Browsing by Author "Burger, Barbara"

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    ’n Geokrities-vergelykende analise van Afrikaans- en Engelstalige Suid-Afrikaanse stedelike romans
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Burger, Barbara; Viljoen, Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation, “’n Geokrities-vergelykende analise van Afrikaans- en Engelstalige stedelike romans” (“A geocritical comparative analysis of Afrikaans and English urban novels”) I argue that Afrikaans and English novels set in South African cities are received in different ways by, respectively, Afrikaans and English literary theorists. Afrikaans literary theorists tend to focus on the ways these novels intertextually refer back to previous depictions of the city (especially in the genre of the plaasroman [the farm novel]). English literary theorists mainly focus on the implication of the urban representations for the interpretation of the agency of city dwellers, as well as on the representation of social issues. My aim is to determine whether a comparative approach leads to different insights on the representation of South African cities. I decided on a geocritical approach (as theorised by Bertrand Westphal) as it is i) comparative, ii) geocentric (in other words aimed at the comparison of spaces rather than the comparison of other aspects) and iii) compatible with my own new materialist-influenced view that text and context are inextricably connected. I use Westphal’s theory as a framework to compare the representation of urban spaces in six specific novels, namely Room 207 (2006) by Kgebetli Moele, Werfsonde (2012) by Kleinboer, Thirteen cents (2000) by K. Sello Duiker, Siegfried (2007) by Willem Anker, Nineveh (2011) by Henrietta Rose-Innes and Vlakwater (2015) by Ingrid Winterbach. My geocritical comparative approach does lead to a perspective that differs from previous studies of these specific novels, especially in my focus on the representation of characters’ movements and domesticity, the presence of non-human organisms and the natural environment within urban spaces and the influence of the past on the present of these spaces.
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    Die ondermynende potensiaal van die huis en die huishoudelike, met spesifieke verwysing na die liggaam en kos in Klaaglied vir Koos en Erf deur Lettie Viljoen, en Louoond deur Jeanne Goosen
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Burger, Barbara; Viljoen, Louise
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Traditionally the body has been neglected within Western philosophical thought. In this tradition man is seen as a dualist organism whose mind is more highly valued than his or her body. Since the start of the twentieth century, especially, there has also been Western thinkers who deconstruct the traditional, opposisional view of the mind and body. Most of these thinkers are men, and they argue from a male perspective. The deconstruction of the opposition between mind and body is, however, also useful for feminism, as the woman was traditionally seen as more bodily, and less rational, than the man. This view of woman can be used to support arguments that her place is within the home, where she should look after the bodily and emotional needs of her husband and children. First and second wave feminists criticised above-mentioned traditional view of women by arguing that the woman is just as rational as the man. Other feminists make use of the 'male' criticism of the body-mind opposition by arguing that traditionally female attributes and activities are not less valuable than male ones. In this thesis it is argued that the novellas Klaaglied vir Koos, Erf and Louoond should be read against this background as feminist texts in which the traditionally female space of the kitchen is celebrated as a space in which the female subject can create art and develop a perspective on the outside world. Focusing on the body and on traditionally female values (such as the domestic space) have implications for, amongst others, epistemology, ethical thought and literary theory. The way these implications are developed in the three novellas are explored in this thesis. Domestic spaces are not only celebrated in these texts, they are also represented as problematical, limited spaces which isolate the protagonists of the novellas and withhold them from the potential of political solidarity. The novellas are therefore treated in this thesis as complex texts in which the literary focus on domestic space, female embodiment and man‘s relationship with food is both celebrated and problematised.