, Lang skaduwees in Afrika by Connie Luyt and the candidate’s unpublished novel Paul Roux. Different elements (motivation, characteristics, milieu, thresholds and transformation) that lead to liminal phases, are discussed. It was found that the different elements indicate the route leading to the rites de passage. Applicable essays and articles regarding the liminal phases and transgression of borders in different publications are explored to explain the analysis. Research articles and essays focusing on the phases leading to the rites de passage used for this analysis are those by Louise Viljoen (Woordwerk of Breyten Breytenbach), Adéle Nel (Lykdigte en Ruggespraak of Joan Hambidge), Heilna du Plooy (Niggie by Ingrid Winterbach), Dorothea van Zyl (Vaselinetjie by Anoeschka von Meck) and Marlies Taljaard (Kleur kom nooit alleen nie by Antjie Krog). Reference is also made to the ex-pat literature of Laurens van der Post, Breyten Breytenbach and Gérard Rudolf. Applying Van Gennep and Turner’s theories for the analysis of literary characters is fruitful. As the concept liminality is used and applied increasingly, it will become more relevant in literature, especially in the work of expat writers. Regarding the findings, one can speculate about the ‘diaspora’ literature in Afrikaans that created a new communitas for threshold figures. The communal creative energy in this liminal zone can be effective as to an awakening that can bring about change. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Afrikaans / unrestricted

This dissertation presents an investigation into three works by the South African artist Pauline Gutter (b. 1980) that were originally shown in her exhibition Opslag (2008) [this title is almost impossible to translate; it can refer to the sound of a gun, or it can mean to butcher something; it has an association of suddenness]. The works that were selected for scrutiny in this dissertation are Uit die blou van onse hemel [translated as From our blue skies; or Ringing out of our blue heaven – the first words of the erstwhile South African anthem] (2004), Into the landscape I (2007), and Landskap naby Zastron [Landscape close by Zastron] (2006). The choice of works was based on the particular mode of and imaginative re-presentation of the landscape that can be discerned in each of these works – different, yet conceptually quite similar. I argue that Gutter‟s landscape works in the exhibition Opslag (as representative of the thematic concerns of the show as a whole) are indicative of an imaginative re-presentation of a liminal experience (which is informed to a large degree by the artist‟s acute awareness of the threat posed by cruel and rampant attacks on the farming community). This liminal experience, as embodied in the artworks, is in its turn a reflection of the liminal existence as lived and interpreted by the artist‟s perception of her environment and community – speficially, the Boer farming community of South Africa, and even more specificially, in the Free State Province. Those aspects of a liminal experience that can be gleaned from a reading of the selected works Uit die blou van onse hemel, Into the landscape, and Landskap naby Zastron, are powerlessness, instability, the transitory shift of status, disorientation, isolation, marginalisation, and uncertainty. I argue, furthermore, that the imaginative re-presentation of the liminal experience is achieved by means of certain strategies and approaches towards landscape painting that are associated with the sublime. Where the sublime, in the context of the re-presentation of the landscape is often associated with a sense of being overwhelmed, even with awe, I demonstrate that Gutter achieves what Coetzee (1988:49) refers to as a singularly distinct understanding of the sublime with reference to the unique character of the South African landscape. In this sense, specific themes associated with the sublime (portraying things like problems, the sudden and the unexpected, darkness [that connotes uncertainty], danger, fearsomeness, and emptiness [that relates to isolation]) can be related with elements of the liminal. By identifying the themes of sublime representation, the reading of the works demonstrate firstly Gutter‟s unique and distinct application of sublime landscape painting. Secondly, it emerges that the portrayal of the liminal is achieved by means of these strategies towards landscape painting, and thirdly, that the imaginative re-presentation of the liminal is suggestive of a particular dimension of the existence of the contemporary Boer/farming community. Gutter‟s reflection of and on the landscape demonstrate a particularly poignant projection of a theme onto the landscape, and seems to suggest that while the liminal experience is potentially a place of growth and renewal, it can also induce a sense of paralysis as a result of the overwhelming uncertainty experienced by the particular community. / MA (History of Art), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This dissertation presents an investigation into three works by the South African artist Pauline Gutter (b. 1980) that were originally shown in her exhibition Opslag (2008) [this title is almost impossible to translate; it can refer to the sound of a gun, or it can mean to butcher something; it has an association of suddenness]. The works that were selected for scrutiny in this dissertation are Uit die blou van onse hemel [translated as From our blue skies; or Ringing out of our blue heaven – the first words of the erstwhile South African anthem] (2004), Into the landscape I (2007), and Landskap naby Zastron [Landscape close by Zastron] (2006). The choice of works was based on the particular mode of and imaginative re-presentation of the landscape that can be discerned in each of these works – different, yet conceptually quite similar. I argue that Gutter‟s landscape works in the exhibition Opslag (as representative of the thematic concerns of the show as a whole) are indicative of an imaginative re-presentation of a liminal experience (which is informed to a large degree by the artist‟s acute awareness of the threat posed by cruel and rampant attacks on the farming community). This liminal experience, as embodied in the artworks, is in its turn a reflection of the liminal existence as lived and interpreted by the artist‟s perception of her environment and community – speficially, the Boer farming community of South Africa, and even more specificially, in the Free State Province. Those aspects of a liminal experience that can be gleaned from a reading of the selected works Uit die blou van onse hemel, Into the landscape, and Landskap naby Zastron, are powerlessness, instability, the transitory shift of status, disorientation, isolation, marginalisation, and uncertainty. I argue, furthermore, that the imaginative re-presentation of the liminal experience is achieved by means of certain strategies and approaches towards landscape painting that are associated with the sublime. Where the sublime, in the context of the re-presentation of the landscape is often associated with a sense of being overwhelmed, even with awe, I demonstrate that Gutter achieves what Coetzee (1988:49) refers to as a singularly distinct understanding of the sublime with reference to the unique character of the South African landscape. In this sense, specific themes associated with the sublime (portraying things like problems, the sudden and the unexpected, darkness [that connotes uncertainty], danger, fearsomeness, and emptiness [that relates to isolation]) can be related with elements of the liminal. By identifying the themes of sublime representation, the reading of the works demonstrate firstly Gutter‟s unique and distinct application of sublime landscape painting. Secondly, it emerges that the portrayal of the liminal is achieved by means of these strategies towards landscape painting, and thirdly, that the imaginative re-presentation of the liminal is suggestive of a particular dimension of the existence of the contemporary Boer/farming community. Gutter‟s reflection of and on the landscape demonstrate a particularly poignant projection of a theme onto the landscape, and seems to suggest that while the liminal experience is potentially a place of growth and renewal, it can also induce a sense of paralysis as a result of the overwhelming uncertainty experienced by the particular community. / MA (History of Art), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This thesis is a comparative literature study of a Dutch and an Afrikaans novel that can be read by the youth and adults alike and display similarities with regard to genre, content, structure and theme. The novels are Winterijs (2001) by Peter van Gestel and Roepman (2004) by Jan van Tonder. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction. In chapter 2 concepts such as “crossover literature”, “cross publication”, “dual audience authors” and “dual audience literature” are discussed. Chapter 3 presents an overview of the theory that provides a conceptual framework for this study. The method of investigation that is followed by Helma Van Lierop-Debrauwer and Neel Bastiaansen-Harks (2005) in their study of the similarities and differences between an adolescent novel for the youth and an adolescent novel for adults is used, as well as the theory of Victor Turner (1969) on the concept of liminality. As it provides a useful method for approaching and analyzing the two texts, the above mentioned theories are applied to Winterijs and Roepman in Chapters 4 and 5, with specific reference to the representation of a male child narrator with liminal characteristics. In chapter 6 the similarities and differences between the two novels are pointed out and summarized. Conclusions are drawn and possibilities for further research are presented in chapter 7.

Generic transformation of the castaway novel is made evident by the various ways in which the narrative boundaries that separate fiction from reality and history, the past from the present, and the rational from the irrational, are reconfigured in Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before (1994), J.M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2002). The dissolution of boundaries reflects the dominant shift that has occurred in the castaway novel from the 18th century literary context to the present postmodern, postcolonial context. In this regard, the narrative utilizes various narratological strategies, the most significant being intertextuality, metafiction, historiographical metafiction, allegory, irony, and the carnivalesque. These narratological strategies rewrite, revise, and recontextualize those generic conventions that perpetuated the culture of masculinity and conquest that defines colonialism and the traditional castaway novel epitomized by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). From a postcolonial perspective, the castaway’s state of being reflects on the condition of the colonized as well as the colonizer: his/her experience of displacement is similar to colonized peoples’ separation from their cultural, spiritual and personal identities; simultaneously, processes of appropriation, adaptation and control of space resemble colonization, thereby revealing the constructed nature of colonial space. As such, space is fundamental to individual orientation and social adaptation and consequently, metaphorically and metonymically linked to identity. In the selected postmodernist and postcolonial texts, the movement from the position of castaway to colonist as originally manifested in Robinson Crusoe is therefore reinterpreted and recontextualized. The postmodernist and postcolonial contexts resist fixed and one-dimensional representations of identity, as well as the appropriation and domination of space, that characterize shipwreck literature from pre-colonial and colonial periods. Rationalist notions of history, reality and truth as empirically definable concepts are also contested. The castaway identity is often characterized by feelings of physical and spiritual displacement and estrangement that can be paralleled to postmodernist themes of existential confusion and anxiety. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

In this dissertation I argue that invisible characters, as they appear in Paul Auster’s novels, serve a very specific function within the interpretative framework of a text and that they should be considered to play a functional role, in order to arrive at a more holistic interpretation of the text and a more accurate analysis of said texts. I argue that Auster knowingly includes these characters in his novels as part of his narrative technique, in order for them to serve specific functions and to contribute to the structure of postmodern fiction. I make use of a contextualized close reading of five of Auster’s novels and attempt a hermeneutic interpretation of these novels to arrive at a hermeneutic circle when combining these novels into an integrated whole, individual, work of fiction. Certain parallels can be drawn between Auster’s various novels and these parallels contribute to the various motifs and themes found throughout his work. The importance of space in Auster’s novels is also highlighted with emphasis on liminality which serves as an instigator for transgression to occur between different fictive worlds. / Thesis (MA (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.