Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eerste gedeelte van hierdie tesis ondersoek die ruimtelike basis vir morele agentskap in
Gert Vlok Nel se digbundel om te lewe is onnatuurlik. As teoretiese raamwerk word daar van
die teoloog/letterkundige Wesley Kort, die letterkundige/sosioloog Irma du Plessis en die
radikale geograaf David Harvey se werk gebruik gemaak.
Kwessies soos die (i) wisselwerking tussen omvattende, sosiale en intieme ruimtes deur
narratiewe ruimtelikheid in poësie, (ii) die onstandvastigheid van die onderskeid tussen
private en openbare ruimtes en (iii) verkillende vorms van ruimtelikheid, soos absolute,
relatiewe en relasionele ruimtes, asook materiële ruimte, gerepresenteerde ruimte en ruimtes
van representasie kom aan die bod.
Daar word aangevoer dat Gert Vlok Nel se bewustelike plasing van homself as
randfiguurdigter binne die Afrikaanse literêre sisteem as vorm van morele agentskap gesien
kan word. Verder word getoon dat, as om te lewe is onnatuurlik in geheel en as
familiekroniek gelees word, die onderskeid tussen private en openbare ruimtes waar geweld
en trauma plaasvind ondergrawe word en sodoende politieke magskwessies as persoonliketiese
kwessies herdefinieer. Laastens word argument gevoer dat, alhoewel die sprekerdigter
in die bundel (“Gert”, of “Gertjie”) op die oog af gebrekkige agentskap blyk te toon,
die besonderse tydruimtelike plasing van die spreker-digter die moontlikheid vir
verruiming van agentskap skep en sodoende die idee van versplinterde subjek uitdaag.
Hierdie akademiese opstel hou verband met die kreatiewe gedeelte van die tesis, digbundel
getiteld Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle, waarin huishoudelike ruimtes as
vertrekpunt gebruik word om kwessies soos morele verantwoordbaarheid, kreatiewe
aandadigheid, post-koloniale manlikheid, sosiale verandering en trauma te ondersoek. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The first part of this thesis investigates the spatial grounds for moral agency in Gert Vlok
Nel’s collection of poems om te lewe is onnatuurlik [“to live is unnatural”]. The works of
theologian/literary theorist Wesley Kort, literary theorist/sociologist Irma du Plessis and
radical geographer David Harvey are used as theoretical framing.
Matters such as (i) the interplay between encompassing, social and intimate spaces through
narrative spatiality in poetry, (ii) flawed distinctions between private and public space, and
(iii) different forms of spatiality, such as absolute, relative and relational space, as well as
material space, represented space and spaces of representation are explored.
It is argued that Gert Vlok Nel’s conscious positioning of himself as poetic outsider within
the Afrikaans literary system can be seen as a form of moral agency. Furthermore, it is
pointed out that a reading of om te lewe is onnatuurlik in its entirety, as family chronicle,
destabilises the distinction between private and public spaces where violence and trauma
occur, thereby recasting political power as questions of personal ethics. Finally it is argued
that, although the narrator-poet in die collection (“Gert”, or “Gertjie”) seems to lack agency,
the peculiar spatio-temporal placing of the narrator-poet nevertheless opens up room for the
possibility of agency and by doing this, challenges the idea of a splintered subject.
This academic essay is related to the creative part of this thesis, a collection of poems titled
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle [“Multiple uses for domestic appliances”], in
which household space is used as a vantage point from which to interrogate issues such as
moral responsibility, creative complicity, postcolonial masculinities, social change and
trauma.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/79962 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Bezuidenhout, Andries Jacobus |
| Contributors | Van Niekerk, Marlene, Anker, Willem, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | af_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 171 p. : ill. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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