Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

In the year 1877, during a lull in the Eastern Question, the English newspapers discovered South Africa. There a Dutch republic, the Transvaal, had all but succumbed to the onslaughts of a native chief - or so it seemed; and now it was annexed to the British Crown. Clearly, this was a corner of the world of which, as its colonists boasted, England would hear much more; and Parliament was shortly to set its seal of approval upon Lord Carnarvon’s essay in imperial architecture, South African Confederation. Intro., p. 1.

In this dissertation I focus on the life and works of Marguerite Poland and argue that landscapes in her fiction act as sites for identity construction. In my analysis I examine the central characters’ engagement with the land, taking cognisance of Poland’s historical context and that of her fiction as represented in her four adult novels and eleven children’s books. I also focus on her doctoral thesis and non-fiction work, The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People (2003). Poland’s latest work The Boy In You (2008) appeared as this thesis was being completed, thus I only briefly refer to this work in the Conclusion. My primary aim puts into perspective personal, social and cultural identities that are constructed through an analysis of the landscapes evident in her work. Post-colonial theories of space and place provide the theoretical framework. In summary, this thesis argues that landscape is central to Poland’s oeuvre, that her construction of landscape takes particular forms depending on the type of writing she undertakes; and that her characters’ construction of identity is closely linked to the landscapes in which they are placed by their author, herself a product of her physical and cultural environment. “Landscape is dynamic; it serves to create and naturalise the histories and identities inscribed upon it, and so simultaneously hides and makes evident social and historical formations” (Carter et al 1993: xii). The implication of this statement is that the landscape is continuously constructed and deconstructed; that there is a constant evolution of meaning between individuals and the landscape; and that socio-historical conditions are largely responsible for forming ideology and consciousness. This, I argue, is also true for Poland’s fiction. Poland’s own position, as a writer who draws inspiration from the land and its inhabitants, is also discussed. In this thesis I examine the different phases of Poland’s work looking at different kinds of identity construction through different kinds of landscape portrayal. As a prolific South African female contemporary writer, Poland has made inroads into the world of fiction writing once dominated by men. Consequently, feminist issues abound in her writings and I deconstruct characters’ engagement with the land in order to uncover their gendered identities. Primarily, I explore the themes of belonging, identity formation, displacement and dispossession in a particular space and place. My thesis opens with an introduction outlining reasons for my choice of writer, her works to be discussed and the theoretical approaches to landscape and identity construction pertinent to the thesis. I focus on what Poland’s writing yields in terms of gendered identities, racial attitudes and cultural practices in her fictional landscape construction. These sections are grounded in the theories proposed by writers such as, inter alia, Paul Carter, Edward Relph, Chris Fitter and Dennis Cosgrove. In Chapter 2 my discussion focuses on the life and works of Poland placing her in a historical and cultural context. In Chapter 3, I explore how Poland constructs what I call a ‘mythological landscape’. My aim here, as in the following chapters, is to analyse place as a text upon which histories and cultures are inscribed and interpreted and which, in turn, inscribes them too. I also show the extent to which Poland relies on oral folklore to create space and place in her fiction. The literary focus is on her children’s literature and her writings on cattle description and folklore. Chapter 4 focuses on a literary analysis of Train To Doringbult (1987), Shades (1993), and Iron Love (1999) respectively. These novels demonstrate how Poland shows identity shaped within a ‘colonial landscape’. I examine how these novels reiterate that socio-historical conditions are responsible for forming ideology and consciousness. I also analyse how this particular genre puts into perspective personal, social and cultural identities that emerge from particular periods in South African history. Chapter 5 focuses on what I call the ‘indigenous landscape’, on how the South African landscape and the indigenous cattle of the region become characters in their own right. A literary analysis of Recessional for Grace (2003), The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People (2003) and Poland’s thesis, Uchibidolo: The Abundant Herds: A descriptive study of the Sanga-Nguni cattle of the Zulu people with special reference to colour-pattern terminology and naming practice (1996), form the basis of my discussion in this chapter. I conclude my thesis by further confirming the significance of landscape in Poland’s work as a site for the construction of identity. I focus on Poland’s impact on South African literature to date. I also focus on Poland’s preoccupation with identity in a transforming landscape, showing that there is a constant evolution of meaning between individuals and the landscape within which they find themselves. In this regard I show that identity linked to place has to be seen in terms of context. I mention Poland’s most recent commissioned project – a historical biography of the St. Andrew’s College in Grahamstown, an institution that is now a hundred and fifty years old. Poland’s association with this college, its social and historical context and other discursive issues pertaining to landscape, transformation and construction of identities are fore-grounded, to lend impetus to my thesis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the relationship between history and literature, with specific reference to the Afrikaans novels Verliesfontein (1998) by Karel Schoeman and Op soek na generaal Mannetjies Mentz (1998) by Christoffel Coetzee. Both novels are framed against the background of the Anglo Boer War and both take a postmodern approach to that history, amongst other things. First, Chapter 2 reviews the historical background to the relationship between history and literature through the ages (the classical era, and the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries), with a view to indicating how this tradition adheres to the postmodern spirit of contemporary times. Thereafter, Chapter 3 presents a theoretical investigation into the postmodern view of historiography and historical fiction. Special reference is made to Hutcheon's theory of historiographic metafiction as an important theoretical point of departure in the discussion of historical fiction. Political and ideological meaning implicit in historiography is discussed. Chapter 4 explores the current trend in South Africa of rereading and reappraising the past, of questioning traditional historiography in a postapartheid South African context (both in Afrikaans fiction and in historical writing). The revisiting of the Anglo Boer War in contemporary South Africa and in Afrikaans fiction is investigated, and an attempt is made to establish the significance of its reappraisal. Against this background the two texts, Verliesfontein and Op soek na generaal Manntjies Mentz, are discussed in Chapter 5. The two novels amply illustrate the possibility for interaction between history and literature, fact and fiction. How may these texts be read in view of postmodern theory? What lessons for present-day South Africans did Schoeman and Coetzee have in mind with their postmodern questioning of traditional historiography and their unconventional reconstruction of the past? Reappraising conventional accounts of history and exploring personal histories as these texts do, Verliesfontein and Op soek na generaal Mannetjies Mentz are part of the dominant discourse that is taking form in the multicultural society of a postapartheid South Africa today. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie is 'n ondersoek onderneem na die verhouding tussen geskiedenis en literatuur, met spesifieke verwysing na Karel Schoeman se roman Verliesfontein (1998) en Christoffel Coetzee se roman Op soek na generaal Mannetjies Mentz (1998). In hierdie twee tekste, wat die Anglo-Boereoorlog as hul raamwerk het, is onder andere 'n postmodernistiese benadering tot die geskiedenis benut. Eerstens word in hoofstuk 2 oorsigtelik gekyk na die historiese agtergrond van die verhouding tussen geskiedenis en literatuur met verloop van die tyd (die klassieke tyd, agtiende eeu, negentiende eeu en twintigste eeu), om aan te dui hoe dié tradisie by die heersende tydsgees van die postmodernisme aansluit. Hierna verskaf hoofstuk 3 'n teoretiese ondersoek na die postmodernistiese manier waarop geskiedskrywing en historiese fiksie gesien word. Die teorie van Hutcheon se historiografiese metafiksie word veral in die bespreking van historiese fiksie betrek as 'n belangrike teoretiese uitgangspunt. Vervolgens kom politieke en ideologiese implikasies in geskiedskrywing onder bespreking. Daarna (hoofstuk 4) word die Suid-Afrikaanse kontemporêre tendens om die verlede te herlees en te herwaardeer uiteengesit, en die ondermyning van die tradisionele geskiedskrywing in die post-apartheid Suid-Afrikaanse konteks (sowel in Afrikaanse fiksie as in geskiedskrywing) word ondersoek. Daar word gefokus op die her-bedenking van die Anglo-Boereoorlog in die hedendaagse Suid-Afrika en in Afrikaanse fiksie, en daar word ook probeer om die betekenis van dié herwaardering te soek. Teen bostaande agtergrond kom die twee tekste, Verliesfontein en Op soek na generaal Manntjies Mentz onder bespreking (hoofstuk 5). Die romans is goeie voorbeelde van die interaksie-moontlikhede tussen geskiedenis en literatuur, feit en fiksie, en daar word ondersoek hoe hierdie twee tekste aan die hand van postmodernistiese teorieë gelees kan word. Uiteindelik word daar besin oor watter lesse Schoeman en Coetzee met die postmodernistiese problematisering van geskiedskrywing en die onkonvensionele rekonstruksie van die verlede aan kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaners wou oordra. Met die herbesinning van die konvensionele weergawe van die geskiedenis en veral deur die verkenning van persoonlike geskiedenisse, vorm Verliesfontein en Op soek na generaal Mannetjies Mentz deel van die heersende diskoers wat vandag in 'n multikulturele samelewing van die post-apartheid Suid-Afrika aan die ontwikkel is.

Text in Afrikaans / This study investigates postcolonial aspects of the prose oeuvre of André P. Brink, with specific reference to his historiographical texts `n Oomblik in die wind, Houd-den-Bek, Die eerste lewe van Adamastor, Inteendeel, Sandkastele and Donkermaan. The texts can be described as links in a textual history of South Africa: a history corresponding to the official version, revisioning it in an imaginative way. The texts also criticize political (mal)practices, and the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial social contexts of the country are critically scrutinized. The texts offer suggestions for a new political dispensation. Since the seventies the Brink oeuvre has developed a multi-dimensional postcolonial approach. Aspects of post-colonialism, post-structuralism, magical realism and feminism as articulated in the texts, are analyzed and interpreted. Brink's investigation of problems concerning historiography, and the relation between history and fiction, comprised an important aspect of the research leading to this report. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D.Litt. et Phil

Text in Afrikaans / This study investigates postcolonial aspects of the prose oeuvre of André P. Brink, with specific reference to his historiographical texts `n Oomblik in die wind, Houd-den-Bek, Die eerste lewe van Adamastor, Inteendeel, Sandkastele and Donkermaan. The texts can be described as links in a textual history of South Africa: a history corresponding to the official version, revisioning it in an imaginative way. The texts also criticize political (mal)practices, and the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial social contexts of the country are critically scrutinized. The texts offer suggestions for a new political dispensation. Since the seventies the Brink oeuvre has developed a multi-dimensional postcolonial approach. Aspects of post-colonialism, post-structuralism, magical realism and feminism as articulated in the texts, are analyzed and interpreted. Brink's investigation of problems concerning historiography, and the relation between history and fiction, comprised an important aspect of the research leading to this report. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D.Litt. et Phil

The study provides a theoretical account for the representation of apartheid in South African fiction. Narrative strategies employed in the post-apartheid novels The innocence of roast chicken (Richards, 1996), The smell of apples (Behr, 1996), All we have left unsaid (Case, 2006) and Thirteen cents (Duiker, 2011) reveal that depictions of the past contribute to narrative structure and the production of meaning. Genettean temporal relations, namely narrative order, duration and frequency are a systematic method to analyse the selected novels, since it enables a contrast between the narrative past as the histoire, and the narrative present as the récit. Retrospective events are constructed as memories, thereby are complemented by Bergson’s psychological and philosophical theory in the analysis and interpretation of the dualistic interaction between the apartheid and post-apartheid temporal centres adopted within the novels. The representation of apartheid may be seen as sub-themes and time as configurations of temporal zones. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

The study provides a theoretical account for the representation of apartheid in South African fiction. Narrative strategies employed in the post-apartheid novels The innocence of roast chicken (Richards, 1996), The smell of apples (Behr, 1996), All we have left unsaid (Case, 2006) and Thirteen cents (Duiker, 2011) reveal that depictions of the past contribute to narrative structure and the production of meaning. Genettean temporal relations, namely narrative order, duration and frequency are a systematic method to analyse the selected novels, since it enables a contrast between the narrative past as the histoire, and the narrative present as the récit. Retrospective events are constructed as memories, thereby are complemented by Bergson’s psychological and philosophical theory in the analysis and interpretation of the dualistic interaction between the apartheid and post-apartheid temporal centres adopted within the novels. The representation of apartheid may be seen as sub-themes and time as configurations of temporal zones. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M. A. (Theory of Literature)