Showing papers in "Journal of Literary Studies in 1996"
TL;DR: In this article, a brief historical look at land and possession resulted in the attempt to describe the canonical "unity" of the farm novel for inscription into the discourse on land and power, and to search for the meaning which the writers sought in a continuity with the past.
Abstract: Summary From the early nineteenth century to as recently as 1993 narratives that can be characterised as farm novels (a distinct genre in Afrikaans, the “Plaasroman") have been produced consistently in Afrikaans and English canonised prose. The genealogy of this literary form, as well as the meaning of “origin” and “emergence”, is discussed. The discursive formation identified is that of land and the ownership of land; and the farm novel is read as a narrative statement together with land laws, events, social and economic changes and political upheavals within this broader discourse. Why does this type of novel keep recurring? Because a “unity”, a meaning, has never been constructed? A brief historical look at land and possession resulted in the attempt to describe the canonical “unity” of the farm novel for inscription into the discourse on land and power, and to search for the meaning which the writers sought in a continuity with the past. This mapping for meaning would have to take into account the nar...
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the beginnings of modem national literary systems, and that of minority languages in particular, can often be traced back to translations of so-called "classics" such as Shakespeare texts.
Abstract: Summary It is argued that the beginnings of modem national literary systems, and that of minority languages in particular, can often be traced back to translations of so‐called “classics” such as Shakespeare texts. South Africa is no exception. Almost all the South African languages (Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu) went through a phase in which translations of Shakespeare's plays appeared. No Shakespeare translations have yet appeared in Ndebele and Swati. By taking the socio‐cultural conditions under which the translations have been produced into consideration, it is shown how the literary and theatrical systems of the receiving cultures determined what kind of Shakespeare translation would be integrated into the domestic repertoire: page translations, i.e. translations in which no attempt is made at accul‐turating the “other”, or stage translations, i.e. translations that completely acculturate the original work.
8 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the shifts of content and practice which characterise South African English studies are attributable to certain multicultural imperatives, the least acknowledged of which is the mass media, and argue for an English studies which, unlike many cultural studies critiques, admits the validity of people's imaginative, emotional and aesthetic investments in their responses to culture.
Abstract: Summary This paper suggests that the shifts of content and practice which characterise South African English studies are attributable to certain multicultural imperatives, the least acknowledged of which is the mass media. Yet I do not perceive English and cultural studies to be synonymous. While recognising that the “literary” is a category constructed in conflictual relation to other discourses, I argue for an English studies which, unlike many cultural studies critiques, admits the validity of people's imaginative, emotional and aesthetic investments in their responses to culture. The term “mediated” is used to designate not only forms such as televisual and print media, but the mediated nature of our identities as students and teachers as they relate to pedagogic practice.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown how Mieke Bal's use of the term focalization differs from that of Genette and how confusing the two has led to misrepresentation and false argument.
Abstract: Summary It is shown how Mieke Bal's use of the term focalization differs from that of Genette and how confusing the two has led to misrepresentation and false argument. It is proposed that the word filter be used for Bal's notion of focalization whilst Genette's focalization be defined as a “bottleneck” of information. Since it is possible for the same character in a novel to function as both bottleneck and filter, a clear terminological distinction between the two is imperative.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors move from the historical shaping of the discipline of literary studies to an investigation of the methodological and disciplinary coherence of cultural studies, which leads to some remarks concerning cultural ethnography and its attendant epistemological constraints.
Abstract: Summary This study moves, by way of brief comments on the historical shaping of the discipline of literary studies, to an investigation of the methodological and disciplinary coherence of cultural studies. In turn, this leads to some remarks concerning cultural ethnography and its attendant epistemological constraints. The essay concludes with some thoughts in favour of a repositioning of literary critical activity.
4 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the relationship between Schopenhauer's philosophy of the will, Beckett's literary art, and the notion of the unrepresentable or the sublime as reformulated by Lyotard.
Abstract: Summary The present article explores the relationship between Schopenhauer's philosophy of the will, Beckett's literary art (particularly drama) and the notion of the unrepresentable or the sublime as reformulated by Lyotard. An attempt is made to show that Beckett's work, which has been called postmodern, may be read as an exemplification of what Lyotard terms the modern or nostalgic sublime, recognizable by its allusion to unrepresentable “missing contents”. It is further argued at length that the “missing contents” in this case are the Schopenhauerian will, understood to be the unrepresentable, irrational, abysmal ground of being, and that an analysis of some of Beckett's work reveals a clear similarity between its “musical structure” and that of the metaphysical notion of the will.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Fourie's Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) is considered as a theatrical sign of the Afrikaner nationalist's psychic and sociopolitical crisis during the early eighties.
Abstract: Summary The purpose of this article is to theorize from a Lacanian perspective Fourie's Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) as a theatrical sign of the Afrikaner nationalist's psychic and sociopolitical crisis during the early eighties. At the same time the essay aims to indicate the fruitfulness of this approach for the analysis of drama in relation to its society. The first section marks the point of departure of this article. The second section provides a broad outline of its composition. The third part functions as a theoretical exposition of the Lacanian gaze. Silverman's ‘political contestation” and some other theoretical concepts such as master narratives, god‐terms, the Name‐of‐the‐Father, ego ideal, acoustic mirror, the subject of speech, the Symbolic, Imaginary and the Real are also touched upon. Section four analyses Anna with the conceptual tools prepared in the third part. In terms of this analysis, section five relates Anna in broad outline to the socio‐political background of its inception.1
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on two "detective novels" by Stanislaw Lem, analysed in terms of chaos theory, which states that complex systems are not merely disorderly, but can generate a kind of order.
Abstract: Summary The article focuses on two “detective novels” by Stanislaw Lem, analysed in terms of chaos theory, which states that complex systems are not merely disorderly, but can generate a kind of order. Lem's fictions exemplify the failure of rationality to solve problems within the context of infinite networks of random variables. This, however, does not imply a rejection of rationality or objective knowledge as such; rationality and the quest for objective truth remain implicit to the detectives’ investigations.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a meta-textual device through which the parodic text can be looked at self-reflexively from the inside, which already implies that the secondary text is aware of its own as well as the primary text's status and limitations.
Abstract: Summary The parody strives, among other things, to deconstruct the sublime work of art to something ludicrous, thus indicating that nothing about art is sacrosanct. At the same time the parody also illustrates the transposability of art. For instance, in Charles Fourie's Die eend (1994) ‐ a parody based on The Seagull (1896) by Anton Chekhov ‐the character Anton Tsjechof finds himself on African soil. The aesthetic reincarnation of Anton Chekhov creates an interesting meta‐textual device through which the parodic text can be looked at self‐reflexively from the inside. This already implies that the secondary text is aware of its own as well as the primary text's status and limitations. Consequently, this article is mainly interested in the specific way in which Die eend comes into being as the new or secondary text, based on the famous original text. The Seagull.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a frame of reference has been devised from the perspective of semiotic structuralism which not only allows for the objective identification of the gap, but also assesses its informativity in terms of the genre code.
Abstract: Summary Literary communication hinges on both verbal and non‐verbal signs or unfilled spaces. With a view to describing these gaps definitively and unambiguously, a frame of reference has been devised from the perspective of semiotic structuralism which not only allows for the objective identification of the gap, but also assesses its informativity in terms of the genre code.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the different approaches of Plautus and Terence in this respect, and shed some light on the reason for Plauts' popularity and their less enthusiastic reception amongst contemporaries.
Abstract: Summary Theatre productions and thrillers have one important quality in common: the success of both depends on the author's ability to arouse and maintain the spectator's/reader's interest. In this article the phenomenon of dramatic suspense and some of the techniques used to create suspense in a thriller and in Roman comedy are discussed. The qualities shared by Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal (1971) and the comedies of Plautus and Terence, include a plot structure containing an initiating event with a potentially significant outcome, a perspicuous but stereotyped plot, the dual goal of escape and entertainment, a predetermined time, date and place for the climax and various strategies of delaying the expected event. A comparison of the various techniques employed to generate and maintain suspense, also reveals the different approaches of Plautus and Terence in this respect, and sheds some light on the reason for Plautus’ popularity and Terence's less enthusiastic reception amongst contemporaries.
TL;DR: A broad overview of the forms and elements which have contributed to the progression of drama in Africa, and simultaneously indicates the position of South African drama within this extensive context is provided in this paper.
Abstract: Summary The article provides a broad overview of the forms and elements which have contributed to the progression of drama in Africa, and simultaneously indicates the position of South African drama within this extensive context. Much attention has been devoted to pinpointing existing similarities and differences which may mainly be ascribed to South Africa's unique socio‐political character. The conclusions drawn could have a significant bearing on future trends in the development of theatre in Africa as a whole.
TL;DR: The first post-apartheid play, Valley Song (1995), is a two-hander play by Athol Fugard as mentioned in this paper which is situated in the liminal space of the in-between: between the interregnum and the post-election era, between decaying apartheid structures and the uncertainty of a fledgling democracy, between the stifling entrapment of old ways and the energy and enthusiasm of youth.
Abstract: Summary Valley Song (1995), Athol Fugard's first post‐apartheid play, is situated in the liminal space of the in‐between: between the interregnum and the post‐election era, between the decaying apartheid structures and the uncertainty of a fledgling democracy, between the stifling entrapment of old ways and the energy and enthusiasm of youth. The play demonstrates some new initiatives in structure and thematic concerns but is undeniably part of Fugard's oeuvre and retains many attributes of earlier plays. The conventional two‐hander here incorporates an unusual facet since the playwright takes on two roles: a white Author, whom he makes little attempt to disguise both in the biographical accuracy of the play and in his interviews, as well as an old “coloured” man, Buks, whose seventeen‐year‐old granddaughter, Veronica, forms, in my reading, the focus of the play. In Valley Song the engendering of Veronica's voice and the performance of her vision placed in tandem with the question of landownership, emphas...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the conclusions reached by contemporary science to investigate the post-modern renaissance of the labyrinths of space and time, and found that the obfuscation and comprehension of both spatial and temporal labyrinths depend on the distinction between inside and outside.
Abstract: Summary The article uses the conclusions reached by contemporary science to investigate the postmodern renaissance of the labyrinth. The first part concentrates on spatial labyrinths in the fiction of Umberto Eco and Jorge Luis Borges, as these are precursors of temporal labyrinths, and shows how Newton's laws, which prove the relativity of space, can be used to explain these labyrinths. The second part of the article examines temporal labyrinths in Borges's and Peter Ackroyd's work. Einstein's theory of relativity as well as recent developments in new physics, is used to provide a possible explanation of these labyrinths of temporal relativity. The article shows that the obfuscation and comprehension of both spatial and temporal labyrinths depend on the distinction between inside and outside: inside the labyrinth, there is confusion; outside the labyrinth, the structure can be comprehended. The parallel development in literature and science, in their acknowledgement of the relativity of space and time, b...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the notions of death, resistance and liberation in Peter Horn's sequence of poems "The Plumstead Elegies" and argue that the process of radical personal and social transformation described in the poems is rendered problematical by employing a conceptual framework that is at once psychoanalytic and Marxist.
Abstract: Summary The article focuses on the notions of death, resistance and liberation in Peter Horn's sequence of poems “The Plumstead Elegies”. It argues that the process of radical personal and social transformation described in the poems is rendered problematical by employing a conceptual framework that is at once psychoanalytic and Marxist. The dilemma posed by the process of transformation described in the poems is seen to arise from a disjunction between the psychoanalytic view of an inevitable division within the psyche, which suggests that the subject can never fully embrace his or her freedom, and the teleological logic of a Marxism requiring that domination be followed by the singular event of a deliverance.
TL;DR: The authors investigates the concepts of the unsayable, the unrepresentable, and the unpresentable in the early and the later Wittgenstein and in the work of Lyotard.
Abstract: Summary This article investigates the concepts of the unsayable, the unrepresentable, and the unpresentable in the early and the later Wittgenstein and in the work of Lyotard. It compares the ethics of Wittgenstein's injunction in the Tractatus, that we must keep silent about that whereof we cannot speak, with Lyotard's attempt to form an ethics around the unrepresentable through the “differend”. Taking Lyotard's acknowledgement of his debt to the later Wittgenstein's conception of the incommensurability of language‐games and his anti‐humanist critique of Wittgenstein's “anthropomorphism” as its point of analysis, it argues that Lyotard fails to account for what Wittgenstein would call the “grammar” of the ethical by excluding the agency of the human subject through a dogmatic anti‐humanist theory. Lyotard's reduction of the grammatical to the theoretical thus produces a differend at the heart of his own ethical project.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the superseding of the human has both a science fictional and a millennial character, a problematic status for any episte-mological claims such thinking would wish to make.
Abstract: Summary This paper argues two imbricated points. Firstly, it is concerned to take issue with overly enthusiastic predictions many commentators are making that we are entering a “posthuman” era in history, brought about by the relationship we have to contemporary information technologies which threaten to make human intersubjective exchange at the physical level obsolete. Theorizing about the superseding of the human, I will argue, has both a science fictional and a millennial character, a problematic status for any episte‐mological claims such thinking would wish to make. The second and related point of the argument is to suggest an alternative reading of the cultural consequences of information technology. Such a reading focuses on the renegotiation of natural versus cultural forces in the human psyche due to the imbrication of the human with its technology, and suggests that what is most human about us, is what is perhaps most “pathological” about our psyches ‐ that is, what exceeds or escapes assimilat...
TL;DR: The authors explore the operation of the labyrinth both within The Name of the Rose (1984) (as Eco's labyrinth) and as a condition of reading (as the labyrinth of discourse) and explore this potentially infinite space of conjecture outside of which one can never step.
Abstract: Summary I will explore the operation of the labyrinth both within The Name of the Rose (1984) (as Eco's labyrinth) and as a condition of reading (as the labyrinth of discourse). The paper is about this potentially infinite space of conjecture outside of which one can never step. My project is thus similar to that of metaphor. Metaphor does not afford access to truth or meaning: it is both a provisional loss of meaning (because of its dissemination within syntax, its passing through a supplement of syntactic resistance), and a history with its sights set on the reappropriation of literal meaning.1 So too, the labyrinth as metaphor governs the production and retrieval of meaning, or rather elides the two. The labyrinth may be seen to confound positions of reader and writer: it belongs to none and floats as metaphor and of metaphor, unable to coordinate metaphor with the production of truth. As the dominant metaphor it will not return to the major transcendental signifieds, God or the Sun. Metaphor celebrate...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take a close look at the intertextual relationship between Reza de Wet's drama Diepe grond and the children's stories of Alba Bouwer.
Abstract: Summary This article attempts to take a close look at the intertextual relationship between Reza de Wet's drama Diepe grond and the children's stories of Alba Bouwer. This relationship entails three aspects: confirmation, transformation and undermining. The concept “deep soil” in the title of the drama, the drinking of castor oil and scolding as manifestations of an authoritarian and unsympathetic parental attitude, fleas (lice) as something that need not be considered as cause for embarrassment, the “missing” father and mother, rain and water as religious symbols, the “killing” of the parents and other educators, corporal punishment and censuring of the erotic are signifiers from Bouwer's stories which are confirmed and exploited in Diepe grond. In the case of the following transformation takes place: from prose to drama, from the grave of a beloved member of the enemy to that of the hated parents, from the donning of parents’ clothes as a children's game to the same as preparation for a harrowing murder...
TL;DR: In this article, ways are suggested of incorporating approaches typical of cultural studies within a theoretical framework conceptualized for the teaching of literature, and the most pressing needs for adaptation are discussed, while simultaneously, some objections to the relevant approaches are raised and assessed.
Abstract: Summary In the article, ways are suggested of incorporating approaches typical of cultural studies within a theoretical framework conceptualised for the teaching of literature. Some elements of crisis within the teaching of Afrikaans literature are discussed, and the most pressing needs for adaptation are indicated. The international model of cultural studies is examined and used as the basis for proposals aimed at the evolutionary adaptation of teaching methods. In conclusion, the emphasis falls on the advantages of diverse approaches to cultural studies; simultaneously, some objections to the relevant approaches are raised and assessed.