M.A. (Afrikaans) / The idea of what a concept is and how concepts change is currently a hot topic of discussion within the cognitive semantics. The term concept has changed significantly from Plato's Idee up until De Saussure's theory early in the twentieth century that the word and its meaning are connected in an arbitrary manner. From there onwards the meaning of the term concept has changed drastically. Linguists like Ogden & Richards and Lyons initially referred to the concept as the mental image one recalls when reference to a certain word is made. But, since the development of the cognitive semantics in the late nineteen eighties, it has developed as a term consisting of image-schemata in the form of gestalts, categories and category models as well as semantic networks. Reinhart Koselleck (2004:84),a historian who focussed on concepts and the change in meaning thereof recommended that any concept is a conglomeration of all the linguistic and semantic networks bedded into the concept but the socio-political factors are especially important when studying a specific concept. Koselleck also focused on the prevalence of key concepts in any society. According to Koselleck key-concepts are those concepts that fulfil a key role in society. Society is depending on these concepts and any change in society will also have a huge impact on the concept. The purpose of this study is to investigate changes in one key-concept namely the concept marriage in the Afrikaner community due to significant changes that has taken place in this concept over the last century. The investigation to what a concept is and how concepts change, take place within the field of the cognitive semantics and this study commences with a theoretical discussion on concepts. After a theoretical discussion on concepts, the historical development and changes of the Western marriage is on the foreground. Seeing that the Afrikaner community developed within the framework of the broader Western civilization, it is necessary to also focus on the broad socio-political and semantic changes. Koselleck stressed the importance of the social changes when any concept is investigated and therefore this study also gives attention accordingly. Focus is placed on the statutory and religious components and changes in the Afrikaans marriage but other socio-politicalfactors impacting on the changes in marriage in the Afrikaner community are also investigated and discussed. The concept marriage and synonyms 'trou (getting married) and "eg' (matrimony) as portrayed in the Afrikaans language system, are also investigated. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships to the concept marriage are mentioned and all the dictionary definitions are stated. This discussion ends with a demonstration of a prototypical framework of the concept marriage with special reference to changes that have occurred, but also to emphasize pressure that marriage in the Afrikaans community is currently undergoing to change its form and presentation again. To demonstrate how any linguistic change occurs firstly in the social realm before it is transfered to the linguistic system- this study applies cognitive semantic methods in the form of image-schematic structures and force schemas to the novel Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk. The novel Agaat is chosen as example material because of its setting in a pastoral environment before extensive urbanisation took place. The story is also set against the backdrop of the golden era of marriage and the marriage of Milia and Jak de Wet is investigated accordingly. Koselleck (2004:70) states that a concept changes firstly in the social realm before it gets widely accepted in the documented language systems and practice of a community. The language community and practice need to internalize and document any changes before its gets widely accepted as the prototype sample. This study demonstrates how changes commence firstly in the socio-political practice preparatory to these changes getting accepted into the wider language community and semantic networks.

Through the ages satirists have exposed and ridiculed certain malpractices in society in their texts. They have often done so in a language filled with irony and exaggeration. For the purpose of this dissertation I wish to focus on three texts by Marlene van Niekerk, the eminent Afrikaans author, and analyse the way in which she uses satire to comment particularly on contemporary South African society and address issues such as violence, the 2010 World Cup, corruption and violence against women and children. The three texts under discussion are the two lengthy poems, ―Suid Afrika and ―Brief aan president Motlanthe [―Letter to President Motlanthe] and her play Die kortstondige raklewe van Anastacia W [The brief shelf-life of Anastacia W]. She bases her writings on real life incidents and events written about in the newspapers and these clippings serve as intertexts for her critique of society.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1996. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Amity and estrangement in the poetry of Marlene van Niekerk are investigated in this dissertation according to various poetic aspects: figurisation, time and space, musicality, love poetry and Godly experience. The first chapter introduces the concepts of "amity" and "estrangement" by way of contextual definition. I shall endeavour to show, inter alia, how these two concepts are already present in the titles of the two poetry volumes of Marlene van Niekerk, Sprokkelster and Groenstaar. Figurisation is discussed in chapter 2. The term "figurisation", i.e. the embodiment of form or figure, is briefly described, followed by a discussion of "figurisation" in nine selected poems and the manifestation of amity and estrangement therein. Chapter three focuses on time and space in the poetry of Van Niekerk and of the presence, also here, of amity and estrangement. First the concepts of "time" and "space" are explained, followed by a discussion of ten poems with specific emphasis on the well-known expanse of South Africa, as opposed to the less well known cosmos of Europe — particularly the Netherlands. I highlight, inter alia, the contrast between these two areas as well as the estrangement that Van Niekerk experienced from the country of her birth during her stay abroad. Chapter four deals with one of the most striking features of the poetry of Van Niekerk — that of musicality. After the term "musicality" is briefly described, seven poems are discussed to illustrate the musicality therein, whilst keeping the focus on amity and estrangement. The theme of love is dealt with in the fifth chapter. The poetry of Van Niekerk is, according to Cloete (1978:173), "so filled with realism that it shows little interest in the personal". In the few love poems that are present in her two poetry volumes, the world around the "I" enjoys preference over the beloved, with the beloved experienced largely through images of nature. The penultimate chapter is devoted to the manner in which Van Niekerk experiences the presence of God. Six poems are analyzed to substantiate this, and to show the appearance of amity and estrangement here. The salient points of the presence of amity and estrangement and the significance of these two elements in the poetic oeuvre of Marlene van Niekerk, are encapsulated in the concluding chapter. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die tesis word bevriending en bevreemding in die poesie van Marlene van Niekerk aan die hand van verskillende aspekte van die poesie ondersoek: figurering, tyd en ruimte, musikaliteit, liefdesverse en Godsbelewing. Hoofstuk 1 dien as inleiding waarin onder andere die begrippe "bevriending" en "bevreemding" omskryf word. Ek sal aandui hoe hulle reeds in die titels van Marlene van Niekerk se twee digbundels, Sprokkelster en Groenstaar, aanwesig is. Figurering word in die tweede hoofstuk bespreek. Eerstens word die begrip "figurering", nl. die gee van vorm aan gestalte of figuur, kortliks omskryf. Daarna word figurering in nege gedigte bespreek, en word ook aangedui hoe bevriending en bevreemding daarin voorkom. Hoofstuk 3 handel oor tyd en ruimte in Van Niekerk se poesie en hoe bevriending en bevreemding ook hier aanwesig is. Die begrippe "tyd" en "ruimte" word eers kortliks verduidelik. Daarna word 'n tiental gedigte bespreek wat onder meer handel oor die bekende ruimte, Suid-Afrika, en die minder bekende ruimte, Europa, veral Nederland. Ek wys onder meer op die kontras tussen die twee ruimtes, asook die vervreemding wat daar by Van Niekerk ingetree het teenoor haar geboorteland tydens haar verblyf in die vreemde. Een van die opvallendste kenmerke van Van Niekerk se poesie, naamlik musikaliteit, kom aan die bod in Hoofstuk 4. Eerstens word die begrip "musikaliteit" kortliks beskryf. Daarna word sewe gedigte ter illustrasie bespreek, terwyl terselfdertyd gewys word op bevriending en bevreemding. Hoofstuk 5 handel oor die tema liefde. Volgens Cloete (1978:175) is Van Niekerk se poesie "so vol van die werklikheid dat dit weinig geinteresseerd is in die personale". In die enkele liefdesverse wat in haar twee digbundels voorkom, geniet die wereld rondom die ek dan ook voorkeur b6 die geliefde en word die geliefde meestal deur natuurbeelde heen beleef. In Hoofstuk 6 word Van Niekerk se belewing van God aan die hand van ses gedigte bespreek. Daar word aangedui hoe bevriending en bevreemding ook hier teenwoordig is. Die slothoofstuk is 'n kort samevatting van die bespreking van bevriending en bevreemding in die voorafgaande hoofstukke.

This research engages with a contemporary theoretical debate in the literary field, namely the ability of fictional texts to contribute to archival records. Contemporary research in archival discourse suggests that there are many intersections between fiction and the archive. Using Hamilton and others’ seminal text Refiguring the Archive (2002) and Pasco’s “Literature as Historical Archive” (2004) as point of departure, this dissertation offers an analysis of the South African English translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat (2004, translated 2006). In both form and function, the novel is viewed as a simulation of an archive. In Agaat, Van Niekerk has compiled a fictional archive of two indigenous South African cultures through her portrayal of the two main characters: Afrikaner culture during apartheid as embedded in the focalization of Milla de Wet and remnants of Khoi and/or San culture as emerge from the fictionalised subjectivity of her coloured housekeeper-nurse, Agaat. Through a conceptual and theoretical exploration of archival discourse, I argue that literary texts, such as Van Niekerk’s novel, have the potential to refigure (or creatively redefine) the archive and to enhance its scope and relevance, especially as South Africa undergoes transformation.

Die geesteswetenskappe, en spesifiek letterkunde en literatuurstudies, loop toenemend deur onder kritiek oor die relevansie van letterkunde in die 21ste eeu. Die letterkundige Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht reken egter dat die probleem nie is dat fiksie irrelevant geword het nie, maar dat die suiwer hermeneutiese manier waarop letterkunde gelees word, gelei het tot ’n reduksionistiese beskouing van letterkunde. Gumbrecht reken dat dit moontlik is om taal op so ’n wyse aan te wend dat dit die leser weer nader kan bring aan die wêreld waarvan hy grootliks verwyderd voel. Hierdie konsep noem hy die “produksie van teenwoordigheid”, en hy identifiseer sewe wyses waarop taal kan funksioneer om só ’n “teenwoordigheidseffek” te bewerkstellig. Marlene van Niekerk se Die sneeuslaper word in hierdie studie ondersoek deur gebruik te maak van Gumbrecht se konsep van die “teenwoordigheidseffek” van ’n literêre teks. Die “produksie van teenwoordigheid” word egter in ’n spanning teenoor die hermeneutiese aspek, die betekenis of interpretasie, en teenoor die “sosiale betrokkenheid” van letterkunde ondersoek – ’n spanning wat deurgaans in Van Niekerk se oeuvre teenwoordig is. Gumbrecht se voorstel om die “teenwoordigheidseffek” van ’n teks te ondersoek, lei daartoe dat Die sneeuslaper gelees kan word as ’n bydrae tot die breër besinning oor die rol en relevansie van letterkunde, kuns en kunskritiek in ons samelewing, en die manier waarop kunswerke ervaar word. Benewens Gumbrecht se idee van teenwoordigheidsproduksie, sal daar ook aangesluit word by Wolfgang Iser se “werkingsestetika” waarvolgens hy aandui dat literêre tekste “strukture uit die werklikheid” neem en herrangskik om daardie strukture op ’n vars en nuwe wyse in die literêre teks te belig. In die proses word tekortkominge of probleme van hierdie “strukture” uit die buite-tekstuele wêreld duidelik. Met behulp van Iser se teorie, word aangedui hoe Van Niekerk in die vier verskillende verhale die leser dwing om bestaande, hermeneutiese aannames oor die letterkunde en literêre tekste te heroorweeg. Die idee dat tekste betekenis moet inhou, sluiting moet bied of noodwendig sosiopolitieke betrokkenheid moet toon word uitgedaag. In ruil ondersoek Van Niekerk eerder die mate waartoe ’n benadering wat gerig is op die “estetiese ervaring” van literêre tekste, voorafopgestelde idees en aanvaarde strukture kan belig ten einde die leser se persepsies oor daardie strukture te wysig. Daar sal aangedui word hoe Van Niekerk taal aanwend om ook ’n teenwoordigheidseffek te bewerkstellig, en in die proses die leser, soos wat Gumbrecht voorstel, vir ’n oomblik “tot stilstand dwing”. / The role and potential relevance of the humanities, specifically of literature and literary criticism in the 21st century, has been increasingly called into question. Literary theorist Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht suggests that the problem is not that fiction has become irrelevant. Rather it is the exclusively hermeneutic way in which literature is read, that leads to a reductionist view of literature. Gumbrecht argues that it is possible to apply language in such a way that it could again bring the reader closer to the world to which the reader feels increasingly distant. He calls this concept the “production of presence”, and identifies seven ways in which language functions to create a “presence effect”. In this dissertation, Gumbrecht’s concept of the "presence effect" of literature will be applied to analyse Marlene van Niekerk’s Die sneeuslaper. The production of presence is, however, analysed in a tension with the hermeneutic aspect, the meaning or interpreation of literature, and literature that engages with social and political realities – a tension which is often present in Van Niekerk’s oeuvre. Gumbrecht’s theory of the “presence effect” of literature, opens up the possibility to read Die sneeuslaper as a contribution to a broader reflection on the way in which art is experienced, and on the role and relevance of literature, art and art criticism at the start of the 21st centuary. Apart from Gumbrecht’s concept of the production of presence, this study will rely on Wolfgang Iser’s reception theory in which he indicates how literary texts can rearrange structures from the world in order to highlights those structures in a new way. Hence, the deficiencies or problems of those “structures” become clear to the reader. Iser’s theory is used to indicate how the Van Niekerk forces the reader to reconsider existing hermeneutic perceptions on literature and literary texts. These include perceptions that texts should necessarily have meaning, that it should provide closure, or that it should be a socially or politically engaged text. Van Niekerk investigates an approach that is focused on the “aesthetic experience” of a literary text, and how such an approach could highlight preconceived ideas about existing and assumed structures about art and society in order to alter the reader’s perceptions of those structures. This study shows that Van Niekerk applies language in such a way that it leads to a presence effect which, as Gumbrecht suggest, forces the reader to experience a “moment of intensity”. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Unit for Creative Writing / MA / Unrestricted

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.

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

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

Conrad Aiken’s observation that the “landscape and the language are the same, and we ourselves are language and are land,” depicts the material terrain we inhabit as necessarily informing the language we speak. An important corollary to Aiken’s observation is language itself writes the land. I argue that the binary division between culture and nature, as well as the attempts to universalise languages, abstracts discourse from necessary situated knowledges, alienating the land from the language it embodies. The severing of culture and nature as implied by Aiken’s observation is indicative of humanity’s progressive isolation from the land through language, as well as from their embodied natures. Remoteness results in what Marlene van Niekerk’s novel Agaat (2006) terms a “poverty disease” (2006: 251). Michiel Heyns confirms that the character Agaat relates this barrenness of spirit to her “diagnosis of spiritual ills through human dealings with the soil” (2009: 132). I illustrate the novel’s revitalisation of language as an act of ecological recuperation that alleviates dis-eased consciousnesses by potentially recognising, valuing and responding to situated knowledges revealed in land narratives.1 My argument therefore uncovers the challenges that the novel directs at an unreformed and universal Western2 To this end I use critiques of colonialism that reveal culture’s assimilation of the Other, rationalist discourse that continues to appropriate nature as resource for a hierarchical culture. 3 By combining this literary analysis with a wider eco-theoretical enquiry I position my study in an interdisciplinary field of investigation. This is in response to the damaging consequences of the inherited and fragmentary nature of specialisation. In addition, by detailing literary and feminist especially the work of Val Plumwood, Donna Haraway and Nicole Brossard. I use these critiques to analyse self/Other oppositions that Western culture constructs and patrols to maintain a defensive culture of domination. I show how nature and all those feminised and marginalised by Western discourses that hierarchise culture have been consistently overlooked and under-represented by those who purport to ‘control’ the environment and privilege the symbolic language as the carrier of culture. Agaat provides fruitful terrain for the reflection of marginalised voices; voices that confirm the environment and language as necessarily both feminist and social justice issues. 1 My preference for the hyphenated usage of the word ‘dis-ease’ signals the equation between discomfort or unease and disease or sickness. 2 While I am concerned over emphasising words such as Western and Apartheid by capitalising them, I have decided to retain this form so as not to diminish the magnitude of the effect these discourses have had on global and regional communities. 3 When referring to Others I, like Karen J. Warren, capitalise the term. Warren defines Others as all earth Others subjected to “unjustified domination-subordination relationships” (2005: 252). responses to Western patriarchal discourse and its impact on nature, I show the ways in which literature negotiates the possible re-conceptualisation of our collective cultural imagination. Van Niekerk’s novel offers a sustained critique of the oppressive Western conceptual frameworks that have dominated Others through hegemonic constructions. Furthermore, I investigate what this writer might offer as an alternative to systems of social, political and ecological control and the violence it inflicts.

This M.F.A. thesis in dramaturgy presents the first-ever stage adaptation of South African writer Marlene van Niekerk’s 2004 novel Agaat. Van Niekerk is an internationally acclaimed novelist, short story writer, poet, and dramatist particularly known for her lengthy novelistic excavations of Afriakner identity, in which sexuality, race, and gender collide in compelling but fraught ways. Covering nearly fifty-years of South African history—from the establishment of apartheid in 1948 through the nation’s transition to democracy in 1994—Agaat investigates everyday cycles of abuse and intimacy through the story of white farmer Milla de Wet and her coloured adopted daughter-cum-maid, Agaat Lourier. This thesis foregrounds the interconnections between theory and practice by presenting both the adaptation itself and a prolonged engagement with theories of adaptation and dramaturgy. It is framed, then, around a simple question: How might dramaturgy and adaptation, as cultural and artistic processes and products, encounter one another? Through analysis of current discussions in the fields of Adaptation Studies and dramaturgy, and reflections on the particular challenges and possibilities of adapting van Niekerk’s novel to the stage, the thesis argues that adaption can be understood as a mode of encounter that opens up spaces for connection between people, texts, and cultures. A dramaturgical method of adaptation is concerned not with hierarchy, authority, and fidelity, but rather with viewing adaptation as a conversation between a network of resonances. The thesis begins with an overview of van Niekerk’s work and context, moves to an examination of current conversations in Adaptation Studies and dramaturgy, and concludes with a prolonged reflection on the process of adapting Agaat to the stage.