Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis proposes a detailed study of the novel Agaat by South African author Marlene
van Niekerk (first published 2004). A particular focus throughout is on constructions of
identity and subjectivity, and the novel is considered as writing within and against both
the Realist tradition as well as the South African genre of the plaasroman and/or farm
novel. The translation of the novel into English by Michiel Heyns (published 2006) is
used as primary text, which furthermore raises questions of language and interpretation
already implicit in the narrative, questions which provide a compelling filter for reading
the novel in its entirety.
In the Introduction, I briefly delineate the novel’s storyline. This serves to introduce the
novel’s thematic concerns and outlines the linguistic complexities which emerge as a
result of the novel’s structure. An exposition on Realism in the novel follows, where I
suggest how a consideration of the Realist tradition might be useful in exploring the
mimetic effect in Agaat. Next the appearance and history of the plaasroman and farm
novel in South African literature is considered.
In Chapter One, the novel’s structural elements are examined in greater detail, through a
close analysis of the five different narrative voices of the novel. I suggest that the novel is
an elaborate study of identity and subjectivity which simultaneously uproots questions of
voice and authorship. While the subject matter of the novel and the attention to details of
farming and the physical environment makes it seem a near-historical record and places
Agaat within the genre of the plaasroman, the effect of the different voices of the novel is
to undercut fundamentally any stable narrative authority.
Agaat is nevertheless an incredible compendium of the nitty-gritty of life. In Chapter
Two I explore the manner in which the body and the self are located within a very
particular landscape and setting. How and for what purpose is subjectivity and identity
refracted and articulated through metaphors of space and the experiences of place? In the course of a close reading of the novel, I draw on broadly post-structuralist conceptions of
language, as well as South African critics’ writing on the genre of the plaasroman.
The third and final chapter examines the novel Agaat in translation. Agaat is a deeply
literary novel, drawing on a remarkably wide lexicon of cultural references, suffused with
questions of interpretation and a compelling and complex inquiry of language. The
English translation by Michiel Heyns remains a novel of and about Afrikaans. Quite how
this is achieved raises questions of translation pertaining both to the ‘postcolonial’, if one
reads South Africa as such, and to the specifically local. To this end, a brief context to
translation and language politics within the ‘postcolonial’ and South Africa is considered,
before engaging in a closer examination of the techniques by which Agaat was translated
from Afrikaans into English. I conclude with remarks regarding the success of the
translation into English and suggest that the translation is masterful but that its most
striking characteristics depend on a local South African reader. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis behels ‘n noukeurige studie van die roman Agaat (2004) deur die Suid-
Afrikaanse skrywer Marlene van Niekerk. Die klem val deurgaans op die konstruksie van
identiteit en subjektwiteit, en die roman word beskou as ‘n reaksie teen, maar ook ‘n
uitbouing van die tradisies van Realisme en die Suid-Afrikaanse plaasroman/“farm
novel”. Die primêre teks vir hierdie ondersoek is Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling van
die roman (2006), wat verdere vrae rondom taal en interpretasie laat ontstaan. Sodanige
vrae is alreeds implisiet in die narratief gesetel en verskaf ‘n indringende lens waardeur
die roman in sy geheel gelees kan word.
In die Inleiding gee ek ‘n kort oorsig van die verhaalloop, wat ook dien as ‘n
bekendstelling van die roman se temas en die linguistieke kompleksiteite wat ontstaan as
‘n gevolg van die roman se struktuur. ‘n Beskrywing van Realisme in die roman volg,
waarin ek suggereer dat ‘n beskouing van die tradisie van Realisme nuttig kan wees vir ‘n verkenning van die mimetiese effek in Agaat. Volgende word die verskyning en
geskiedenis van die plaasroman en “farm novel” in Suid-Afrikaanse literatuur bekyk.
In Hoofstuk Een word die strukturele elemente van die roman in groter detail beskou deur
middel van ‘n noukeurige analise van die vyf verskillende narratiewe stemme in die
roman. Ek stel voor dat die roman ‘n verwikkelde studie van identiteit en subjektwiteit is,
wat terselfdetyd ook sekere vrae rondom stem en outeurskap ontbloot. Die onderwerp
van die roman en die aandag wat dit skenk aan noukeurige beskrywings van boerdery en
die landelike omgewing skep die indruk van ‘n historiese rekord en situeer Agaat in die
genre van die plaasroman, maar die effek van die verskillende stemme is dat enige
stabiele narratiewe outoriteit op deurslaggewende wyse ondermyn word.
Desondanks bly Agaat ‘n indrukwekkende kompendium van die materiële aspekte van
die lewe. In Hoofstuk Twee verken ek die manier waarop die liggaam en die self gesetel
is binne ‘n baie spesifieke landskap en ligging. Hoe en om watter rede word
subjektiwiteit en identiteit versplinter en geartikuleer deur middel van metafore van
spasie en die ervaring van plek? Deur die loop van ‘n noukeurige lees van die roman
betrek ek breedvoerig sekere post-strukturele gedagtes oor taal, asook Suid-Afrikaanse
kritici se beskouings oor die genre van die plaasroman.
Die derde en laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die roman Agaat in vertaling. Agaat is ‘n diep
literêre roman. Dit betrek ‘n merkwaardige verskeidenheid kulturele verwysings en is
deurspek met vrae rondom interpretasie en ‘n indringende en komplekse ondersoek na die
aard van taal. Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling bly ‘n roman oor Afrikaans. Presies
hoe dít bewerkstellig word opper sekere vrae oor vertaling wat verwys na die
“postkoloniale”, as mens Suid-Afrika in hierdie lig sou beskou, en ook na die spesifiek
plaaslike. Daarom word ‘n opsommende konteks van vertaling en taalpolitiek in die
“postkoloniale” en in Suid-Afrika belig, voordat die tegniek waardeur Agaat van
Afrikaans na Engels vertaal is, van naderby bekyk word. Ek sluit af met opmerkings oor
die sukses van die vertaling na Engels en stel voor dat die vertaling meesterlik is, maar
dat die mees treffende aspekte daarvan ‘n plaaslike, Suid-Afrikaanse leser vereis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/4369 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Levinrad, Ester |
| Contributors | Klopper, Dirk, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 133 p. |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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