Original Research
Oorgangsliteratuurgeskiedenis: die illusie van ’n nasionale Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde
Literator | Vol 18, No 3 | a548 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v18i3.548
| © 1997 A. Coetzee
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 30 April 1997 | Published: 30 April 1997
Submitted: 30 April 1997 | Published: 30 April 1997
About the author(s)
A. Coetzee, Departement Afrikaans & Nederlands, Universiteit Wes-Kaapland, Bellville, South AfricaFull Text:
PDF (294KB)Abstract
Literary history in transition: the illusion of a national South African literature
The transformation of South Africa from a divided country to a unified democracy has created a discourse of ‘one-nationness’. Although this concept may primarily be a politicial ideal, it also encompasses the diverse fields of culture, language and literature. Literary theoreticians and historians may have to fin d a methodology for describing the various literatures in terms of a 'South African literature if such a unified concept can exist where literatures are produced in eleven languages. These literatures, however, also differ in ways of expression, because the cultures and political contexts from which they originated vary. In considering the deficiencies of a recent literary history, this article attempts to determine whether a methodology based on the Foucauldian concept of the discursive formation may be able to combine the various literatures as statements within the narrative of a nation.
The transformation of South Africa from a divided country to a unified democracy has created a discourse of ‘one-nationness’. Although this concept may primarily be a politicial ideal, it also encompasses the diverse fields of culture, language and literature. Literary theoreticians and historians may have to fin d a methodology for describing the various literatures in terms of a 'South African literature if such a unified concept can exist where literatures are produced in eleven languages. These literatures, however, also differ in ways of expression, because the cultures and political contexts from which they originated vary. In considering the deficiencies of a recent literary history, this article attempts to determine whether a methodology based on the Foucauldian concept of the discursive formation may be able to combine the various literatures as statements within the narrative of a nation.
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