Department of Afrikaans and Dutch

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Browsing Department of Afrikaans and Dutch by Author "Anker, Willem P. P."

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    Die idioot : spieël en skadu ; Sirkus (roman)
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003-03) Anker, Willem P. P.; Van Niekerk, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans & Dutch.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In fulfilment of the degree of Magister in Creative Writing: Afrikaans, a novel titled Sirkus (Circus) is presented in which the main character figures as an idiot. It is accompanied by a perspicacious formal essay which maintains the relationship between theory and novel. The essay titled "Die idioot: spieël en skadu" (The idiot: mirror and shadow) reflects on the problematics concerning the representation of the idiot in literary texts. The essay investigates the phenomenon of the idiot in literature according to well-known literary texts presenting idiots. What these texts have in common is that the narrator acts on behalf of a character who does not have the ability nor the will to narrate himself. The problematics is viewed from a thematic as well as writing technique niveaux, according to insights gleaned from literature, philosophy, narratology and psychology. The argument concludes by reflecting on the responsibility of the author and the ethics of creating an effigy of the idiot. The novel Sirkus, (Circus), focuses on an idiot character with webbed hands and feet, Siegfried Landman. It is an exposition of his journey to hell starting on a farm in the Karoo. It takes him through a grotesque urban landscape where he eventually ends up in a circus of freaks. The text starts with the death of Siegfried's father and is in the form of a quest narrative, a quest for the vague image of his uncle Fischer. The tale emanates predominantly from Siegfried's consciousness. During the course of the text he is accompanied by varioius travelling companions who each fmd a voice in the text.