bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
’n Ondersoek na die kunstenaarskap in Die swye van Mario Salviati binne die konteks van die magiese realisme
Authors: Botes N. , Cochrane N.
Published: August 2012

An investigation into the nature of the artist in The long silence of Mario Salviati within the context of magic realism This article investigates the nature of the artist in “The long silence of Mario Salviati” (2000) within the context of magic realism. This novel by Etienne van Heerden is particularly interesting as the theme of art is directly intertwined with magic realism. The specific relationship between artistry and magic realism in “The long silence of Mario Salviati” has not been the focus of any particular study yet. Several artists in the novel will be analysed within the context of magic realism and according to magic realist characteristics to give an integrated perspective on style and theme. This investigation largely conjoins with the viewpoints of Faris (1995), although perspectives from other theorists are also taken as a point of departure. Some important characteristics of magic realist texts which are discussed within the context of artistry in “The long silence of Mario Salviati” are inter alia the co-existence of two worlds, doubts from the reader concerning the interpretation of events as realist or magical, the questioning of conventional ideas about time, space and identity, the anti-bureaucratic viewpoint and the focus on collective rather than individual memory.
Riviere as identiteitskonstrueerders
Authors: Meyer S.
Published: August 2012

Rivers and the construction of identity The collection of youth memories “Met ’n eie siekspens” (Engela van Rooyen) and the novel “Manaka: plek van die horings” (Pieter Pieterse) complement each other as literary embodiments of the phenomenon that human life and identity are influenced by an aspect of the characters’ natural environment, namely the river. This article focuses on the nature and extent of the influence of rivers on the development of identity in characters in these two works. In “Met ’n eie siekspens” the formative role of the Orange River is connected with a complex relationship between man and river in which elements of devotion collide with those of enslavement. The values taught by the river and its surroundings are core components of the characters’ identities. In “Manaka: plek van die horings”, the main character’s dream of a life on the Zambezi is part of his identity, in that it embodies selfrealisation and has directed his thinking and self-image since childhood. The river and its surroundings, however, later on also play an important role in the re-interpretation of his life goal and the acquisition of a wider understanding of his true identity. This investigation underlines the importance of research into the portrayal of the relationship between man and nature within the broader field of study in which the portrayal of matters of identity in Afrikaans literature is investigated.
’n Leksikologiese studie van die klas adjektiewe waartoe ene behoort
Authors: Ponelis F.
Published: August 2012

A lexicological study of the set of Afrikaans adjectives containing 'ene' The tiny lexicological set accounted for in the present article comprises “ene”, “loutere”, “pure”, “skone”, “suiwere”, “volle”, “reine” and “totale”. Die kinders is die “ene” ore. The kids are all ears. Die lees daarvan verskaf “loutere” plesier. Reading it provides sheer pleasure. The lexicological framework forming the basis of the discussion makes reference to lexical, syntactic and semantic features. Formal and semantic specialisation is discussed and illustrated in respect of a wide range of data. The adjectival set is defined in terms of semantic features such as the following. (i) “totally, full of” Haar lirieke is die “ene” opstand en adolessente aggressie. Her lyrics are sheer revolt and adolescent aggression. (ii) “nothing else than” Ek bespeur “skone” (loutere, pure, suiwere, reine, die ene) verwondering op die gesigte rondom my. I noticed sheer amazement on the faces around me. Subsets within the encompassing whole are brought to light by crosscutting features, such as the combination of the definite article “die” (the) with “ene” and “pure”, and the variability of the ending -e in “loutere” and “suiwere” but not in “ene” and “skone”. In conclusion, the articles dealing with “ene”, “loutere” and “pure” in the comprehensive dictionary of Afrikaans, “Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal”, are subjected to critical analysis.
Sustaining the imaginative life: mythology and fantasy in Neil Gaiman’s American gods
Authors: Slabbert M. , Viljoen L.
Published: August 2012

This examination of “American gods” argues that mythology is the bedrock for creative and poetic expression in literature that explores and comments on the universality of contemporary human concerns in a world where the spiritual link with the gods has largely been severed and belief systems have mostly lost their meaning. The discussion investigates and identifies the significance of shamanic properties and practices as elements which aid the protagonist Shadow Moon in his journey of self-discovery, and illustrates that the novel’s mythification represents an attempt to “reach below the surface of modern superficialities and reconnect with something old and mysterious within the depths of our soul” (Freke, 1999:6). Gaiman’s unique style in conveying tales that have fashioned the past, the manner in which he evokes the meeting-place of science, fantasy, myth, and magic, and the synthesis he fashions between the ancient and the modern illustrate that the imaginative life is sustained by the incorporation of mythical motifs as creative device. The blending of mythical elements in “American gods” and its restorative project of putting the reader in touch with the profound inner spiritual world validate investigation.
Richard Murphy: a life in writing
Authors: Meihuizen E.
Published: August 2012

The Irish poet Richard Murphy published his autobiography “The kick: a life among writers” in 2003. From a slightly different perspective the subtitle of this work could be rewritten as “A life in writing” since it is an account of the agencies that moulded a life devoted to creative writing which forms the book’s essential impetus. The memoir is based on notebooks which Murphy kept throughout his life “to hold the scraps of verse, elusive images, dreams, desires and revelations” to be developed into poetry. Apart from contextualising his poetry by registering the relationships, circumstances and landscapes from which it germinated, Murphy also tells of the creative process itself and the personal poetics underlying this process. This article explores what is regarded as the central determining feature of Murphy’s identity as poet, namely the relationship between the creative self and a particular place, where the concept of “place” is seen as a cultural palimpsest which represents not only physical qualities, but also the shaping and development of the landscape through time according to a certain way of life.
V.S. Naipaul’s Half a life, Magic seeds and globalisation
Authors: Balfour R.
Published: August 2012

Naipaul’s work has been described as an examination of “the clash between belief and unbelief, the unravelling of the British Empire, the migration of peoples” (Donadio, 2005). Controversial both in terms of his perceptions of postcolonial nations (Said, 1978) and of postcolonial literary criticism (King, 1993), Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, at an earlier point declared the novel dead and postcolonial nations half-baked. Despite his provocative pronouncements and his readers’ criticisms (the most stringent and extensive critique by Nixon (1992)), Naipaul is too important to be marginalised. While major contemporaries have ceased to be productive (Walcott, Ondaatje, Soyinka) Naipaul’s voice continues to be heard, his tones new, his perspective flexible enough to apprehend new phenomena in culture and politics, and his critique sufficiently disturbing to merit critical attention. Despite accusations of being a postcolonial lackey, a reactionary, a racist, and a misogynist, he has survived, and not only because of his elegant prose. My purpose in this article is to explore his 21st century writing as a critical understanding of the postcolonial phenomenon of globalisation as a cultural and economic force which is a development and consequence of imperialism and decolonisation. I shall argue that as a phenomenon, globalisation differs from postcolonialism, in the interaction it brings about between marginalised classes and nations and those who by virtue of class, economic power or race are defined as being at the centre in the 21st century.
Van Tempeltronk tot katedraal: die kruisweg van Lodewyk XVII
Authors: Morgan N.
Published: August 2012

From the Temple to the cathedral: the calvary of Louis XVII In 2004, more than 200 years after his death in the Temple prison, the heart of Louis XVII, the successor to France’s last king of the Ancien Régime, Louis XVI, was buried in the royal necropolis of Saint-Denis. Despite numerous publications on the destiny of the Little Prince, the chronology of his short life was not determined by historians and biographers, but by scientists who, in 2000, performed DNA tests on the petrified organ, which was miraculously preserved. Before this date, the biographies of the many pretenders to Louis XVII’s throne (that of Naundorff in particular) were better-known than the lifehistory of Marie Antoinette’s youngest son. Since then, various publications have changed this state of affairs, including an historical novel by one of France’s most knowledgeable authors on the monarchy of the 17th and 18th centuries and a biographical novel by a member of the Bourbon family. Antonia Fraser’s (2001) biography on Marie Antoinette and Sofia Coppola’s (2006) film on her life have rekindled interest in the events of the French revolution. The story of Louis XVII, who was used as a pawn by the revolutionaries, is one the most tragic of that period in the country’s history. This article provides an overview of key events gleaned from various sources, translated into Afrikaans for the first time.
Philia and neikos in Keats’s 'Song of four faeries'
Authors: Swanepoel A.C.
Published: August 2012

Despite the fact that Keats’s “Song of four faeries” received very little critical attention, the poem raises interesting issues regarding the creative and destructive forces in nature. The poem presents a conversation between the four elemental faeries about union and separation. Using Empedocles’ four-element theory of creation and change in nature as framework, this article explores through close reading how the form and content of the poem mirror creative and destructive natural processes. It concludes that both Empedocles’ concepts “philia” (the creative force), and “neikos” (the destructive force), feature in both form and content, but that “philia” is more prevalent in the form, whereas “neikos” is expressed mostly in the content of the poem. Furthermore, the natural changes presented in the poem suggest themselves in the form of the poem before they become evident in its content.
Classification of Setswana short stories
Authors: Mojalefa M.J. , Makgato M.M.
Published: August 2012

The aim of this article is to reclassify Setswana short stories according to their treatment of female characters. Critics such as Ranamane have classified Setswana literary works according to year of publication, without giving any valid reasons for this type of classification. This article, focusing on the development of the characterisation of women in Setswana short stories, classifies stories based on three periods, namely the phase of womanism, the experimental phase and the phase of feminism. In the phase of womanism, the outstanding features of characterisation of females include oppression and illtreatment, discrimination and segregation, ignorance, physical violence against females and limitation of the role of women to caring for the extended family. In the experimental phase, features include liberation of a female character, freedom of the whole society, agreement on marriage and working together as a team to solve the problems of society. The phase of feminism is identified by features of characterisation of females such as eradication of oppression, the fight for equality between women and men, removal of segregation and discrimination and also change across the whole of society.
Translating culture: Matthee’s Kringe in ’n bos as a case in point
Authors: Cloete W. , Wenzel M.
Published: August 2012

The translation of “cultural identity” in a novel such as “Kringe in ’n bos” contributes towards the definition of a uniquely South African representation of time and space in the global context. When translation is studied as a product of its socio-historical context, the translator is faced with problems of translating ideology and cultural identity in literature. Realia constitute a particular challenge to the translator because, according to the definition, precise equivalents of these words do not exist in other languages, which could cause shifts in the target language text. This article considers the concept of translatability and concludes that, despite the problems encountered, an adequate and satisfactory German translation from the Afrikaans original should be possible. The question of translatability assumes an interesting dimension as the Afrikaans novel was translated into English by the author herself. The privileged position of author-translator granted Matthee a near-perfect understanding of the different layers of meaning and intention of the source text and eliminated the gap between the author and translator. However, one gains the impression that the German translator (Stege) resorted to transference as a strategy to avoid translation and it emerges that most instances of definite mistranslations are, indeed, attributable to Stege’s unfamiliarity with the South African context.
Fay Weldon, liberal feminism and the praxis of Praxis
Authors: Foley A.
Published: August 2012

This article focuses on Fay Weldon’s novel, “Praxis”, as a means of exploring the concept of “liberal feminism”. “Praxis” charts the development of the eponymous main protagonist from a woman complicit in her own patriarchal oppression to a radical feminist activist and finally to the point where she comes to a liberal realisation of the nuances of individual women’s experiences and the complexity of emancipation. The novel may be regarded as a liberal feminist text in its emphasis on both gender equality and individual liberty, and in its insistence that society may be positively reformed within the paradigm of the liberal state and without resorting to radical extremism. Published in 1978, the novel anticipates the later shift in feminist thinking from an exclusive concern with women’s rights to a more inclusive liberal vision of human rights.
Crossing lines: the novels of Nadine Gordimer with a particular focus on Occasion for loving and The pickup
Authors: Barker D.A.
Published: August 2012

Novelist, playwright, short-story writer, polemicist and activist, Nadine Gordimer (1929), received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991. She is an implacable opponent of apartheid, which she opposed through her imaginative writing as well as through essays and polemics. The end of apartheid was heralded by the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, and officially ended with the first democratic elections that were held in April of 1994. Gordimer has produced fourteen novels to date: ten falling clearly within the apartheid period, and four novels that can be classified as falling within the postapartheid period. There is evidence of several general and interrelated shifts in her novels since the demise of apartheid. The previous emphasis on the community and communal responsibility has to some extent been replaced by a relatively greater emphasis on the individual, that is, a move from a stress on public identity to private identity. Local, South African concerns are succeeded by more global concerns. This article discusses these developments, with a specific focus on “Occasion for loving” (1963) and “The pickup” (2001).
Alan Paton’s unpublished fiction (1922- 1934): an initial appraisal
Authors: Levey D.
Published: August 2012

This article considers selected issues in the early fiction of Alan Paton, which is in manuscript form: three novels or parts of novels namely, “Ship of Truth” (1922-1923), “Brother Death” (1930), “John Henry Dane” (1934b), the novel/novella “Secret for seven” (1934d), and the short stories “Little Barbee”, (1928?) and “Calvin Doone” (1930a). Attention is given to the first novel. A summary of the findings follows: even though Paton’s longer unpublished fiction is religiously earnest and at times rhetorically effective, it is simplistic and tends to perpetuate the white, English-speaking patriarchal hegemony of Natal, rather than offer any sustained critique of it. These works are set against the background of the Natal Midlands in the 1920s and 1930s. The shorter fiction is slightly different in nature.
On the development of a tagset for Northern Sotho with special reference to the issue of standardisation
Authors: Taljard E. , Faaß G. , Heid U. , Prinsloo D.J.
Published: August 2012

Working with corpora in the South African Bantu languages has up till now been limited to the utilisation of raw corpora. Such corpora, however, have limited functionality. Thus the next logical step in any NLP application is the development of software for automatic tagging of electronic texts. The development of a tagset is one of the first steps in corpus annotation. The authors of this article argue that the design of a tagset cannot be isolated from the purpose of the tagset, or from the place of the tagset and its design within the bigger picture of the architecture of corpus annotation. Usage-related aspects therefore feature prominently in the design of the tagset for Northern Sotho. It is explained why this proposed tagset is biased towards human readability, rather than machine readability; this choice of a stochastic tagger is motivated, and the relationship between tokenising, tagging, morphological analysis and parsing is discussed. In order to account at least to some extent for the morphological complexity of Northern Sotho at the tagging level, a multilevel annotation is opted for: the first level comprising obligatory information and the second optional and recommended information. Finally, aspects of standardisation are considered against the background of reuse, of sharing of resources, and of possible adaptation for use by other disjunctively written South African Bantu languages. It is not the aim of this article to evaluate the results of any tagging procedure using the proposed tagset. It only describes the design and motivates the choices made with regard to the tagset design. However, an evaluation is in process and results will be published in the near future (cf. Faaß et al., s.a.).
Ontwikkeling van ’n Afrikaanse woordnet: metodologie en integrasie
Authors: Kotzé G.
Published: August 2012

Development of an Afrikaans wordnet: methodology and integration The Afrikaans wordnet is a lexical-conceptual network in the form of an electronic lexical database, developed at the North- West University. In this article, a methodology for a semi-automatic construction of the entries – so-called synonym sets – is investigated. Firstly, a background is given on the nature of a wordnet, as well as “WordNet”, on which it is based. Other wordnets, as well as applications of wordnets, are also discussed here. Next, the macrostructure of a wordnet in terms of its integration and compatibility with other wordnets is investigated, after which the proposed methodology is presented with a discussion of the results. Finally, a projection is made to the integration of the Afrikaans wordnet with other resources, which include “WordNet” and an Afrikaans lexical database, called ALEXANDER.
Orthographic measures of language distances between the official South African languages
Authors: Zulu P.N. , Botha G. , Barnard E.
Published: August 2012

Two methods for objectively measuring similarities and dissimilarities between the eleven official languages of South Africa are described. The first concerns the use of n-grams. The confusions between different languages in a text-based language identification system can be used to derive information on the relationships between the languages. Our classifier calculates n-gram statistics from text documents and then uses these statistics as features in classification. We show that the classification results of a validation test can be used as a similarity measure of the relationship between languages. Using the similarity measures, we were able to represent the relationships graphically. We also apply the Levenshtein distance measure to the orthographic word transcriptions from the eleven South African languages under investigation. Hierarchical clustering of the distances between the different languages shows the relationships between the languages in terms of regional groupings and closeness. Both multidimensional scaling and dendrogram analysis reveal results similar to well-known language groupings, and also suggest a finer level of detail on these relationships.
Bilingual word list: computational linguistics
Authors: Van Huyssteen G.B.
Published: August 2012

This word list is under constant development. Please send any comments, suggestions or additions to Gerhard van Huyssteen
Towards a computational morphological analysis of Setswana compounds
Authors: Pretorius L. , Viljoen B. , Pretorius R. , Berg A.
Published: August 2012

The development of a computational morphological analyser for Setswana necessitates the accurate modelling and implementation of, among others, compounding as a word formation process. Compounding is known to be an area of Setswana morphology that has sadly been neglected and still requires much investigation and research. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the formation of noun + noun compounds by computational morphological means in order to understand how this process should be formalised, modelled and subsequently implemented. In particular, an empirical study based on a collection of Setswana noun + noun compounds is reported on. The computational morphological analysis of these compounds revealed linguistic deviations from the standard morphological rules governing the formation of nouns and deverbatives. Examples, computational results and a discussion of the main findings are included.
Die ontwikkeling van ’n woordafbreker en kompositumanaliseerder vir Afrikaans
Authors: Pilon S. , Puttkammer M.J. , Van Huyssteen G.B.
Published: August 2012

The development of a hyphenator and compound analyser for Afrikaans The development of two core-technologies for Afrikaans, viz. a hyphenator and a compound analyser is described in this article. As no annotated Afrikaans data existed prior to this project to serve as training data for a machine learning classifier, the core-technologies in question are first developed using a rule-based approach. The rule-based hyphenator and compound analyser are evaluated and the hyphenator obtains an fscore of 90,84%, while the compound analyser only reaches an f-score of 78,20%. Since these results are somewhat disappointing and/or insufficient for practical implementation, it was decided that a machine learning technique (memory-based learning) will be used instead. Training data for each of the two core-technologies is then developed using “TurboAnnotate”, an interface designed to improve the accuracy and speed of manual annotation. The hyphenator developed using machine learning has been trained with 39 943 words and reaches an fscore of 98,11% while the f-score of the compound analyser is 90,57% after being trained with 77 589 annotated words. It is concluded that machine learning (specifically memory-based learning) seems an appropriate approach for developing coretechnologies for Afrikaans.
Om (somtyds) lig en aandagtig te reis: mistici in drie romans van Lettie Viljoen/ Ingrid Winterbach
Authors: Foster L.
Published: August 2012

Traveling light and attentively (on occasion): mystics in three novels by Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach By means of references to mystics, the author Lettie Viljoen/ Ingrid Winterbach creates a framework within which characters who exhibit mystic tendencies – namely Fonny Alexander and Boetie Kareltjie (“Buller se plan”) and the master (“Landskap met vroue en slang”) – can be compared. This matrix activates a number of issues: the place of women within a religious-cultural system and the power they wield within such a system by resorting to mysticism, engagement with existing systems of authority and the possibility of exerting power by withdrawing from such systems, the traditional opposition between physicality and spiritual purity, and the issue of martyrdom. Against this backdrop Fonny’s obliteration of her own identity in an attempt to cope with trauma is contrasted with the master’s approach of experiencing and accepting change and attempting to learn from it. Ultimately it is argued that there is an attempt to reject a type of mysticism that pretends to offer power to its proponents while actually disempowering them.
Memory, history and oblivion in Horrelpoot by Eben Venter
Authors: Postma M. , Slabbert M.N.
Published: August 2012

“Horrelpoot” by Eben Venter joins the ranks of other postapartheid Afrikaans literature that reflects different sides of memory, history and guilt. This article explores the different constructs of memory – laced with rich Jungian archetypal images – that are portrayed in “Horrelpoot”. Drawing on Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, “Horrelpoot” sketches the protagonist, Marlouw’s journey from the West (Australia) to the “dark” continent (Africa), and his ancestral farm, “Ouplaas” in South Africa. The article elaborates on Marlouw’s journey, which, at a deeper level, is nothing but a Jungian journey towards individuation, a journey into the deepest and archaic level of his own psyche. In the final instance, “Horrelpoot” reminds us that in a century of forgetting, memory persists, and that Marlouw’s journey could be a collective one which may guide white South Africans to face their own deep and dark past and the horror that lies at the bottom of their history.
“Beyond stereotypes”: representations of a foreign culture in film students’ productions
Authors: Hyde-Clarke N.
Published: August 2012

Growing concerns about the continued use of cultural stereotypes in media production, and the subsequent decrease in diversity, resulted in the launch of a student film production programme between three tertiary institutions in South Africa and Finland during the first half of 2006. The aim of the programme was to encourage students to produce films about a foreign culture that moved “beyond stereotypes” and reflected a greater understanding of that society. This article examines the production process, participants’ experience and analyses the final products that were produced in the nine weeks the students spent in Helsinki, Finland. To what extent can media productions, such as film, be devoid of stereotypes?
Op loop met ’n lyn: T.T. Cloete se “toepassings van dante” ikonies en intertekstueel gelees
Authors: Du Plooy H.J.G.
Published: August 2012

Taking a line for a walk: an iconic and intertextual reading of T.T. Cloete’s “toepassings van dante” (“applications of dante”) The cycle of poems in T.T. Cloete’s “toepassings van dante” (“applications of dante”) has iconic characteristics but also resonates within wider intertextual and cultural spheres. The interpretation of the poems presented in this article attempts to incorporate textual aspects such as iconicity, referentiality, selfreferentiality and representation as well as the intertextual and cultural meanings generated by the texts. The poems refer directly to Dante’s “Paradiso”, activating the codes of chivalry which informed medieval poetry, but the strong visual nature of the poems also leads the reader to Paul Klee’s esthetic and visual principles and Bachelard’s views on form and space. The coherence as well as the development of themes are discussed. Line, movement and form are depicted as dynamic aspects of creativity but ultimately the paradoxical relation between beauty and functionality is thematised. Nevertheless, it is emphasised that even in the interpretation of the multilayered meanings of the texts, the referential nature of language and the iconic nature of the text are basic and therefore essential aspects of the generation of meaning.
Die tyd van die triekster: identiteit in enkele hedendaagse Afrikaanse prosatekste
Authors: John P.
Published: August 2012

The time of the trickster: identity in selected contemporary Afrikaans prose textsThis article focuses on the various ways in which “identity” figures in Afrikaans novels from 1996 to 2006, particularly with reference to the way in which diasporic displacement and death can be connected to the problem of identity. The various options that are identified in the texts are connected by means of the structuralist idea that meaning is produced as “a system of differences with no positive terms”. The figure of the trickster, as it appears in one novel from this time, namely “Niggie” by Ingrid Winterbach, is used as heuristic framework for the study, and as a provisional way understanding the production of the variety of identity options in the novels.
Aliens and existential elevators: absurdity and its shadows in Douglas Adams’s Hitch hiker series
Authors: Van der Colff M.A.
Published: August 2012

According to twentieth-century existentialist philosophy, the universe as we know it is steeped in senselessness, and the only possible means of survival is the construction of subjective meaning. Douglas Adams’s fictional universe portrayed in his “Hitch hiker” series reflects the arbitrary nature of existence, and the characters dwelling in this narrative space are faced with two existential choices: the one is defiance in the face of senselessness, the other is bleak despair. This article explores the existential choices made by prominent characters in the “Hitch hiker” series. The article distinguishes between and analyses the Sisyphus characters and their polar opposites (or nihilist shadows) in Douglas Adams’s “Hitch hiker” series. Adams’s characters, be they human, alien or sentient machine, all face the same existential choice: actuate individual meaning, or resort to despondency. Characters who choose the first option are regarded as Sisyphus figures, whereas characters who choose the latter are referred to as shadows or nihilist nemeses.
Intertextuality shapes the poetry of Xhosa poets
Authors: Somniso M.M.
Published: August 2012

Praises among the amaXhosa today are not only performed at traditional gatherings. These praises are also performed in many places such as schools, churches and funerals. The question is whether the praises performed in other places rather than traditional gatherings still possess the characteristics of traditional praises. In many praises Xhosa poets draw terminology from Biblical texts. This strategy can be seen as an attempt to break the boundaries between Christianity and Xhosa poetry. Having said that, the aim of this article is to uncover the interplay between Xhosa traditional poems and Christianity. To do that, this article discusses the interplay between Christianity, elegy, health and social issues. It also discusses new trends of intertextuality in Xhosa poetry. The intertextual theory insists that a text cannot exist as a hermetic or self-sufficient whole and does not function as a closed system. Still and Worton (1991:1) believe that the writer is a reader of the text before she/he is a creator of texts and therefore the work of art is inevitably alive with references, quotations and influences of every kind.
A philosophical interpretation of the significance of oral forms in I. Mabasa’s novel Mapenzi (1999)
Authors: Mutasa D.E. , Mutawi I.
Published: August 2012

The article critically analyses the use of Shona oral art forms in I. Mabasa’s novel “Mapenzi” (“Mad people”/“Foolish people”). It departs from the realisation that the writer identifies with Shona people’s oral experiences in the form of songs, “bembera” (satiric poetry) and folktales among others. These oral art forms provide the means by which the writer overcomes both selfcensorship and real or imagined state censorship. The article advances the argument that Mabasa uses the Shona people’s oral art forms in a manner that is ideologically and pedagogically empowering. This is consistent with the value thrust of Shona people’s epistemological assumptions. The article comes to the conclusion that Mabasa’s vision in the novel “Mapenzi” maintains the line between tradition and continuity.
Die aantrekkingskrag van die see
Authors: Gertenbach I.
Published: August 2012

The magnetism of the oceanThis article compares the use of oceanic symbolism in the poetry of Karin Boye, Ingrid Jonker and Sylvia Plath. Freud’s “oceanic feeling” is described and contrasted with Jung’s theory of the “great mother”. According to Jung, the “great mother” is the unconscious which is represented by water. All these elements are discussed in the poems and compared to each other in order to gain a better understanding of the poetry. Although “death” (drowning) in the ocean appears to point to new life, it ends in unification with the archetypal mother. This liberates the poets symbolically, but not physically.
The grotesque as it appears in Western art history and in Ian Marley’s creative creatures
Authors: Swanepoel R.
Published: August 2012

This article presents a theoretical exploration and reading of the notion of the grotesque in Western history of art to serve as background to the reading of the original creatures in the “Tracking creative creatures” project.1 These creatures were drawn by Marley, based on imaginary creatures narrated by his five year-old son, Joshua. The focus in this article is on the occurrence of the grotesque in paintings and drawings. Three techniques associated with the grotesque are identified: the presence of imagined fusion figures or composite creatures, the violation and exaggeration of standing categories or concepts, and the juxtaposition of the ridiculous and the horrible. The use of these techniques is illustrated in selected artworks and Marley’s creatures are then read from the angle of these strategies.
Skryfkunsstudente se ervaring van hulle eie kreatiewe proses binne die konteks van die Op die spoor van kreatiewe kreature-projek: ’n narratiewe ontleding
Authors: Greyling S.F.
Published: August 2012

Creative writing students’ experience of their own creative process within the context of the Tracking creative creatures project: a narrative analysis First-year students in Creative Writing at the North-West University took part in an interdisciplinary investigation into the creative process, which posed certain creative challenges to them. The students’ reaction to the project indicated that they experienced the assignment as challenging and enriching. This article investigates the question whether the narrative analysis of students’ personal reports on the creative process can contribute to a better understanding of the individual experience, the project, and the creative process as such. A framework for analysis was developed against the theoretical background of contextual approaches to creativity, practice-based research and the method of narrative analysis. Amabile’s componential framework of creativity served as a basis for the framework to investigate the three levels of the narrative (form, content and context). The article discusses the project, collection of data, theoretical framework and research procedures, and illustrates and discusses the application and value of narrative analysis of students’ reports with reference to identified themes and selected examples.
Practice-based research: Tracking creative creatures in a research context
Authors: Combrink L. , Marley I.R.
Published: August 2012

This article explores the concept of practice-based research as a viable research avenue for academics in creative disciplines with a view to contextualise the importance of research for all academics, including those in creative disciplines; investigate a framework for defining practice-based research; extrapolate existing models and methods of practice-based research from the literature; develop a plausible working strategy for practicebased research; and finally determine the extent to which the “Tracking creative creatures” project complies with the requirements of practice-based research. While practice-based research is fairly well represented in the literature, the peculiar characteristics of creative work require a reconceptualisation of how research imperatives are satisfied in practice-based research. Practical outputs as embodied research, the importance of the creative process and its reflective documentation and collaborative strategies in creative projects emerged as salient issues. The “Creative creatures” project was found to have complied with most of the requirements of practice-based research and certain proposed amendments to the approach followed with this project will assist future projects in attaining viable research status, but these need to be framed within an institutional and funding environment that fosters creative work as research.
’n Verslag oor die vertaling van dertien Jacques Brel-chansons in Afrikaans
Authors: Odendaal B. , Morgan N.
Published: August 2012

A report on the translation of thirteen Jacques Brel chansons into Afrikaans The authors of this article also translated the thirteen Jacques Brel chansons in question into Afrikaans. A brief explanation of the generic nature of the French chanson and an evaluation of Brel’s stature as a twentieth-century chanson writer are followed by background details and a description of the translation process involved. Since literary quality is a particular characteristic of chanson lyrics, several paragraphs are dedicated to a discussion of the poetic nature of Brel’s songs.
Metaphors of pain: the use of metaphors in trauma narrative with reference to Fugitive pieces
Authors: Anker J.
Published: August 2012

This article is a contribution to the recent interdisciplinary discourse between psychoanalysis, trauma theory and narrative by discussing the traumatic experiences of characters in the novel “Fugitive pieces” by Anne Michaels, with a specific focus on the metaphorical style of this novel. The article addresses the role of metaphor in the memory of trauma while comparing the relation between trauma, narrative and memory with reference to the work of Cathy Caruth, Van der Kolk and Margaret Wilkinson. Recent neurobiological research in the working of the brain during trauma and the insights of Borbelly in the role of metaphor during therapy are discussed. Insights of Lacan, Modell and Laplanche are integrated with those of psychologists like Knox, Borbelly and Van der Hart to counter arguments against the criticism brought against some of the metaphorical themes in “Fugitive pieces”. Metaphor is seen as one possible way of saying the inexpressible and the progression in the use of metaphor by patient and character alike is seen as one of the signs of healing from trauma.
Living with grace on the earth: the poetic voice in Antjie Krog’s A change of tongue
Authors: Polatinsky A.
Published: August 2012

“A change of tongue”, Antjie Krog’s second creative non-fiction, articulates experiences of the postapartheid quotidian in two tongues: that of the journalist and that of the poet. This article examines Krog’s various instantiations of the poetic voice, and argues that the site of the body is crucial to Krog’s understanding of how languages and landscapes are translated into human experiences of belonging, alienation and self-expression. The voice that is inspired by, and best conjures these acts of somatic translation is the poetic voice, Krog suggests. The article argues that Krog endows the poetic tongue with particular capacities for synaesthetic perception and for modes of imagining that surrender many of the limitations we ascribe to other registers and grammars. Despite the profusion of challenges and setbacks expressed by the evidence-oriented journalist, the three poetic strands in the text, which are identified and explored in this article, provide a space of meditation and of refreshed language in which processes of hopeful revivification can occur.
The role of the nameless in isiXhosa ntsomi
Authors: Mkonto B.B.
Published: August 2012

This article looks into the custom of not giving names to pivotal characters in some selected Xhosa tales. Given that the word “tales” means different things to different people, it is used in this article to refer to both fables (stories which deal with animals only) and folktales (stories dealing with both animals and humans). The unnaming practice is not uncommon in all types of tales and is applied to both males and females, young and old, as well as to strange mysterious beings. The motive for unnaming is analysed and its functions are alluded to. References to popular generic names of animals found in Xhosa tales are made for the sake of clarifying the need for naming, though these are not the subject of discussion here. It is therefore most fitting to use onomastics as the theoretical framework of this article in order to capture convincing patterns of the unnaming system and the creation of faceless characters in indigenous Xhosa tales.
Some aspects of gender inequality in selected African literary texts
Authors: Kwatsha L.L.
Published: August 2012

This article focuses on gender inequalities in selected African literary texts. I explore the way in which some African writers view gender inequalities and stereotypes in their characters. We will also be able to see who is involved and affected by these gender inequalities and how. Gender theory will be used as a framework. The aspects of gender that are discussed, include gender stereotypes, gender roles, gender identity, the superiority of men, inequality in polygamous marriages, sex roles, the sexual division of labour and arranged marriage. This study will also include the views of writers from other part of Africa. These views have a lot in common but sometimes they vary because of the influence and different ideologies of the society concerned.
“Accused by the place and face of the other”: negotiations with complicity in the work of Antjie Krog and Yvonne Vera
Authors: Murray J.
Published: August 2012

This article examines how Antjie Krog and Yvonne Vera use literature to explore the issue of complicity in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Both societies have histories that are characterised by violence and trauma and neither society has engaged with these past abuses in a comprehensive way. Krog and Vera’s work reveal their awareness that a failure to deal with the pain of others in a responsible manner renders societies vulnerable to a repetition of past abuses. Any responsible engagement with the pain of others must involve acknowledging one’s own complicity in those abuses, regardless of how indirect one’s involvement may have been. By reading selected extracts of Krog and Vera’s work in terms of Mark Sanders’ theory of complicity, I illustrate how these authors facilitate a responsible engagement with the pain of their characters. The article will pay particular attention to how these authors expose broad complicity in the pain of individuals – individuals who are located at the intersections between racial and gender oppression.
“Le plat pays” (Jacques Brel) poëties besing in Afrikaans – aantekeninge oor ikonisiteit in die oorspronklike en vertaalde chansontekste
Authors: Odendaal B. , Morgan N.
Published: August 2012

“Le plat pays” (Jacques Brel) poetically praised in Afrikaans – notes on iconicity in the original and translated chanson texts The authors of this article translated the well-known chanson about Flanders, “Le plat pays”, into Afrikaans as part of an extensive and ongoing Jacques Brel translation project initiated in 2005. In this analysis of both the original and translated “Le plat pays” lyrics, the marked poetic qualities of Brel’s chanson are laid bare, as are some semantic differences – and the implications for the analysis thereof – between source (original) and target (translated) texts.
The trace of Jewish suffering in Johannes Bobrowski’s poetry
Authors: Wittenberg F. , Wittenberg H.
Published: August 2012

Johannes Bobrowski (1917-1965) is a significant German modernist poet and novelist whose work directly engages the problematic question of German “Schuld” (guilt) in respect of the Holocaust. Although Bobrowski’s poetry not only deals with the German-Jewish question, but with universal themes of history, memory and trauma, he is largely unknown in the Anglophone world, partly because of his isolation in communist East Germany at the time. This article seeks to trace Bobrowski’s nuanced and complex engagement with German history and his own personal implication in the genocide through a detailed analysis of his most significant “Jewish” poems. A key idea for Bobrowski was the need for memory and direct engagement with the traumatic past, as this offered the only hope for redemption. The article presents a number of original English translations of these symbolist and hermetic poems, and thereby makes Bobrowski’s writing available to a wider range of readers.
Deculturation: an Afrocentric critique of B.M. Khaketla’s Mosali a nkhola
Authors: Selepe T.
Published: August 2012

B.M. Khaketla claims, in the preface of his novel, “Mosali a nkhola”, that his motivation to write the story was an increase in the incidents of ritual murder among the Basotho in the early years of the British colonial occupation of Lesotho. However, Khaketla’s novel focuses more on other effects of colonialism on the Basotho social fabric than on “diretlo” (ritual murder). The only incident of ritual murder in the novel comes quite late in the story. Therefore, by employing an Afrocentric critical tool, the article argues that current perspectives promote skewed critical methods and that Khaketla’s novel is more about deculturation, i.e. the annihilation of the Basotho cultural identity, than it is about “diretlo”. To that effect the article will embark on a substantive analysis of Khaketla’s novel in order to clear misperceptions that have consigned African languages and literatures to the intellectual periphery and to re-locate them to the centre of academic discourse by advocating Afrocentricity as one of the primary African oriented methods of analysis.
G.H. Franz’s Modjadji : archetypes of time and the transcendence of history
Authors: Boshego L.P. , Lloyd D.W.
Published: August 2012

This article examines the Northern Sotho play, “Modjadji”, written by G.H. Franz. The text, about which there is little significant critical literature, presents in mythological terms the quest of the Lobedu rain queen, Modjadji, for secure governance and release from the exigencies of history, both for herself and her people. Through staged ritual, the play evokes archetypes of time to raise a mythic consciousness. This ontology employs a notion of circular time to transcend linearity and its inexorable teleology. Ultimately, the text attempts to extract viable elements of traditional epistemology in order to accommodate its addressees to modernity.