This study attempts to highlight the novella from a practical Creative Writing point of view. The establishment of Creative Writing as a teachable university discipline in South Africa is characterised by Creative Writing tutoring in various genres. However, there are voids to be filled in tutoring the nature of a novella and the writing thereof. The objective of this investigation into the novella is to propose a practical writing and theoretical novella approach for application in tutoring Creative Writing. The concept of a genre is investigated to place the novella within the genre categorisation, followed by research of literary sources to determine the origins, nature and historical development of the novella. This background information is essential for Creative Writing students (particularly on tertiary level) to gain knowledge of the literary tradition of the novella. The classical and modern novellas enjoy attention, while confusing terminology for the novella is placed in perspective as far as possible. Some novella definitions from different periods are presented to determine the common characteristics of the novella. These characteristics are important to describe the novella as part of my novella approach. It is essential to look at densification techniques that a writer may apply in order to highlight the novella with its concentrated structure as a particular genre. The four creative elements, event, character, time and space indicated in the title of the thesis, serve as point of departure as these elements are essential in all prose types. Based on this, the creative elements cannot define the novella specifically in their own right. A deeper insight into the writing techniques that the writer may use in the application of the creative elements to obtain the compressed structure of the novella is essential.
The densification techniques are discussed based on the deduced techniques in Veldslag (1965)
by Karel Schoeman. A personally created new millennium novella, Die Here III, is contained in Chapter 6 as a practical application of the densification techniques and a discussion thereof. As a time and culturally bound genre the prominence of event, character, time and space are subject to changes. Some of these changes revealed in the creative elements of Veldslag and Die Here III, are shown individually according to a sliding scale for each novella. The conclusion in Chapter 7 contains a proposed practical approach to the novella that the tutor in Creative Writing may apply. The approach to the novella involves three components: densification techniques for aspirant writers, possible shifts in the prominence of the creative elements and a description of a novella that also relates to the new millennium novella. It is important to emphasise that the approach to the novella does not contain fixed rules for the writing of a successful novella. The term novel approach hopefully disbands the idea of a fixed recipe. The same applies to the description of a novella in stead of a more closed novella definition by Karel Schoeman. A personally created new millennium novella, Die Here III, is contained in Chapter 6 as a practical application of the densification techniques and a discussion thereof. As a time and culturally bound genre the prominence of event, character, time and space are subject to changes. Some of these changes revealed in the creative elements of Veldslag and Die Here III, are shown individually according to a sliding scale for each novella. The conclusion in Chapter 7 contains a proposed practical approach to the novella that the tutor in Creative Writing may apply. The approach to the novella involves three components: densification techniques for aspirant writers, possible shifts in the prominence of the creative elements and a description of a novella that also relates to the new millennium novella. It is important to emphasise that the approach to the novella does not contain fixed rules for the writing of a successful novella. The term novel approach hopefully disbands the idea of a fixed recipe. The same applies to the description of a novella in stead of a more closed novella definition. / This study attempts to highlight the novella from a practical Creative Writing point of view. The establishment of Creative Writing as a teachable university discipline in South Africa is characterised by Creative Writing tutoring in various genres. However, there are voids to be filled in tutoring the nature of a novella and the writing thereof. The objective of this investigation into the novella is to propose a practical writing and theoretical novella approach for application in tutoring Creative Writing. The concept of a genre is investigated to place the novella within the genre categorisation, followed by research of literary sources to determine the origins, nature and historical development of the novella. This background information is essential for Creative Writing students (particularly on tertiary level) to gain knowledge of the literary tradition of the novella. The classical and modern novellas enjoy attention, while confusing terminology for the novella is placed in perspective as far as possible. Some novella definitions from different periods are presented to determine the common characteristics of the novella. These characteristics are important to describe the novella as part of my novella approach. It is essential to look at densification techniques that a writer may apply in order to highlight the novella with its concentrated structure as a particular genre. The four creative elements, event, character, time and space indicated in the title of the thesis, serve as point of departure as these elements are essential in all prose types. Based on this, the creative elements cannot define the novella specifically in their own right. A deeper insight into the writing techniques that the writer may use in the application of the creative elements to obtain the compressed structure of the novella is essential. The densification techniques are discussed based on the deduced techniques in Veldslag (1965) by Karel Schoeman. A personally created new millennium novella, Die Here III, is contained in Chapter 6 as a practical application of the densification techniques and a discussion thereof. As a time and culturally bound genre the prominence of event, character, time and space are subject to changes. Some of these changes revealed in the creative elements of Veldslag and Die Here III, are shown individually according to a sliding scale for each novella. The conclusion in Chapter 7 contains a proposed practical approach to the novella that the tutor in Creative Writing may apply. The approach to the novella involves three components: densification techniques for aspirant writers, possible shifts in the prominence of the creative elements and a description of a novella that also relates to the new millennium novella. It is important to emphasise that the approach to the novella does not contain fixed rules for the writing of a successful novella. The term novel approach hopefully disbands the idea of a fixed recipe. The same applies to the description of a novella in stead of a more closed novella definition. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Afrikaans en Nederlands))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/2584 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Du Plessis, Maria Engela |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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