The dissertation offers a comparative reading of Eben Venter's Horrelpoot (2006) and Joseph Conrad's A Heart of Darkness (1902). The aim of this investigation is to establish whether the Afrikaans novel is overshadowed by the classical text, or whether it is an independent text in its own right. Following on a short reception study of reviews and articles published on Venter's latest fictional work, Horrelpoot, is read as an apocalyptic and / or dystopic novel. Whereas Conrad's novel is set in the Congo, Eben Venter opts for a fictionalized post-apartheid South African society riddled with social problems and a complete lack of infrastructure. The ideological notions pertaining to white South African fearing a black future form the crux of Venter's analysis of the contemporary white psyche in South Africa. From an intertextual point of view Venter's re-writing of Conrad's classic is a clear example of how, according to Kristeva's definition, one sign system is transposed into another. What is the result of this for the reception of the contemporary novel? Is one able to read Venter's novel without having to rely on Conrad's novel as intertext? An overview of the different theoretical views on intertextuality is also provided. The apocalyptic vision in Venter's novel is also examined against the background of a series of related novels in South Africa that deal with the same issue. In the 1980s apocalyptic novels focused primarily on apartheid society as symbolizing a dystopic, amoral and oppressive society that needed to be overthrown in favour of a more utopian non-racial society. Venter's novel places a question mark behind such an assumption as it shows that living in a post-apartheid society could even be worse and more dictatorial.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8445 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Roth, Johan Friedrich |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | Afrikaans |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | 105 pages, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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