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Liberalism in South African English literature 1948-1990 : a reassessment of the work of Alan Paton and Athol Fugard.Foley, Andrew John. January 1996 (has links)
This thesis examines the concept of liberalism as it informs, and
is expressed in, the work of two of the most prominent South
African writers during the apartheid era of 1948-1990: Alan Paton and Athol Fugard. The aim of this study is to come to a precise and objective understanding of liberalism during this time, and to demonstrate how the nature and worth of the literary achievements of these writers can be properly ascertained only through a thorough grasp of their liberal outlook. A dual focus is thus pursued. From one perspective, a fuller understanding is facilitated of the work of two major South African writers in the light of a lucid and coherent comprehension of their liberalism. Obversely, an accurate understanding of their work - as perceptive, sensitive and informed writers, addressing problems of their social and political milieu - in turn serves to illuminate some of the most important dilemmas and responses of liberals in recent South African history. The rationale for this study arises from the fact that much confusion, imprecision and misunderstanding continues to surround the notion of liberalism in South African literary critical, political and historiographical thinking. Such imprecision, moreover, is not limited to the opponents of liberalism, but also characterises the thinking of many liberal-minded scholars in this country. In consequence, the liberal basis of a good deal of South African literature remains either unacknowledged or misconceived, and, accordingly, the actual meaning and significance of a large proportion of literary work in this country, including that of Paton and Fugard, has not been
adequately apprehended or appreciated. Given this critical imprecision, it is necessary as a preliminary measure to provide an introduction to the notion of liberalism in general theoretical terms before proceeding to a specific exploration of how the values, principles and beliefs which constitute liberal political philosophy present themselves in the literary work under consideration. The opening chapter explicates such fundamental liberal concepts as individualism, autonomy, liberty and equality, as well as some of the differences in emphasis between the leading liberal political theorists. This chapter also considers the nature of the contemporary liberal democratic state, the development of liberalism within the South African context, and some of the key linkages between liberal political philosophy and liberal literary critical practice. Following this theoretical introduction, the greater part of the thesis involves a detailed critical scrutiny of the creative writing, in turn, of Alan Paton and Athol Fugard. These writers have been chosen, firstly, because they stand out as indisputably the most eminent liberal authors in recent South African literature, indeed, as two of the most acclaimed writers in the contemporary English-speaking world. But their selection also derives from the fact that their writing, taken together effectively spans the entire period of apartheid. Alan Paton's famous first novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, was written immediately prior to the Nationalist Party election victory in 1948, and his writing extends into the 1980s. Athol Fugard's career commences in the 1950s and has continued up to and beyond the ending of apartheid in 1990. In fact, his most recent work to be considered in this study, Playland, is set on the last day of 1989, on the very brink of apartheid's demise. As the critical study of each writer's primary literary texts follows a chronological sequence, their work collectively provides a comprehensive view of the developing conflicts and challenges which confronted liberals throughout the time of apartheid. This is not to suggest that Paton and Fugard were the only liberal writers active against apartheid, and attention is paid to the achievements of other liberal authors during this time. Concomitantly, cognizance is taken of the range of differences between Paton and Fugard, including age, temperament, background, religious convictions, and involvement in formal politics. An advantage of a study dealing with both men is the ability not only to suggest the essential characteristics of liberalism which underlie individual distinctions, but also to reveal how a general liberal orientation manifests itself in particular instances. A study of both Paton and Fugard has benefits also in a generic sense, in that it allows a perspective on the expression of liberal ideas in both a fictive and a dramaturgical mode. For the most part, this thesis concentrates on each writer's favoured genre (Paton's fiction and Fugard's drama), though consideration is given to their other creative work, such as Paton's poetry and drama, and Fugard's fiction and film work. Moreover, both men's
non-creative writing (autobiographical, biographical, notebooks,
speeches, articles) is taken into account as a potentially
valuable source of insight into the evolution of their liberal
understanding. The most provocative factor motivating the selection of Paton and Fugard for study remains, however, the fact that neither writer's liberal standpoint has to date received full or proper appraisal. It is the contention of this thesis that each writer's liberalism, far from being a subordinate feature of his work, forms the very core of his political morality and aesthetic and demands a precise understanding. The chief objective of this study, then, is to conduct a reassessment of the work of Paton and Fugard through the filter of a rigorous account of their understanding and expression of the fundamental values and principles of liberalism. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.
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Interpreting redness: a literary biography of Zakes MdaSteele, Dorothy Winifred 30 November 2007 (has links)
This study of Zakes Mda's life and sixteen of his plays and seven novels, written
from 1966 to the present day, set in South Africa, Lesotho and the United States
of America, shows how his life and works interweave, and how his
defamiliarisation mode, his magic realism and his juxtaposed timeframes
stimulate reader response and self-realisation, bringing about change.
Experiences of marginalisation due to early childhood sexual abuse, exile,
and being banished from church, and his involvement in political movements
outside the mainstream, have caused him to be an astute observer of life. He is
sceptical of authority and power, and is as critical of those who seek power,
becoming intoxicated thereby, as of those who give away their power and so
perpetuate unacceptable institutions and their own victimisation. At all times
though, his writing style is creative and entertaining, rooted in the African oral
tradition from which he springs, but also portraying international influences to
which he has been exposed over the years. / English Studies / M.A. (English)
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Theorising the counterhegemonic : a critical study of Black South African autobiography from 1954-1963Gilfillan, Lynda, 1948- 11 1900 (has links)
In this thesis, I examine a critical procedure appropriate to Black South African
autobiography of the 1950s and early 1960s. In particular, I examine these
autobiographies as examples of counterhegemonic writing in which the self counters the
hegemonic apartheid notion of identity, based on racial and cultural purity, and I propose
that the hybrid selves encoded in these narratives have the capacity to inform a new
South African nationhood.
Chapter One necessitates an autocritique, in which I locate my own discourse within the
intersecting discursive strands of Western and local theory, an effort that is guided by the
imperatives that emerge from the autobiographies themselves. In Chapter Two, I suggest
that the postcolonial autos displaces Humanist, and appropriates postmodernist,
conceptions of the "I". Rewriting the terms of the autobiographical pact, the authority of
grapos is re-instated in counternarratives that give privileged status to the bios - to
lives that claim "I AM!" and selves that reconstruct identity. A related concern is the
relationship between autobiographical criticism in South Africa and hegemony.
In the chapters that follow, I examine the various ways in which counterhegemonic selves
are constructed in Tell freedom, Down Second Avenue, Drawn in colour: African
Contrasts and The Ochre People. Peter Abrahams's autobiography is discussed largely
in terms of Frantz Fanon's insights on identity construction and the notion of a "hybrid
I". Es'kia Mphahlek's (re)writing of the self - whose main feature is ambivalence - forms
the focus of Chapter Four. These notions are developed in the final chapter, which
focuses on Noni Jabavu's narratives that encode an "in-between" cultural identity and, as
in the autobiographies of Abrahams and Mphahlele, a metonymic "I". / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)
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Changing social consciousness in the South African English novel after World War II, with special reference to Peter Abrahams, Alan Paton, Es'kia Mphahlele and Nadine GordimerPaasche, Karin Ilona Mary 11 1900 (has links)
The changing social consciousness in South Africa during the twentieth century falls within a
political-historical framework of events: amongst others, World Wars I and II; the institution of the
Apartheid Laws in 1948; the declaration of a South African Republic in 1960; Nelson Mandela's release in
1992. The literary social consciousness of Abrahams, Paton, Mphahlele and Gordimer spans the time
before and after 1948. Their novels reflect the changing reality of a country whose racial and social
problems both pre-date and will outlive the apartheid ideology. These and other novelists' changing social
consciousness is an indication of the development of attitudes and reactions to issues which have their
roots in the human and in the economic spheres, as well as in the political, cultural and religious. Their
work interprets the history and the change in the South African social consciousness, and also gives some
indication of a possible future vision. / English Studies / M.A. (English)
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Reading the prison narrative: An examination of selected Southern African Post - 2000 writingsMoyo, Robert 21 September 2018 (has links)
MA (English Literature) / Department of English / This study examines a selection of Post-2000 Southern African prison narratives. It primarily focuses on fictional narratives that were written in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Little critical attention has been given to fictional prison writing in Southern Africa considering that much critical attention has been accorded to autobiographies by political prisoners. The demise of autobiographical writing has led to the rise in the production of prison novels, hence the need to examine this evolving genre. This study is driven by the need to examine the construction and representation of subjectivity in the selected narratives. It explores how the prison is experienced, by paying attention to issues of criminality, identity, gender and power. This study begins with the examination of criminality and the representation of the function of the prison in Red Ink by Angela Makholwa (2007), followed by the exploration of gender and identity issues in A Book of Memory by Petina Gappah (2015). It further examines how the notions of power and counter-discourse are portrayed in The Violent Gestures of Life by Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho (2014). This study employs the method of close textual analysis of the selected narratives. It is underpinned by post-colonial theory, the paradigm of the Panopticon which is foregrounded by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison (1977) and Daniel Roux’s perceptions of the prison in Doing Time under Apartheid (2013). This study contends that notions of detention and imprisonment continue to play a central role in the production of selfhood in literary works. It is clear in the study that the prison is used as an institution to critique different phenomena regarding the prison experience. In this study, I clearly show that the selected narratives can be read as platforms for resistance against social ills that prevail in the post-apartheid/post-colonial society. I also argue that there is a thin line between fiction and non-fiction, apartheid/colonial and post-apartheid/post-colonial prison systems. The narratives I explore in this study reveal more continuities than discontinuities from the apartheid/colonial prisons. / NRF
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Fictions of Development: Decolonization, Development Economics, and the African NovelHorst, Lauren January 2023 (has links)
This dissertation, “Fictions of Development: Decolonization, Development Economics, and the African Novel,” maps the tensions as well as the surprising resonances and interdependencies between development institutions and African literary production. The arc of the dissertation begins in the early 1960s, as many postcolonial countries marked their independence by embarking on ambitious national development programs. It extends through the turbulent 1970s, during which the Global South agitated for a New International Economic Order that would deliver “trade, not aid,” and the reactionary 1980s, in which the World Bank and the IMF pressured governments across the Global South into adopting a series of macroeconomic reforms known as structural adjustment. The dissertation ends in the present moment, as pressing social and environmental concerns have given rise to a (supposedly) new era of “sustainable” development.
Taken as a whole, “Fictions of Development” unsettles received notions about both development and African literature. Scholars working in and around postcolonial studies have long understood development as the contemporary counterpart to, and outgrowth of, the “civilizing mission” that once underwrote centuries of European conquest and colonization. Such close ties between colonialism and development have given rise to the widespread assumption that postcolonial writers, in rejecting colonialism, also rejected development.
However, by turning to the historical interactions between writers from “developing” countries and the organizations charged with the task of “developing” those countries, this dissertation tells a more complex story. Applying the tools and methods of literary criticism to a wide range of materials—from novels, plays, and memoirs to national economic planning documents, World Bank mission reports, and tourist brochures—this dissertation traces some of the ways that western development institutions use narrative form to stake their claims to knowledge of (and therefore power over) the so-called “developing” world. It also shows how four African writers—Botswana’s Bessie Head, Ghana’s Ama Ata Aidoo, Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and Zimbabwe’s Tsitsi Dangarembga—use the narrative form of the novel to propose alternative visions of development grounded in the principles of social and economic wellbeing.
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Mythic reconstruction a study of Australian Aboriginal and South African literatures /January 2006 (has links)
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Title from electronic document (viewed 17/4/08). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [137]-146).
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The representation of character in Es'kia Mphahlele's writings : a comparison of the autobiography Down Second Avenue (1959) and the novel The Wanderers (1971) with his philosophy in The African Image (1974)Sicwebu, Noel Zanoxolo 06 1900 (has links)
Literary representation of character in South Africa is not just problematic but also
complicated by racial dynamics, which easily lead to prejudiced portrayal by most
writers. Mphahlele's reaction to White writing's "distortion" of the image of
Blacks, in his critical texts resulted in his being labelled a protest writer.
Concerning his creative writing, he admits that he initially couldn't portray the
character of a white person roundedly due to limited acquaintance with him.
What he only knows about him and therefore depicts in his early writings is the
White stereotype. His acquaintance with the White world through varied
interaction gives a leverage that improves his portrayal of the White character.
Consequently his later works reflect objective representation of characters from
different races. The study therefore concludes that he falls outside the bracket
of protest writers, as his literary works prove to transcend the limitations of
stereotypical character representation. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)
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Reading rubbish: pre-apartheid to post-apartheid South African kitschPotgieter, Carla 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is concerned with kitsch as cultural phenomena, which it will approach as a
specific ‘aspect’, or ‘product’ of modernity. In doing so, this thesis aims to interrogate the
notion of modernity, through an analysis of kitsch. In the first place, modernity can be
thought as a collection of progressive material changes, usually associated with the onset
of the industrial revolution. In this sense, it is easy to establish kitsch as a typical product
of modernity, as the latter literally provided the objective conditions of possibility for the
production of cheap, easily reproducible industrial goods, with which kitsch is often
associated. In the second place, more than a set of material changes however, modernity
also entailed a concomitant series of cultural values, the rational, scientific worldview
associated with the onset of the Enlightenment. The thesis will therefore also consider
how kitsch can be regarded as a direct expression of these values, in as much as the
characteristic falseness and conformity of kitsch might be seen as a typical product of this
rational, utilitarian worldview. In the third place, modernity also refers to the combined
effect of these material conditions and cultural values. Kitsch will be considered, then,
also in relation to this ‘life-world’. Importantly, the thesis seeks to demonstrate how the
inherent contradictions of modernity become particularly apparent in kitsch.
The connection between colonialism and the Enlightenment is nothing new. Indeed, the
colonial project was driven by the notion that the West was responsible for the
“modernization” and “upliftment” of the rest of the world. However, the idea of
modernity as a universal, ideologically neutral concept is deeply problematic. Indeed, this
can also be considered as one of the contradictions inherent in modernity. By looking at
South African kitsch, this thesis will examine the possibility that, as a typical product of
modernity produced in a local context, it can reveal much about the manifestations or
‘trajectory’ of modernity outside the metropolitan centres, where it is usually located.
This will be explored by examining, on the one hand, the local ‘trajectory’ of the
discourse of modernity, and, secondly, to the place assigned to people within the creation
of these local modernities / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die onderwerp van hierdie tesis is kitsch as ’n kulturele verskynsel, wat dit as volg
benader. Eerstens word daar gevra of dit moontlik is om kitsch as een van die mees
tipiese ‘produkte’ van moderniteit te beskou. Die bogenoemde vraagstelling maak dit dus
moontlik om moderniteit te ondersoek deur ‘n analise van kitsch. In hierdie tesis, word
moderniteit as volg benader: ten eerste, die materiële veranderings in terme van die
produksie proses wat gewoonlik met die industriële revolusie geassosieer word; en
tweedens, die rasionele, wetenskaplike, kommersiële en utilitêre lewensbeskouing ingelei
deur die ‘Verligting’ (of sogenaamde Enlightenment) in die sewentiende eeu. Meer as net
’n versameling fisiese en filosofiese omwentelings, verwys moderniteit egter ook ten
derdens na die gekombineerde impak van die bogenoemde in terme van die effek van
tegnologie op kultuur, en hoe dit die menslike ‘leefwêreld’ betekenisvol beïnvloed en
vervorm.
Die bogenoemde skep dus ‘n raamwerk waarbinne kitsch benader kan word. Ten eerste is
dit maklik om ‘n verband tussen kitsch en tegnologiese ontwikkelinge, wat dit moontlik
maak om vinnige reproduksies van ‘n lae gehalte te vervaardig, te trek. Maar soos beskou
vanuit ‘n meer filosofiese perspektief, kan die valsheid en patroonmatigheid van kitsch
teruggetrek word na rasioneel utilitaristies wêreldbeskouing van die ‘Verligting’, wat
deur die neig na abstrakte, universele waarhede, dikwels vervlakking lei en ook
spesifieke etiese gevolge het. Derdens, wanneer daar na die impak van modernisasie op
die leefwêreld gekyk word, sal faktore soos die opkoms van die middelklas en
sekularisasie ook in ag geneem word. Deur die bogenoemde te ondersoek, sal daar dan
ook gedemonstreer word dat die teenstrydighede wat noodwendig deel vorm van die
konsep van moderniteit self, in kitsch duidelik sigbaar word, juis in die manier hoe kitsch
hierdie teenstrydighede probeer verberg.
Díe drie areas dan in ag geneem, is dit verder nodig om ‘n vierde definisie in te sluit om
die ondersoek van moderniteit, soos dit in hierdie tesis benader word, te verdiep. Die idee
dat kolonialisme en moderniteit ten diepste verbind is, is niks nuuts nie. Die gedagte dat
die Weste juis die onontwikkelde kolonies moes “ophef” en “moderniseer” was
inderdaad dikwels die ideologiese beweegrede vir die koloniale projek. Maar by nadere
ondersoek blyk dit onwaarskynlik dat moderniteit bloot ‘n ideologies neutrale konsep is,
wat oral eenvormige resultate sou behaal. Inderdaad, laasgenoemde kan ook as een van
hierdie sogenaamde “teenstrydighede” inherent tot die konsep van moderniteit beskou
word. Dus, deur na kitsch te kyk wat spesifiek in ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ontstaan
het, wil hierdie tesis ook die moontlik ondersoek dat plaaslike kitsch (as tipiese produk
van moderniteit) ons iets meer kan vertel oor die spesifieke verloop en gevolge van
hierdie sogenaamde “projek van moderniteit” binne ‘n plaaslike konteks.
Dit sal gedoen word deur die volgende twee vraagstukke aan te spreek, aan die hand van
plaaslike vorme van kitsch. Eerstens sal daar aandag aan die spesifieke “verloop” en
manifestasies van die diskoers van moderniteit in ‘n plaaslike konteks ondersoek word.
Tweedens, gaan hierdie tesis ook aandag gee aan die spesifieke plek wat aan verskillende
groepe mense binne hierdie plaaslike vorme van moderniteit toegeken word. So ‘n
ondersoek sal dan op die plaaslike manifestasies van moderniteit konsentreer, om die
aanname dat moderniteit oral eenvormige resultate en vooruitgang sou bereik, ongeldig te
verklaar. Die idee van “moderniteit” as universele en eenvormige konsep breek dus
letterlik uit mekaar, soos dit met die idee van geografiese spesifieke weergawes van
moderniteit gekonfronteer word.
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The representation of character in Es'kia Mphahlele's writings : a comparison of the autobiography Down Second Avenue (1959) and the novel The Wanderers (1971) with his philosophy in The African Image (1974)Sicwebu, Noel Zanoxolo 06 1900 (has links)
Literary representation of character in South Africa is not just problematic but also
complicated by racial dynamics, which easily lead to prejudiced portrayal by most
writers. Mphahlele's reaction to White writing's "distortion" of the image of
Blacks, in his critical texts resulted in his being labelled a protest writer.
Concerning his creative writing, he admits that he initially couldn't portray the
character of a white person roundedly due to limited acquaintance with him.
What he only knows about him and therefore depicts in his early writings is the
White stereotype. His acquaintance with the White world through varied
interaction gives a leverage that improves his portrayal of the White character.
Consequently his later works reflect objective representation of characters from
different races. The study therefore concludes that he falls outside the bracket
of protest writers, as his literary works prove to transcend the limitations of
stereotypical character representation. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)
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