3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Imagining our end: South african apocalyptic fiction(2018) Pitt, Daniela DinaABSTRACT “End-time” narratives have created interest and appeal in a variety of contexts. They serve different purposes, whether to entertain in their depiction of catastrophic disasters, or to afford the opportunity for deeper, and more serious engagement, with preoccupations relating to anxieties in differing contexts, such as socio-political and environmental. This study explores how “End-time” narratives serve a more ethical discourse in a turbid political climate in South Africa, between 1972 to 2006. In this study, I offer close contextual readings of five South African novels that span the period from the apartheid era to post-democracy. The central concern in this study is the stylistic choice made by each of these writers in selecting apocalyptic rhetoric in a narrative which is set in a future, imagined South African space. The five South African fictions selected for this study (Promised Land by Karel Schoeman, July’s People by Nadine Gordimer, Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee, The Mask of Freedom by Peter Wilhelm and Horrelpoot by Eben Venter) each portrays a dystopic imaginary present, and offers the reader an “unveiling” of historical truth and thus a possibility of deferred eschatology. These novels form part of a body of South African literature that represents the critical self-consciousness of white writers as oppositional voices to the historical setting within South Africa from 1972 to 2006. I suggest that the apocalyptic in these texts is allegorical and that, by subverting its form, writers insinuate the limitations of the apocalyptic. In each instance, the anxiety surrounding eschatology opens up the urgent need for a new discourse and national narrative, offering a qualified hope for a feasible albeit, challenging future.Item The reinvention of historical discourse in Zakes Mda's The heart of redness and Mike Nicol's This day and age(2008-12-04T12:26:47Z) Saccaggi, Carolina FrancescaPost-apartheid South African fiction has been the subject of much heated debate. One specific aspect of this debate has revolved around the role of history in this fiction. This is linked to general concerns in the country around ways of understanding history, especially in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s research into the past. Tracing the lines of debate which emerged out of the discussions around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this research report focuses on the way history is presented in two novels from the post-apartheid period. These novels are This Day and Age by Mike Nicol and The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda. Each of the two novels concerns a specific incident from the past of South Africa, the Bulhoek massacre and the Xhosa cattle-killing respectively. Through tracing their intertextual relations with mainstream accounts of the historical events, the research shows how they interrogate these accounts. Detailed examination of the portrayal of history in each of the novels leads to conclusions being drawn about the way in which the novels conceive of such historical ideas as causality, linearity and responsibility. Finally, the research examines the role of prophecy in the novels, showing how in both of the texts prophecy can be read as an alternative explanation for events. The research endeavours ultimately to contribute to the body of critical thought concerning the analysis of post-apartheid South African fiction.Item "Troll": dissertation on sexual identity comprising three components(2008-03-07T09:20:14Z) Lotriet, BrettABSTRACT This dissertation explores identity as its central theme. There are three components to the dissertation. The first is the academic essay which explores identity through the perspective of queer theory and proposes a three-dimensional conception of an “identity cloud”. The second component is the creative essay which consists of ten chapters towards a final novella entitled “troll”. The creative component’s central theme is the lead protagonist’s struggle in assimilating the identities of “gay” and “addict” after receiving a liver transplant. The third and final component is an essay detailing the manner in which the creative and academic created and informed one another.