Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies - Volume 27, Issue 1, April 2006
Volume 27, Issue 1, April 2006
Oor die drumpel : liminaliteit en literatuur
Authors: Hein Viljoen and Chris N. Van der Merwe
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp IX –XXVI (2006)
In die negentigerjare van die vorige eeu het Suid-Afrika die wêreld verstom deur die staking van oorlogsaktiwiteite en die onderhandeling tussen die vroeëre vyande aan &apos;n oorgangsgrondwet wat uiteindelik sou uitloop op vrye verkiesings, &apos;n volledig inklusiewe demokrasie en &apos;n nuwe, progressiewe grondwet. ?n Deurslaggewende drumpel is bereik waardeur die bekende wêreld van die apartheidsjare onherroeplik agtergelaat is en &apos;n onbekende nuwe tydvak betree is. Dit was sowel &apos;n einde as &apos;n begin. Aan die een kant het die onderhandelde skikking &apos;n groot verligting in die land gebring en is die doemprofete wat &apos;n nimmereindigende konflik voorspel het, verkeerd bewys; aan die ander kant het die nuwe situasie &apos;n leegte gelaat deurdat óú rigtinggéwende narratiewe hulle betekenis verloor het. Die meesternarratief van apartheid het gedisintegreer; maar ook die narratief van die bevrydingsbeweging, met weerstand teen &apos;n rassistiese bedeling as sentrale inhoud, het sy sin verloor. Van alle kante moes mense nuut besin in &apos;n radikaal veranderde samelewing.
Afstand en belewenis : liminale ruimtes en oorlewing in Niggie deur Ingrid Winterbach : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 1 –22 (2006)
Distance and experience/endurance : liminal spaces and survival in Ingrid Winterbach&apos;s Niggie (Cousin)
In this article aspects of Ingrid Winterbach&apos;s novel, "Niggie" ("Cousin"), which is set against the backdrop of the last months of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) are analysed. The geographical (spatial) and psychological isolation of the characters and the influence of the historical situation on the psyche of the characters are discussed. Special attention is paid to the relation of the characters to nature. The main characters seem to find them-selves in a series of liminal situations. The war experiences force them to accept the inevitable, but also to find ways and means to transcend personal and collective trauma. Though they do change irrevocably and have to exploit their own creativity and psychological resources to the utmost, they do survive and eventually continue their lives under more normal circumstances. The novel explores the experience of trauma and the possibility and quality of survival, but the sensitive analysis of the human aspects of the specific historical circumstances has a wider resonance - so that the novel can be regarded as a historical novel about the future.
In hierdie artikel word enkele aspekte van Ingrid Winterbach se roman, "Niggie", wat afspeel tydens die laaste maande van die Anglo-Boereoorlog (1899-1902), ontleed. Daar word aandag gegee aan die geografiese (ruimtelike) en psigologiese isolasie van die karakters en die invloed van die historiese omstandighede op die geestestoestand van die karakters. Daar word spesifiek gelet op die verhouding tussen die karakters en die natuur of omgewing. Die hoofkarakters bevind hulself in opeenvolgende (of selfs ingebedde) liminale situasies. Hulle word gedwing om die onvermydelike gevolge van die oorlog te aanvaar, maar hulle moet ook maniere vind om die trauma op persoonlike en kollektiewe vlak te verwerk. Hoewel die oorlogservaring hulle ingrypend verander en geweldige eise stel aan hulle deursettingsvermoë en kreatiwiteit, oorleef hulle wel en hulle kan hulle lewens onder meer normale omstandighede voortsit. Die roman ondersoek die belewenis van trauma en die moontlikhede en kwaliteit van oorlewing, maar die sensitiewe uitbeelding van die menslike aspekte van die spesifieke oorlogsomstandighede verkry &apos;n wyer resonansie - tot so &apos;n mate dat die roman beskou kan word as &apos;n historiese roman oor die toekoms.
Subverting the pastoral : the transcendence of space and place in J.M. Coetzee&apos;s Disgrace : research article
Authors: Marita Wenzel and Susan Smit-Marais
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 23 –38 (2006)
"Ek is besig om iemand heeltemal anders te word ..." : die ontginning van liminaliteit in Vaselinetjie deur Anoeschka von Meck : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 39 –56 (2006)
"I am becoming someone completely different ..." : the utilisation of liminality in Vaselinetjie (Little Vaseline) by Anoeschka von Meck
The concepts of liminality, transition and borders are utilised extensively in "Vaselinetjie" by Anoeschka von Meck (2004). This is especially the case regarding her use of characterisation, focalisation, time and space (including place and landscape) in the construction of identity. As a liminal character, Vaseline finds herself in different kinds of liminal spaces on a regular basis, like the children&apos;s home, which is foregrounded in the novel, as well as in consecutive preliminal, liminal and postliminal phases. The children&apos;s home is an essentially liminal space, but from the perspective of Vaseline it is firstly gradually transformed into a place to which meaning is attached, and secondly to a landscape of belonging, as she expresses her solidarity with the scorned group of children in the home. On the one hand the children&apos;s home is characterised by a certain liminal essence, but on the other hand it can be regarded as "a realm of pure possibility" (Turner, 1967:97).
Die konsepte liminaliteit, oorgange en grense word op talle maniere ontgin in "Vaselinetjie" deur Anoeschka von Meck (2004). Die ontginning geld veral die hantering van karakterisering, fokalisasie, tyd en ruimte (wat plek en landskap insluit) in die konstruksie van identiteit. As liminale karakter bevind Vaselinetjie haar voortdurend in verskillende liminale ruimtes, soos die kinderhuis wat voorop gestel word, asook in opeenvolgende preliminale, liminale en postliminale fases. Die kinderhuis is as sodanig &apos;n essensieel liminale ruimte, maar binne die optiek van Vaselinetjie groei dit eerstens uit tot &apos;n plek waaraan sy betekenis verbind en tweedens tot &apos;n landskap van behoort, as sy solidariteit betoon met die veragte kinderhuisgroep. Terwyl die kinderhuis dus enersyds &apos;n liminale essensie besit, kan dit andersyds beskou word as "a realm of pure possibility" (Turner, 1967:97).
Wildernis en woestyn : omgewingskragte teen die mens s&apos;n in Boendoe en Toewaaisand : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 57 –77 (2006)
Liminal spaces and imaginary places in The bone people by Keri Hulme and The folly by Ivan Vladislavic : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 79 –96 (2006)
Liminale ruimtes en denkbeeldige plekke in The bone people deur Keri Hulme en The folly deur Ivan Vladislavic
Hierdie artikel beweer dat die transenderende mag van die verbeelding wat in letterkunde en veral romans teenwoordig is, &apos;n groot rol gespeel het om gemeenskappe te konfronteer met hulle spesifieke sosiale en politieke werklikhede in &apos;n multi-kulturele globale samelewing en om hierdie realiteite te verwerk. Die feit dat romans die ontwikkeling van fiktiewe karakters in tyd en ruimte verteenwoordig, stel die lesers in staat om die lewens van die hoofkarakters indirek te ondervind. Die konsep van liminaliteit (met betrekking tot die verskillende stadia van verwydering, oorgang en herintegrering in die samelewing) vind inderdaad plaas in die leesproses. Die tussenruimte wat liminaliteit skep is veral opmerklik in postkoloniale romans soos "The bone people" deur Keri Hulme. In hierdie roman illustreer Hulme hoe fiktiewe karakters in individuele sowel as sosiale hoedanigheid, "deurgangsrites" moet beleef, sodat hulle ten slotte in staat is om die traumatiese verandering in hulle lewens en kulture die hoof te bied. Op &apos;n ander wyse en met die bekrompe Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap (insluitende die leser) as teiken, gebruik Vladislavic die mag van die verbeelding om subtiele, maar stiemende kritiek te rig op mense wat geen verbeeldingskrag besit en dus nie in staat is om hulle verbeelding konstruktief te gebruik of te projekteer om hulle eng werklikheid te probeer oorkom nie - op dieselfde wyse as Patrick White in sy veroordeling van die eng sosiale konvensies in die Australiese gemeenskap, in sy roman "Voss".
This article argues that the transcendent power of the imagination represented by literature and novels in particular, has played a major role in aiding societies to confront and deal with specific social and political realities in a multicultural global society. The fact that novels represent the development of fictional characters in time and space, enables the reader to experience the lives of the protagonists in a vicarious fashion. In fact, the concept of liminality (with regard to the different stages of separation, transition and re-integration into society) is emulated in the reading process. The interstitial space provided by liminality is especially pertinent to postcolonial novels such as "The bone people" by Keri Hulme. In this novel Hulme illustrates how fictional characters, in an individual and social sense, have to experience "rites of passage" in order to come to terms with traumatic changes in their lives and cultures. In a different way and with the bigoted South African apartheid society (including the reader) as target, Vladislavic exploits the power of the imagination to launch a subtle, yet stringent critique on people who lack imagination and consequently fail to use it constructively in order to transcend their narrow-minded reality - similar to Patrick White in his condemnation of restrictive social conventions in Australian society in his novel "Voss".
V.S. Naipaul&apos;s A way in the world : contesting liminality by translating the historical past : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 97 –106 (2006)
The collective voice in The Madonna of Excelsior : narrating transformative possibilities : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 107 –126 (2006)
Between freedom and self-subjection : the dilemma of writing in an African language : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 127 –140 (2006)
Die skryf vind plaas in selfgeveg : versoeningstrategieë in Kleur kom nooit alleen nie deur Antjie Krog : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 141 –162 (2006)
"Life?" : modernism and liminality in Douglas Livingstone&apos;s A littoral zone : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 163 –187 (2006)
In an attempt to find his place within nature in South Africa and in a global modern context, Douglas Livingstone returns strongly to modernist poetry in his 1991 volume A littoral zone. In contrast to his predecessors like Wallace Stevens in "The glass of water" and T.S. Eliot in The waste land, this volume at critical moments gets stuck in a liminal stage. Images and poems, and eventually the volume as a whole, despite the highlights they present, say that it no longer seems so possible to end up also within the postliminal stage, so as to complete a rite of passage. Yet modernist poems such as Stevens&apos;s "The glass of water" have the ability to end up in postliminal affirmation through and beyond the liminal stage of the overall process. Here light becomes a thirsty lion that comes down to drink from the glass, with a resultant transcendence of the dualistic between-ness that characterises the liminal stage in the modernist poetic mode, while this further results in the incorporation of a deeper and refreshing, dynamic unity. Even more remarkable is that this poetic rite is not of a closing nature, but open, especially in the sense that it affirms all that is possible and greater than the individual ego or subject, this, while getting stuck within a liminal stage just short of the postliminal stage can be in the nature of closure, as Livingstone shows, for example, when he says in "Low tide at Station 20" that humanity is trapped in its inability to see the original power of unity with and within nature in order to live within it; and while humanity remains an ugly outgrowth on the gigantic spine of evolution. In provisional conclusion this article finds that it will be better to view Victor Turner&apos;s 1979 celebration of what he terms the "liminoid" in the place of a "true liminality" critically. Although it is impossible to return to a collective catharsis in watching a play, one cannot feel too comfortable about getting rid of the cosmological, theological and concrete embeddedness of rites of passage (of which a liminal stage merely forms a part). Van Gennep links these matters, and modernist poets are still able to express these interlinked matters with a powerful, sensitive effect of dynamic unity. Livingstone also does this, but in considerably lesser measure, and from within a considerably more uncertain context. The article ultimately shows that for these reasons and more, Livingstone&apos;s volume deserves far more critical reading than it has received to date, and that despite one or two weaknesses - of which the employment of The waste land in the rather flimsy "The waste land at Station 14" is the most serious - the volume continues to make a rich contribution to South African life, or within any country that views poetry as an important form of human communication.
Die digter in transito : reisverse en liminaliteit in Lykdigte en Ruggespraak van Joan Hambidge : research article
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 189 –210 (2006)
The poet in transit : travel poetry and liminality in Joan Hambidge&apos;s Lykdigte and Ruggespraak
Lance Nawa&apos;s poetic manifesto
Through the eye of a needle, Lebogang Lance Nawa : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 213 –218 (2006)
Lebogang Lance Nawa&apos;s début collection of poetry, Through the eye of a needle, introduces a new voice in South African poetry. His eclectic, street-wise collection offers evidence of an encouraging turn among new poets in the post-apartheid era. Before 1994 there was very little opportunity to write poetry that was not, in some measure, political protest poetry because every aspect of social life was shaped by repressive racist legislation. Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, our artists are freer to draw upon the lyrical and intertextual aspects of art.
Anton Goosen - digter en liedjieskrywer
Hitte vannie teerpad : songs van die liedjieboer, Anton Goosen : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 219 –221 (2006)
Die publikasie van Anton Goosen se Liedjieboer: lirieke met ghitaar-akkoorde (Tafelberg: 1981), ingelei deur Kerneels Breytenbach, sou sekerlik in daardie periode van ons land en die Afrikaanse literatuurgeskiedenis vir menige aspirantsanger en -liedskepper in die genre van die populêre/volkse musiek van groot hulp gewees het en tot inspirasie gelei het.
Celebrating Bosman : a centenary selection of Herman Charles Bosman&apos;s stories, P. Mynhardt : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 221 –223 (2006)
Celebrating Bosman is the distillation of Patrick Mynhardt&apos;s nearly forty-years love affair with the works of Herman Charles Bosman. And, as with his hugely successful stage adaptations of Bosman&apos;s works, Mynhardt has stuck with a winning formula. For this new volume follows, with very little alteration in content, Mynhardt&apos;s earlier The Bosman I like (1981), which has been out of print for some time.
The portable Bunyan, Isabel Hofmeyr : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 223 –225 (2006)
Hofmeyr&apos;s main argument is that Bunyan&apos;s Pilgrim&apos;s progress should not be marvelled at as a quintessentially English book that yet has a universal appeal.
Women writing Africa : the Southern region. Vol. 1: Women writing Africa project, M.J. Daymond, et al., eds. : book review
Author E.L. Cloete
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 226 –228 (2006)
For a decade scholars and researchers in six southern African countries collected oral and written texts by women to make up a collection of documents spanning just over two centuries. The texts in Women writing Africa range from political petitions, court records, short stories, poems, communal songs, folktales, letters, and extracts from journals written or recorded by women in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. (Mozambique does not feature, and will hopefully be included in the east African region edition.)
So min blomme; Onder skewe sterre; Sonder klein trou, Dot Serfontein : book review
Author E.A. Van der Elst
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 228 –230 (2006)
Dot Serfontein het in 2005 haar tagtigste verjaardag herdenk. Ter viering daarvan het Lapa Uitgewers die romans So min blomme, Onder skewe sterre en Sonder klein trou in een bundel uitgegee.
Oom Willem vertel : maar hier onthou &apos;n mens eerder die manier van vertel as dít wat vertel word
Toorop-stories, Pirow Bekker : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 231 –233 (2006)
Oom Schalk Lourens van die Molopo! Só sal talle lesers waarskynlik oordeel nadat hulle kennis gemaak het met die verteller, Willem Toorop, in Pirow Bekker se kontreiverhaalbundel Toorop-stories (2005). En met reg, want daar is inderdaad opvallende ooreenkomste aan te toon tussen die verteller in Herman Charles Bosman se Groot Marico-stories en die verteller wat Bekker hier gebruik. Willem Toorop (en plaas dié naam &apos;n mens nie al op jou hoede nie?) is die kenner en bewaarder van die Molopo-streek se stories en baasverteller in eie reg.
Nie net pá se stem nie
Pa se stem, Willie Burger : book review
Source: Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 27, pp 233 –235 (2006)
Willie Burger is veral bekend as skrywer van die rubriek "Kopstukke" wat tweeweekliks in Beeld verskyn. Lesers van die ouerskaptydskrif Baba & Kleuter ken hom egter as "skrywende pa" wat verantwoordelik is vir die uiters gewilde rubriek "Pa se stem". &apos;n Tweede keur uit dié rubrieke het in 2005 in &apos;n besonder aantreklike formaat onder die titel Pa se stem by LAPA Uitgewers verskyn.