Academic literature on the topic 'Afrikaans Short stories'

The legacy of the Middle Dutch epic Vanden vos Reynaerde and the many ways in which we still see traces of Reynaert the fox and his companion, Iesegrim the wolf, in Afrikaans, are discussed in this article. The indestructible fox gets a second life under the Southern Cross, perhaps most notably in the many tales about Jackal and Wolf which are well known as part of a shared oral heritage by white and Khoi speakers of Afrikaans. Our focus is not these stories, however, but rather the following question: does the Reynaert of the epic indeed live on in Afrikaans literature? We argue that the epic itself and its literary heritage has not received as much attention as did the stories of the sly jackal and the gullible, even dim-witted, wolf. These extremely short stories do not exhibit the carefully planned structure, sharp social commentary and ruthless exposing of human weaknesses as does the epic. In our opinion, the only text in which the medieval epic itself functions as intertext, is in the brilliant adaptation by Eitemal. Eitemal created a story which is in many ways so different from the Dutch Reinaert, that it truly is a story written on African soil. In the Eitemal text, the sly fox becomes a typical Afrikaans crook—and what’s more, he is a villain who is not foreign to modern readers due to his essentially human character. In Reinaard die Jakkals the intrepid, extremely cruel but also clever fox lives on.

As the Symbolist movement has primarily been linked to the poetic mode, the association of symbolism with prose writing, and particularly with traditional Afrikaans prose, raises many questions, From the writings of older critics it appears that whereas they did identify symbolic patterns in the work of contemporaries, the presence of a specific Symbolist influence is either not recognized at all, or played down and evaluated negatively. However, several of the early authors themselves, e.g. Leipoldt, Grosskopf and Marais, referred to, or admitted to being influenced by the great 19th-century Symbolist poets. The most marked example of Symbolist writing is evident in the short stories of Marais (“Die Reënbul”) and Van Melle (Denker kom kyk). In all the cases where the symbolist influence can be traced, several common characteristics are evident: the authors remained outside the mainstream of traditional Afrikaans prose writing, the lyrical tone and a decadent mood dominate, and in these early works signs of the innovative “Sestiger” prose are already evident.

Tjieng, Tjang, Tjerries is a collection of thirteen (13) short stories set in Gansbaai, a working-class fishing town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Jolyn Phillips covers the stories of many of its residents. Phillips paints a colourful picture of the residents in the town and the issues that occupy their attention. She stays true to the characters of the town representing them as they are, warts and all. For all this, she handles her characters with care, and even affection. She stays true even to the mix of English and Afrikaans spoken in the town, and code-switches from one language to the other regularly and unapologetically so. The stories in turn cover issues concerning domestic violence, drug abuse, poverty, mental health issues and religion, amongst others. While these are commonplace in many South African communities like Gansbaai, Phillips’ stories also, perhaps importantly, focus on interactions between families and amongst the community members, social attitudes towards each other, family secrets, taboos, colorism, death, town life/the geography of the town (the sea) that are peculiar to the town and to coloured people.

The portrayal of gender-based violence is present in all genres of prose, including the ghost story. There is currently a lack of research regarding gender-based violence portrayed in Afrikaans ghost stories in literature as well as in film and television. Alongside the acknowledged forms of gender-based violence (physical and non-physical abuse), I argue that an additional level of violence, namely psychic violence, is used in the ghost story to amplify the horror and impact of gender-based violence. To illustrate this psychic form of violence, I compare the portrayal of the character Emmie in the classic Afrikaans ghost story “Die bouval op Wilgerdal” (The Wilgerdal Ruins) by C. J. Langenhoven (1924) with her portrayal in the 2019 adaptation of Langenhoven’s short story for two episodes of the television series Die Spreeus (The Starlings). Emmie is haunted by both the ghost of her deceased beloved, Petrus, and the ghost of her stalker, Frans, who possessed Petrus’s body at the moment of his death. Where Emmie was moved to the background to deal with her trauma in silence and solitude in Langenhoven’s short story, she is put front and centre in Die Spreeus when her strange situation is investigated by the police as a case of domestic violence. The depiction of Emmie and this investigation casts a harsh light on the continuous plight of female victims of domestic violence, including revictimization, ongoing physical and emotional violence, victim blaming and gaslighting.

Mythicity as basis for comparative literature, with reference to water snake symbolism Mythicity can be defined as the deliberate intention of probing the numinous dimensions of human existence by means of literature, i.e. mainly narrative forms. In this article the water snake is chosen as prominent archetypal symbol in order to investigate the functioning of mythicity. The water snake is an important symbol in the Southern African context, with its origins in Khoesan ritual and mythology. Recently several stories about water snakes and related mythological creatures have been published in Afrikaans novels and short stories. The water snake has also assimilated influences, inter alia from European, Asian and other African cultures. In this article the potential of mythicity is specifically investigated insofar as it can be utilised as basis for comparative literature. For this purpose the numinous dimensions of a mythic story are treated as equally important as the narrative dimensions. This dialectical balance is therefore used as the main criterion for the comparison of mythic texts. Other related aspects are discussed, namely the importance of the historical context, Jung’s theory of archetypes and the unconscious, and the role of interpretational devices such as metaphor, metonymy, symbolism and allegory. If the balance between numinosity and narrativity is not maintained, the mythic potential of a text is usually reduced. When writers succeed in utilising mythicity as an “open”, dynamic interpretational process, mythic relevance can still be guaranteed within a present-day, postmodern context.

This study reviews Afrikaans literary works (poems, plays, novels and short stories) dealing with the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). War poems written by well- known Afrikaans poets such as Jan F.E. Celliers, Eugène Marais, C. Louis Leipoldt, Totius and D.J. Opperman, as well as some of the few plays that have the war as background, receive attention. See in this regard, for example, N.P. van Wyk Louw’s Die pluimsaad waai ver of bitter begin, which in its day elicited a substantial amount of controversy. In addition to the short stories that deal with the war, many novels on the war have also been published. Attention is drawn to the fact that the upsurge in Afrikaner nationalism in the 1930s (and later) went hand-in-hand with the publication of Anglo-Boer War novels. The youth was also not neglected, thanks to best-selling books on the war by Mikro and others. Etienne Leroux’s controversial novel Magersfontein, o Magersfontein! (1976) paved the way for several other noteworthy war novels that demythologise the Afrikaner’s so-called heroic role in the war. The article also identifies the most important topics that have thus far been explored in the Afrikaans literature on the war, for example the role played by Cape rebels; the consequences of the British scorched-earth policy and concomitant camps for white and black civilians; feminism, and the role and experiences of black and coloured people. In conclusion, the mutually enriching relationship between history and literature is investigated.Keywords: Afrikaans literature, Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), Cape rebels, black civilians, faminism, relations history and literatureSubjects: Military history, Literature Studies, South African Studies

In this article, I discuss the mixture of English and Afrikaans that Jolyn Phillips employs in her short story collection, Tjieng Tjang Tjerries, to capture a sense of the idiom and the lived realities of the coloured fishing community of Gansbaai in the Western Cape. In addition, I locate the collection within a tradition of short story sequences by women writers from marginalized groups, and focus on the ways in which the interlinked narratives it contains emphasize the notion that personal identity, community and place are inextricably connected. Ultimately, I maintain that, despite the bleak socioeconomic circumstances, alcoholism and abuse that Phillips depicts in many of the stories, the dominant tone of the collection is not one of disenchantment with contemporary South African realities. This is because of the gentleness and affection with which Phillips treats her subjects, and the gleeful brand of raunchily direct humour she injects into her stories.

‘Never one thing. Always one thing and another’: An introductory comparison of the poetics of Ivan Vladislavić and Etienne Leroux. As a language student at Wits in the 1970s, Ivan Vladislavić’s main subjects were English and Afrikaans. His interest in Afrikaans literature has since been expressed in interviews during which he acknowledged the influence of Afrikaans authors such as Breyten Breytenbach, Jan Rabie, John Miles and Etienne Leroux on his own work.Vladislavić’s writing bears a striking resemblance to the work of Etienne Leroux. Their relatedness in terms of poetics resides in the following: Firstly, both authors have risen above a mode of writing which either dominated the times in which they were writing or directly preceded it, and, secondly, they have made noticeably similar choices – in favour of the imagination. The writing of both Vladislavić and Leroux follows in the wake of critical historical junctures: the Second World War and the fall of apartheid, respectively. In both cases, society’s faith in the established order and its foundational myths foundered. In my contribution, I compare the authorial poetics of Vladislavić and Leroux in terms of their reflection on (historical) transition and change. As far as external poetics is concerned, I provide an elaborate overview of selected interviews with, and essays by, both authors. Since this article is a preliminary or introductory survey, the discussion of the authors’ internal poetics concentrates mainly on short prose with specific attention to selected short stories in Vladislavić’s Propaganda by Monuments and Leroux’s Tussenspel.

Seven delectable homiletical deadly sins. Sinful insights from creative writing and (Afrikaans) literatureHomiletics can learn much from Literature. Poets, novelists and short story writers are all masters of the written word. While they practise their art form, they very specifically keep their readers in mind. The same holds true for preachers with regard to both the spoken and written word. Through the ages writers of works of literature have employed a vast amount of rhetorical wisdom, insights they have gained from both language and literature, which they use in their stories, dramas and poems. In this chapter seven of these insights will be explored as insights from which preachers can benefit. This exploration is done by making use of the seven deadly sins, but in this article, they are deadly sins that preachers should commit week after week. This chapter is in that sense a plea for a harmatological Homiletics. Pride is the first step needed to a create hit. Greed with regard to the attention of the hearers should be committed boldly. A preacher who makes use of lust will unleash desire in the hearers and an angry preacher meets many hearers in the situation they currently find themselves. Preachers who are gluttons, swallow their hearers in their total being and an envious preacher inculturate the pulpit by means of meaningful intertextuality. And the best preachers are the lazy ones, because the show their rather than tell.

I hate being misunderstood. I guess we all do, but it goes with the territory. I use the word coloured, and he seems offended: 'We Brits don't say 'coloured'. It's regarded as patronising. We say black, if we say anything. And if we do it's for reasons of simple practicality. It doesn't matter. ' Of course, what he seems to be missing, is that the word coloured in South Africa now refers less to skin colour, and more to a distinct cultural group, with it's own language (a dialect of Afrikaans), food (of Malay origin), and music. To say black in this context would be inaccurate, and cause confusion. Danya and Kyla attend the Yeoville Community School, situated in a vibrant and culturally diverse suburb of Johannesburg. On returning from school one day Danya announces: 'We have to do something at school about our culture. What is our culture Daddy?'To which her father replies, 'Go and ask your mother.' 'Well…we're sort of New Age, sort of holistic…', Toni fumbles. A few days later… 'So what did you do in the end?' Soli asks. 'Oh, us and all the other coloured kids sang, Daar Kom die Alabama'1 says Kyla. It would seem that children want to know where they come from. 'I want you to divide yourself up into your different race groups', the facilitator says. We are in a Managing Diversity workshop, and he means the old South African race classification system, but of course he wants to see what we do with it. We end up with a group of Blacks (including three 'Asians'); an African group (including two 'Whites'); a White group (two); and the Human Race (two).'Why didn't you join the white group?' Thloki asks the Human Race.'I don't define myself by my race', I reply.'Ha! Wait till there's a war over resources' he laughs, 'then you'll quickly pick a side!' The postmodernist argument ensues: 'There is no such thing as race…all these arbitrary classifications…it's nothing but a social construct!''Well you never lived as a black person under apartheid. It was very real to me!'The facilitator aims to mediate/translate for the rest of us: 'Well yes, it is just a social construct. But one which had very real consequences for people.' 'Nobody goes into town anymore' a woman says. To which Har Bhajan replies, 'When I was last in town, there were lots of people there.' Of course, what she means is, hardly any white people go into town anymore. (And she's right about that.) But what is that, the way certain people become invisible, depending on who's looking? My friend Karima and I attend an Al Jarreau concert. Fairly expensive tickets, and almost the entire audience is black. I'm not sure why I'm quite so surprised. But this is Sandton, the richest formerly white suburb of Johannesburg. Perhaps working in the NGO sector I've missed how much things are actually changing… I wonder how many people in the audience have been into town lately. With the shift in power, and the -- albeit slow -- levelling of the playing field, now it is possible for white South Africans to be at the receiving end of racial discrimination too… I am visiting my cousin. He is 60, and a musician. But times are tough for him now. His brother was shot dead in his driveway while someone stole his car. And it's hard for him to find work. 'I am too white, now', he says. He is not bitter, just saddened. In his day he had probably the most famous jazz club in Johannesburg. Rumours it was called. 'The best little bootlegger in Bellevue' he called himself. He was known for breaking the law then. His club was racially integrated long before it was allowed. Controversial South African artist, Beezy Bailey, has an alter ego: 'The creation of Joyce was born of the frustration of 'increasingly prevalent affirmative action'. Bailey submitted two artworks for a triennial exhibition. One was with the traditional 'Beezy Bailey' signature (rejected) the other signed 'Joyce Ntobe'! The latter now enjoys an honoured place in the SA National Gallery as part of its permanent collection. When the curator of the SA National Gallery wanted to work on a paper about three black women artists, Joyce Ntobe being one, Bailey let the cat out the bag which caused a huge media 'scandale'.' (Carmel Art) I spent three months in London, and I realised how easy it is to be white there. Or rather, how easy it is to not be white. Of course, it 'doesn't matter' there, because it doesn't matter. It's easy to donate a monthly cheque to Worldvision, and read about the latest chaos in Zimbabwe in the free rag on the tube, and never have to look overwhelming poverty and disease in the face. But when you live on the African continent, you are very aware of being white. At the diversity workshop, I realise how white South Africans seem to get to take the rap here for the actions of white people on the planet. It's not just the effects of apartheid that black South Africans are angry about it seems, it's also the effects of the global economy, that cause the rich to become richer, and the poor to become poorer. Oh sure, that's not just an issue of race, but the poorest on our planet remain 'people of colour', and wealth remains concentrated in the West/North. I realise also that the Black and African groups at the workshop have one thing that they agree on quite strongly - the importance of making the African continent one's focus. Though the two of us in the Human Race group have both read Naomi Klein's No Logo -- and care about the effects on the poor of economic globalisation -- our sense of 'internationalism' is not viewed in a positive light, but seen rather as 'elitist'. * * * 'The thing about the Dutch' says Gary, 'is that they're pragmatic. They're not politically correct -- call the prostitutes prostitutes, not sex workers, but tax them, and give them health care. They have a strong human rights culture.' The Afrikaners are descendents of these transparent, curtainless Dutch. Sometimes I can see it. 'It is not words that make for bigotry, but attitudes', says columnist Ira Pilgrim. 'Some of the most bigoted people I have known always used the 'correct' words.'2 I am not politically correct. There are certain words I'd never use, and couldn't bring myself to, not out of political correctness, but because they're invested with hate. But words like 'whitey', darkie' and 'honky', where I sit, are terms of endearment. I'd never use them on strangers, but amongst friends, they're terms of affection and irony, because we're laughing at ourselves, and each other. 'It's hard to explain to anyone' Gary continues, 'what it's like living in a place where -- from the time you wake up in the morning, till you close your eyes at night -- every breath that you take is politicised.' Gary left the country because he didn't want to be conscripted to fight a war he didn't believe in. He's done well for himself in Europe. But he had to give up his homeland. I catch a 'Zola', the mini-bus taxi named after South Africa's barefoot runner Zola Budd, probably most famous for inadvertently tripping Mary Decker at the 1984 Olympics (Finnegan). Zola was little and fast, like the taxi's that 'zip, zip, zip' -- often to the infuriation of other motorists -- hence the affectionate nickname. They're the peril of the road, but the saviour of the immobile masses, with their unique language and hand signals. I overhear bits of Zulu conversation, including 'Brooke…Ridge…Thorne.' Our soaps, too, are politicised. It would seem that even black South Africans watch The Bold and the Beautiful for light relief. Usually I am the only whitey here, but accepted as just another carless commuter moving from A to B. Despite the safety risks of bad driving, I enjoy it. I did a Zulu course a few years ago. I didn't learn much Zulu -- discovered I don't have the tongue or an ear for African languages -- but I learnt a lot from the course nevertheless. 'Tell us about an experience that you've had, that was a result of cultural misunderstandings' says the facilitator. 'I spent much of my first year at University hungry' says Nhlanhla. 'My white friends would offer me food when I was visiting, but I would refuse, because in our culture, if you ask you don't really want to give. We just hand you a plate.' Nombulelo tells of the time she went on a yoga retreat. She was confused when she started to undress openly in the dormitory, and got disapproving looks from the other women. 'Why?' she wondered, 'we are all women together?' But these were Hindu women, whose sense of modesty was different from the openness of African women. For the whiteys, the major confusion seems to come from the issue of timekeeping. 'African time' is often referred to. Though in London, I did hear talk of 'Caribbean time'. Perhaps the concept of being on time is a particularly Western one (Makhale-Mahlangu). We are visiting friends of friends. There's an unlikely combination at the dinner table. She is tall and dark. I am short and fair. 'So where do you two know each other from?' Cairo asks. 'I'm Andie's sister', Kim replies. She reads the dumbfoundedness in Cairo's face. 'What can I say…my line got a bit deviated!' she laughs. She has my father's sense of humour. So have I. I ask my father, when he first became aware of racial prejudice. 'I was about six years old', he says. 'I threw my ball out of the school grounds, and called to the black man outside: 'Boy, please would you throw my ball back to me?' And the man replied: 'I am not a boy. I am old enough to be your grandfather.'' I am thinking about the time in our lives before we become aware of race… A friend tells me a story about how her six-year-old daughter came home from school and asked, 'Mommy, what's a [racist-term-not-to-be-repeated]?' She'd been called that. The late Lenny Bruce, controversial American comedian and social critic in the sixties, argued that it is 'the word that gives it the power of violence'3, and if we used 'the words' colloquially often enough, and began to invest them with new meanings, they would lose their power to hurt us. I am about to board a bus…'Woza (come) Mama', says the driver. 'Uyaphi?' (Where are you going?) '…green green, I'm going away to where the grass is greener still', come the Reggae sounds from his radio. We are discussing whether we should be focusing on our sameness or our differences. 'Of course we all want the same things…a home, a job, an education for our children', says Karima, but it's our differences that make us interesting.' I agree. Notes 1 Daar Kom die Alabama (Here Comes the Alabama) is a traditional 'Cape Coloured' song, originally sung in tribute to the Alabama, a confederate ship that docked in Cape Town in 1863. On board were Al Jolson-esque (Burlesque) performers, whom the slaves admired, and they imitated their style of performance. This tradition continues still today with the 'Coon Carnival' held on New Years Day and 'Tweede Nuwe Jaar' (Second New Year). It is said that the custom of Tweede Nuwe Jaar originated as a holiday for the slaves, who were too busy attending to their masters' needs on the first. For more information on the Coon Carnival, see http://www.iias.nl/host/ccrss/cp/cp3/cp3-__171___.html. 2 While the author makes some important general points about the drawbacks of political correctness, his reference to South Africa (including the correction) are in fact incorrect. The apartheid government had four major 'population groups' in it's classification system: African (black), Coloured, Asian and White. (The term black was used then only informally.) These were then sub-divided into other categories. See http://www.csvr.org.za/race.htm for further details. 3 The relevant extract from Julian Barry's 1971 play Lenny, can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s271585.htm. References Barry, Julian. Lenny. Random House, 1971. http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/lennybruce/ Downloaded 14 April 2002. Carmel Art Galleries. Beezy Bailey Curriculum Vitae, at http://www.carmelart.co.za/site/cvbb.htm Downloaded 14 April 2002. Finnegan, Mark. 'The 10 worst mishaps in the history of sport.' Observer Sport Monthly 5 November (2000). http://www.observer.co.uk/osm/story/0,69... Downloaded 14 April 2002. Klein, Naomi. No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. USA: Picador, 2000. http://www.nologo.org/ Downloaded 14 April 2002. Makhale-Mahlangu, Palesa. 'Reflections on Trauma Counselling Methods.' Seminar presented at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg, 31 July 1996. http://www.csvr.org.za/articles/artpales.htm Downloaded 14 April 2002. Martin, Denis-Constant. 'The Famous Invincible Darkies Cape Town's Coon Carnival: Aesthetic Transformation, Collective Representations and Social Meanings', 1998. http://www.iias.nl/host/ccrss/cp/cp3/cp3-__171___.html Downloaded 14 April 2002. Pilgrim, Ira. 'Kikes, Niggers, Queers, Scotchmen and Chinamen', Mendocino County Observer, 22 March (1990). http://www.mcn.org/c/irapilgrim/race02.html Downloaded 14 April 2002. Transfer of African Language Knowledge (TALK). http://www.icon.co.za/~sadiverse/about.htm Downloaded 14 April 2002. Andie Miller was born, and spent the first 23 years of her life at the Southern-most tip of the African continent, in Cape Town. She currently works as webmaster for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, and the National Development Agency in Johannesburg, South Africa. Links http://www.observer.co.uk/osm/story/0 http://www.iias.nl/host/ccrss/cp/cp3/cp3-__171___.html http://www.carmelart.co.za/site/cvbb.htm http://www.csvr.org.za/ http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s271585.htm http://www.csvr.org.za/articles/artpales.htm http://www.nologo.org/ http://www.mcn.org/c/irapilgrim/race02.html http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/lennybruce/ http://www.icon.co.za/~sadiverse/about.htm http://www.csvr.org.za/race.htm http://www.nda.org.za/ Citation reference for this article MLA Style Miller, Andie. "Multiculturalism and Shades of Meaning in the New South Africa" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.3 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/shadesofmeaning.php>. Chicago Style Miller, Andie, "Multiculturalism and Shades of Meaning in the New South Africa" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5, no. 3 (2002), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/shadesofmeaning.php> ([your date of access]). APA Style Miller, Andie. (2002) Multiculturalism and Shades of Meaning in the New South Africa. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5(3). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/shadesofmeaning.php> ([your date of access]).

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the sixties many short story collections referred to as ‘eenheidsbundels’ (‘unified volumes’) have appeared in Afrikaans. Especially those collections published since the eighties and nineties prominently display an overall unity suggestive of the greater unity found in the novel. These collections are usually characterised by the recurring appearance of characters beyond the borders of the individual stories and the use of themes and recurring motifs that run through the collection. Sometimes the separate stories within a collection share the same time period or geographical space. The same narrator may also appear throughout the collection. Although the individual stories within a volume may be regarded in isolation (or even published in isolation), they will inevitably be deprived of possible interpretations that would otherwise have been evident in relation to the collection as a whole. As a result, it would seem that the boundary between the short story volume and the novel becomes blurred in these unified collections. The main objective of this thesis is to try to determine whether the short story collections under discussion represent a new genre or subgenre or whether they could possibly constitute a continuation of an existing genre. The point of departure is the suggestion by J.P. Smuts (1989: 23) that the phenomenon is linked to the writers of the sixties’ rebellion against stereotyped literary forms and that these collections appear to represent an intermediate form, something that lies between the traditional short story collection and the novel. Chapter 2 serves as the theoretical foundation of the research: the traditional characteristics of the short story and novel are investigated. Postmodernism as school of thought associated with the problematisation of the boundaries between genres is also investigated. In Chapters 3 and 4 two unified collections from the nineties are analysed: Jaco Botha’s Sweisbril (1999) and S.P. Benjamin’s Die lewe is ’n halwe roman (1999). The purpose of these analyses is to determine the extent to which the extensive unity in these collections can be compared to the unity found in the novel. The secondary goal of the thesis is to suggest (in response to Maritha Snyman’s appeal (2011)) a more suitable Afrikaans name for the study object (“eenheidsbundel”). Neil Cochrane and Nina Botes’s proposed term “kortverhaalsiklus” (“short story cycle”) (2011) is considered, but Andr P. Brink’s reference to “’n soort kortverhaal-roman” (“a kind of short story novel”) finally takes precedence. The conclusion finds that the type of collection under discussion does represent a hybrid intermediary form located somewhere between the traditional short story collection and the novel, a form the development of which was probably influenced by postmodernism. The form seems to be a continuation of the tradition of the short story collection, one that has evolved towards the novel. Cochrane and Botes’s term “kortverhaalsiklus” is rejected in favour of the proposed term “kortverhaal-roman” (with some qualifications). This term can co-exist with terms such as “hibridiese bundel” (“hybrid volume”) or the more vague “eenheidsbundel”. The observation that the term “kortverhaalsiklus” does not convey the hybrid quality of the form, and the fact that Suzanne Ferguson (2003) points out that not all unified volumes are necessarily cycles, was decisive.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Van die sestigerjare af het daar verskeie kortverhaalbundels in Afrikaans verskyn waarna literatore as ‘eenheidsbundels’ verwys. Veral di sedert die tagtiger- en ne ntigerjare toon ’n opvallende hegtheid wat selfs aan die groter eenheid van die roman herinner. Hierdie bundels word byvoorbeeld gekenmerk deur karakteroorvleuelings oor die grense van die verskillende verhale heen, die gebruik van oorkoepelende temas en die deurgaanse herhaling van motiewe. Soms deel die verskillende verhale in ’n bundel dieselfde tydvak of geografiese ruimte. Dieselfde vertellende instansie kan ook regdeur die bundel voorkom. Alhoewel die aparte bundelverhale in isolasie beskou (of selfs gepubliseer) kan word, word hulle so van interpretasiemoontlikhede ontneem wat slegs binne bundelverband waargeneem kan word. Dit wil gevolglik voorkom of die grens tussen die kortverhaalbundel en die roman in die eenheidsbundel vervaag. Die hoofdoelwit van hierdie tesis is om te probeer vasstel of die hegte eenheidsbundel van veral sedert die tagtigerjare in Afrikaans ’n nuwe genre of subgenre verteenwoordig en of dit moontlik ’n voortbouing op ’n bestaande genre is. Daar word uitgegaan van J.P. Smuts (1989: 23) se stelling dat die betrokke verskynsel aan die jare sestig se opstand teen geykte liter re vorme te koppel is en dat hierdie bundels ’n tussenvorm is, iets wat tussen die tradisionele kortverhaalbundel en die roman l . Hoofstuk 2 dien as die teoretiese basis van die ondersoek: die algemene kenmerke van die tradisionele kortverhaal en roman word ondersoek. Die postmodernisme as denkrigting wat met die opheffing van genregrense geassosieer word, word ook kortliks ondersoek. In hoofstukke 3 en 4 word twee hegte eenheidsbundels uit die ne ntigerjare breedvoerig bespreek: Jaco Botha se Sweisbril (1999) en S.P. Benjamin se Die lewe is ’n halwe roman (1999). Die oogmerk is om vas te stel in hoeverre die uitgebreide eenheid in hierdie bundels aan die hegte eenheid van die roman herinner. Die sekond re doelwit van die tesis is om, na aanleiding van Maritha Snyman (2011) se pleidooi, ’n meer geskikte benaming vir die studieobjek (“eenheidsbundel”) te probeer voorstel. Neil Cochrane en Nina Botes (2011) se keuse van die term “kortverhaalsiklus” vir die hegter soort eenheidsbundel word bekyk, maar Andr P. Brink se verwysing na “’n soort kortverhaal-roman” geniet voorlopige voorkeur. In die konklusie word bevind dat die bespreekte bundels wel ’n hibridiese tussenvorm verteenwoordig wat iewers tussen die tradisionele kortverhaalbundel en die roman gele is en waarvan die ontstaan en ontwikkeling waarskynlik deur die postmodernisme be nvloed is. Die vorm blyk ’n voortsetting van die kortverhaalbundeltradisie te wees wat in die rigting van die roman ge volueer het. Cochrane en Botes se term “kortverhaalsiklus” word afgewys ten gunste van die voorgestelde term “kortverhaal-roman” (met voorbehoude) wat naas terme soos “hibridiese bundel” en die vaer “eenheidsbundel” sou kon bestaan. Die waarneming dat die term “kortverhaalsiklus” niks oor die romanagtigheid of die hibriditeit van die vorm oordra nie, terwyl Suzanne Ferguson (2003) onder andere daarop wys dat nie alle eenheidsbundels noodwendig siklusse is nie, was hier deurslaggewend.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis contains the results of an investigation into constructions of cultural identity in recent works of short fiction written in Afrikaans. The investigation was conducted within the framework of postcolonial literary theory, with specific reference to the work ofHomi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Vijay Mishra and Bob Hodge. The conceptual apparatus concerning postcolonial reconstruction of cultural identities in reaction to the discourse of colonialism were applied to certain Afrikaans short stories to establish to what extent these texts could be considered a 'AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif bevat die resultate van 'n ondersoek na konstruksies van kulturele identiteit in onlangse kortverhale in Afrikaans. Die ondersoek is gedoen binne die raamwerk van die postkoloniale literêre teorie, met spesifieke verwysing na die werk van Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Vijay Mishra en Bob Hodge. Konseptuele apparatuur rakende postkoloniale herkonstruksie van kulturele identiteit in reaksie op diskoerse van kolonialisme, is toegepas op bepaalde Afrikaanse kortverhale om vas te stel in watter mate hierdie tekste beskou kon word as 'n terugskrywing teen die koloniale diskoers van Afrikanernasionalisme en apartheid. Die navorsing het gefokus op tekste wat gepubliseer is na 1994, die datum van die eerste demokratiese verkiesings in Suid- Afrika, maar het ook hul verhouding ondersoek tot sekere literêre tradisies wat hierdie datum voorafgegaan het. Uit die Afrikaanse kortverhale wat gelees is binne 'n postkoloniale raamwerk, is daar tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die Afrikaanse letterkunde na 1994 steeds gelees kan word in terme van wat Mishra en Hodge (1994) 'n "saamgestelde postkolonialisme" genoem het, 'n tipering wat volgens Viljoen (1996) toepasbaar was op die Afrikaanse letterkunde van voor 1994. Die kulturele identiteit wat gekonstrueer is in hierdie tekste toon ooreenkomste met die twee momente van kulturele herkonstruksie waarna Hall (1992) verwys, naamlik enersyds 'n strategiese essensialisme van die gekoloniseerde subjek en andersyds 'n gehibridiseerde kulturele identiteit as die gevolg van 'n voortgaande, dinamiese proses van onderhandeling in wat Bhabha (1994) 'n Derde Ruimte genoem het. 'n Diskoers van weerstand teen wat ervaar word as nuwe vorme van kulturele imperialisme, voortspruitend uit 'n breër ontnugtering met wat beskou word as 'n distopiese post-koloniale Suid-Afrika, kon ook afgelei word uit sekere Afrikaanse kortverhale wat sedert 1994 verskyn het. Wat betref 'n hernieude ondermyning van imperialiserende tendense kan hierdie tekste daarom gesien word as 'n voortsetting van die tradisie van weerstand wat die Afrikaanse literatuur dekades lank reeds kenmerk.

Text in English with abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa
Herman Charles Bosman (1905–1951) remains a popular South African writer, despite the frequent occurrence of the offensive k-word for black people in his writings. Although the discipline of Translation Studies is presently dominated by ethical considerations, there are reasons to believe that ethical issues have been neglected in recent translations of Bosman’s English short stories into Afrikaans. His translators, Griebenow and De Lange, have conformed to a simplistic fidelity-driven perception of ethics, while more attention should have been paid to “sensitive” aspects of the original. The research problem is how this gap that exists in translation practice can be addressed, which in turn raises the question: How would one translate Bosman’s stories in an ethically responsible manner for the twenty-first century? This study not does deal with all of Bosman’s short stories but focuses on the Oom Schalk Lourens ones as these demonstrate the research problem best. Thus, the data consist of existing texts in printed form. The following stories have been selected for comparative analysis: “Makapan’s Caves”, “The Rooinek”, “The Gramophone”, “Mafeking Road”, “Splendours from Ramoutsa”, “Unto Dust”, and “Funeral Earth”. Since excerpts from the original and their corresponding translations are compared, translator style is inevitably included in the discussion. A committed approach, which considers translation as an activist and interventionist cultural activity (Brownlie 2011), forms the analytical framework of this study. The analyses indicate that Griebenow and De Lange have retained the offensive racial epithets of the source texts, rather than toning them down for modern target-text readers. Thus, the translators have been faithful to a dead author, instead of taking the socio-cultural and political context of reception into consideration. From a committed stance, I would strongly recommend that derogatory racial epithets, found in older texts, should be subdued in current translations. Otherwise, it may be better not to translate at all, as Pym (2012) suggests. Owing to translators’ responsibility for the effects of their translations on their readers, and South Africa’s political transformation to a democracy in which all people are deemed equal before the law, the use of racist language, is totally unwarranted.
Herman Charles Bosman (1905–1951) bly ʼn gewilde Suid-Afrikaanse skrywer, ten spyte van die gereelde voorkoms van die neerhalende k-woord vir swart mense in sy werk. Hoewel die dissipline, Vertaalkunde, tans deur etiese vraagstukke oorheers word, is daar rede om te vermoed dat etiese kwessies afgeskeep is in die onlangse vertalings van Bosman se Engelse kortverhale in Afrikaans. Die vertalers, Griebenow en De Lange, vereenselwig etiek met getrouheid aan die skrywer, in plaas daarvan om meer aandag te skenk aan “sensitiewe” aspekte van die oorspronklike. Die navorsingsprobleem is hoe om hierdie gaping in vertaalpraktyk aan te spreek: Hoe behoort Bosman se verhale op ʼn etiese, verantwoordelike wyse vertaal te word vir die een-en-twintigste eeu? Hierdie studie fokus op Bosman se oom Schalk Lourens-verhale wat die navorsingsprobleem die beste illustreer. Die data is derhalwe saamgestel uit bestaande tekste in gedrukte vorm. Die volgende verhale is vir vergelykende ontleding gekies: “Makapan’s Caves”, “The Rooinek”, “The Gramophone”, “Mafeking Road”, “Splendours from Ramoutsa”, “Unto Dust”, en “Funeral Earth”. Aangesien grepe uit die brontekste en die vertalings daarvan vergelyk word, is vertalerstyl noodwendig deel van die bespreking. ʼn Betrokke benadering waarvolgens vertaling as ʼn aktivistiese en intervensionistiese kulturele aktiwiteit beskou word (Brownlie 2011), vorm die ontledingsraamwerk van die studie. Die ontledings dui daarop dat Griebenow en De Lange die rassistiese skeldname van die oorspronklike behou het, in plaas daarvan om dit “sagter” uit te druk vir hedendaagse doeltaallesers. Die vertalers was getrou aan ʼn afgestorwe skrywer, eerder as om die sosiokulturele en -politiese konteks van resepsie in ag te neem. Vanuit ʼn betrokke standpunt sou ek sterk aanbeveel dat neerhalende, rassistiese benamings wat in ouer tekste voorkom, gedemp moet word in hedendaagse vertalings. Anders sou dit beter wees om hoegenaamd nie te vertaal nie, soos Pym (2012) voorstel. Vanweë vertalers se verantwoordelikheid vir die effek van hul vertalings op hul lesers, en Suid-Afrika se politiese transformasie in ʼn demokrasie waar alle mense gelyk geag word voor die wet, is die gebruik van rassistiese taal verregaande.
UHerman Charles Bosman (1905-1951) ngomnye wababhali abaphume izandla baseMzantsi Afrika, nangona iincwadi zakhe zizele ligama elingamkelekanga eliqala ngo-k elibhekiselele kubantu abantsundu. Nangona Izifundo Zoguqulo zikuthathela ingqalelo ukunanzwa kweenqobo ezisesikweni xa kuguqulelwa, kukho izizathu ezibangela ukuba kukholeleke ukuba imiba engeenqobo ezisesikweni iye yatyeshelwa xa bekuguqulelwa kwiAfrikaans amabali amafutshane kaBosman abhalwe ngesiNgesi. UGriebenow noDe Lange abangabaguquli bathande ukulandela uluvo olubonisa intembeko kumbhali, endaweni yokugxila kwimiba “enobuethe-ethe” ekwisicatshulwa sentsusa. Injongo yolu phando kukufumana indlela esinokuvalwa ngayo esi sikhewu kwimisebenzi yoguqulelo, nto leyo ebangela ukuba kubekho imibuzo ethi: Umntu angawaguqula njani amabali amafutshane kaBosman kwinkulungwane yamashumi amabini ananye apho umguquli azithathela ingqalelo iinqobo ezisesikweni. Olu phando aluwahlautyi onke amabali amafutshane kaBosman, koko lugxila kuphela kula ka-Oom Schalk Lourens kuba ingawo ayivelisa kakuhle le ngxaki/njongo yophando. Izicatshulwa ezihlalutywayo zezishicilelweyo kuphela. Amabali akhethelwe ukuthelekiswa nokuhlalutywa ngala: “Makapan’s Caves”, “The Rooinek”, “The Gramophone”, “Mafeking Road”, “Splendours from Ramoutsa”, “Unto Dust”, and “Funeral Earth”. Njengoko kuthelekiswa iziqendwana ezikula mabalana neenguqulelo zawo, isimbo sokubhala sabaguquli siyaqukwa kolu hlalutyo. Isakhelo sohlalutyo esisetyenzisiweyo kolu phando seso sisekelwe kwiingcamango zikaBrownlie (2011) ezihlela uguqulelo njengesenzo senkcubeko sokuphembelela nokungenelela. Uhlalutyo lubonisa ukuba uGriebenow noDe Lange bawagcinile amagama ocalucalulo ngokobuhlanga anyelisayo asetyenziswe kwizicatshulwa zentsusa, endaweni yokuwatshintsha ngelokulungiselela abafundi ekujoliswe kubo beli xesha. Abaguquli ke ngoko baye bathembeka kakhulu kumbhali owaswelekayo endaweni yokuthathela ingqalelo imeko yokwamkelekileyo ngokwezopolitiko nentlalo. Ndiphakamisa ukuba amagama anyelisayo ocalucalulo ngokobuhlanga asetyenziswe kwiimbalo zakudala athonyalaliswe okanye atshintshwe kwiinguqulelo zangoku. Kungenjalo, kungcono kungenziwa nguqulelo kwaphela njengoko ecebisa uPym (2012). Ngenxa yoxanduva olusemagxeni abaguquli ngeziphumo zeenguqulelo zabo kubafundi bazo, nokutshintsha kwemeko yezopolitiko yoMzantsi Afrika itshintshela kwidemokhrasi apho abantu balinganayo ngokomthetho, ukusetyenziswa kolwimi olucalulayo akwamkelekanga.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics with specialisation in Translation Studies)

This dissertation addresses issues of culture, identity and style in Herman Charles Bosman’s bilingual writing, produced during the latter part of his life, in order to reassess his place in South African literature. Although questions pertaining to these issues are constantly debated by Bosman scholars, the focus has in the past mainly fallen on his English literary corpus. The bilingual dimension of his work has not received much academic attention. In fact, literary historiographers in South Africa appear to have been largely oblivious of Bosman’s contribution to this area. This situation may partly be ascribed to the ‘disappearance’ of his Afrikaans stories from the time of their publication, in popular periodicals of that time, until recently. Up until 2001 these stories, sixteen in total, have never been collected in book form. Stephen Gray and Craig MacKenzie decided to assign this project, as part of their Anniversary Edition, to Leon de Kock. This collection, aptly titled Verborge Skatte, contains all the Afrikaans stories which have been traced to their original publications as well as polemical and critical pieces written in or about Afrikaans by Bosman. From a literary-historical point of view, it would be untenable to call for a revaluation of Bosman’s place in South African literature on the basis of the mere existence of his Afrikaans writing – particularly given its rather slim substance. However, regarding Bosman’s Afrikaans stories, Leon de Kock draws the important conclusion that Bosman was ahead of his time by virtue of his metafictional skill, self-reflexive irony and political independence. De Kock goes on to highlight interesting aspects that emerge when Bosman’s Afrikaans short stories are compared to their English equivalents as well as the way in which Bosman makes certain cultural emphasis shifts when translating. The implications for South African literature of De Kock’s assertions are evident. They mean that, in addition to the general confusion about Bosman’s identity and place in South African literature, it would appear that he has not been recognised as an important Afrikaans short story writer, nor as an accomplished bilingual writer. De Kock ends his introduction with a call to researchers: “Much work lies ahead for the writers of dissertations, who will be able to lay out the evidence at greater leisure” (2001: 210). This study, then, represents the laying out of evidence that De Kock calls for. It does so through a detailed analysis of critical aspects of this ‘new’ dimension of Bosman’s oeuvre. To begin with, Bosman’s life is probed for possible motivations for his turning to bilingual writing. Key aspects of his English writing and how they are transposed into Afrikaans are then analysed and finally, his language proficiency is put to the test. In the end it is concluded that Bosman was indeed one of the most progressive writers of his time – in English as well as in Afrikaans – and that a revaluation based on a balanced and inclusive view of the unique impact of Bosman’s diverse corpus has been long overdue. It follows, therefore, that South African literature has been the poorer for the conspicuous absence of his Afrikaans short stories, in particular, and that, on the strength of his extraordinary contribution to both English and Afrikaans literatures, certain adjustments should be made to situate Bosman as a key figure in the South African literary canon.

Bertus van Rooy’s research on the English short stories of Herman Charles Bosman focuses on linguistic contact between English and Afrikaans in South African literary writing. Using an electronic corpus of Bosman’s short stories written between 1930 and 1950, he shows how Bosman uses the medium of English to create Afrikaans characters in the Afrikaans cultural setting. His use of Afrikaans elements is deemed by literary critics to be more natural – less contrived – than others writing in the same genre and thus a fair reflection of the contact between Afrikaans and English in South African English. Afrikaans elements are visible in Bosman’s use of Afrikaans proper names for different characters and hundreds of common nouns: words relating to local institutions, traditions and practices, as well as the social, natural and built environment. Other kinds of language–culture connections can be seen in Bosman’s frequent use of Afrikaans terms of address in dialogues between characters and some subtle elements of his lexicogrammar and syntax which seem to calque underlying structures in Afrikaans.

During the 1960s a group of Afrikaans writers who called themselves ‘Die Sestigers’ (Those of the sixties) became prominent on the South African literary scene. Jan Rabie’s collection of short stories, Een-en-Twintig (Twenty-one,1956) and Etienne Leroux’s novel Die Eerste Lewe van Colet (The First Life of Colet, 1955) are regarded as the first clear signs of the movement that literary historians describe as the most influential movement in Afrikaans literature in the twentieth century. Despite huge differences in style and content these writers, including poets, novelists, and dramatists, presented themselves as a group through their joint publications (the journals Sestiger and later Kol, as well as the collection of short stories Windroos), and by publicly debating their ideas about literature.