Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University. 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Seeking to explore modes of self-representation in women’s life writing and the ways in
which these subjects manipulate the autobiographical ‘I’ to write about gender, the body, race
and ethnic related issues, this thesis interrogates the autobiographies of three renegade women
whose works were birthed out of the de/colonial South African context between 1854-1948.
The chosen texts are: Marina King’s Sunrise to Evening Star: My Seventy Years in South
Africa (1935), Melina Rorke’s Melina Rorke: Her Amazing Experiences in the Stormy
Nineties of South-African History (1938), and two memoirs by Petronella van
Heerden, Kerssnuitsels (1962) and Die 16de Koppie (1965). My analysis is underpinned by
relevant life writing and feminist criticism, such as the notion of female autobiographical
“embodiment” (239) and the ‘I’s reliance on “relationality” (248) as discussed in the work of
Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson (Reading Autobiography). I further draw on Judith Butler’s
concept of “performativity” (Bodies that Matter 234) in my analysis in order to suggest that
there is a performative aspect to the female ‘I’ in these texts. The aim of this thesis is to
illustrate how these self-representations of women can be read as counter-conventional,
speaking out against stereotypical perceptions and conventions of their time and in literatures
(fiction and criticism) which cast women as tractable, compliant pertaining to patriarchal
oversight, as narrow-minded and apathetic regarding achieving notoriety and prominence
beyond their ascribed position in their separate societies. I argue that these works are
representative of alternative female subjectivities and are examples of South African women’s
life writing which lie ‘dusty’ and forgotten in archives; voices that are worthy of further
scholarly research which would draw the stories of women’s lives back into the literary
consciousness. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In ‘n poging om metodes van self-uitbeelding te bespreek en die manier waarop die ‘ek’ van
vroulike ego-tekste manipuleer om sodoende te skryf oor geslagsrolle, die liggaam, ras en
ander etniese kwessies, ondersoek hierdie verhandeling die outbiografieë van drie
onkonvensionele vrouens se werk, gebore vanuit die de/koloniale konteks in Suid-Afrika
tussen 1854-1948. Die ego-tekste wat in hierdie navorsingstuk ondersoek word, sluit in:
Marina King se Sunrise to Evening Star: My Seventy Years in South Africa (1935), Melina
Rorke se Melina Rorke: Her Amazing Experiences in the Stormy Nineties of South-African
History (1938), en twee memoirs geskryf deur Petronella van Heerden, Kerssnuitsels (1962)
en Die 16de Koppie (1965). My analise word ondersteun deur relevante kritici van
feministiese en outobiografiese velde. Ek bespreek onder andere die idee dat die vroulike ‘ek’
liggaamlik “vergestalt” (239) is in outobiografie, asook die ‘ek’ se afhanklikheid van
“relasionaliteit” (248) soos uiteengesit in die werk van Sidonie Smith en Julia Watson
(Reading Autobiography). Verder stel ek voor, met verwysing na Judith Butler, dat daar ‘n
“performative” (Bodies that Matter 234) aspek na vore kom in die vroulike ‘ek’ van Suid-
Afrikaanse outobiografie. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om uit te lig dat hierdie selfvoorstellings
van vroue gelees kan word as kontra-konvensioneel; dat die stereotipiese
uitbeelding van vroue as skroomhartig, nougeset, gedweë ten opsigte van patriargale oorsig,
en willoos om meer te vermag as wat hul onderskeie gemeenskappe vir hul voorskryf,
weerspreek word deur hierdie ego-tekste. Die doel is om sodanige outobiografiese vertellings
en -uitbeeldings te vergelyk en sodoende uiteenlopende vroulike subjektiwiteite gedurende
die periode 1854-1948 te belig. Ek verwys deurlopend na voorbeelde van ander
gemarginaliseerde Suid-Afrikaanse vroulike ego-tekse om aan te dui dat daar weliswaar ‘n
magdom ‘vergete’ en ‘stof-bedekte’ vrouetekste geskryf is in die afgebakende periode. Ek
voor aan dat die ‘stem’ van die vroulike ‘ek’ allermins stagneer het, en dat verdere
bestudering waarskynlik nodig is.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/97034 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Smit, Lizelle |
| Contributors | Slabbert, Mathilda, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 171 pages |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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