Original Research

Die skryf vind plaas in selfgeveg: versoeningstrategieë in Kleur kom nooit alleen nie deur Antjie Krog

M. Taljard
Literator | Vol 27, No 1 | a184 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v27i1.184 | © 2006 M. Taljard | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 30 July 2006 | Published: 30 July 2006

About the author(s)

M. Taljard, Skool vir Tale, Potchefstroomkampus, Noordwes-Universiteit, South Africa

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Abstract

Writing takes place in wrestling the self down: strategies of reconciliation in Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (Colour never comes on its own) by Antjie Krog

One of the central themes in “Kleur kom nooit alleen nie” (2000), a volume of poetry by Antjie Krog, is the reconciliation between people of different races and political orientations. Krog regards reconciliation through the medium of language and the poem as the task of the poet. In the volume under discussion these actions often take place within the liminal zone. The speaking “I” goes “underground” in the isolated space far from the centre, in order to consider ways in which people can co-exist in new, peaceful relationships. The destabilisation of textual stability by stressing the ambiguous meaning of words is a transgressive action, implying a rethinking of the meaning of words in order to aid reconciliation. Speaking abjection, the liminal action where traumatic events are made public in an attempt to reconcile with the past, is an important modus operandi in some of these poems. It therefore seems as if the liminal zone offers fertile space to the poet to think about and reconsider reconciliation and peaceful coexistence.

Keywords

Chora; Feminism; Liminality; Speaking Abjection

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