Thesis Presented in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (English Stud- Ies) at the Stellenbosch University
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“Epochal Weaving”: Metaphors of Narrative and Metafiction in Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf and Agaat David Reiersgord Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (English Stud- ies) at the Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Dr Mathilda Slabbert December 2015 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration: By submitting this thesis, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. December 2015 Copyright © 2015 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved 1 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements: None of the following words, sentences, paragraphs and pages would have been possible with- out Dr Mathilda Slabbert. Her continued patience, enthusiasm and guidance never failed to stimulate new ideas, which I tended to take too far. But I usually learned something worthwhile in these moments about books, writing, this wonderful and strange country and myself, and through Tilla’s open-mindedness, I figured how to match the following thoughts with the right words. Thanks to the English Department at Stellenbosch, which has been my academic home for the past three years, and an environment that exposed me to so many wonderful things for the mind. Thank you to Lizelle Smit for translating the abstract into Afrikaans. Thank you to Maria Geustyn for her technical eyes. Thanks are also due to Bernard Fortuin for his guidance and patience, and for so many conversations about some of the ideas in these pages. Thanks is due to my first academic home in Lawrence, Kansas—especially Dr Byron Caminero-Santangelo. Thanks also to Dr Beverly Mack, Dr Stephen Evans and Dr Paul Outka for continued conversations, their creative minds for exposing me to new and exciting infor- mation. A special thanks to Mike Ford, a good friend in Kansas to whom I owe so much for opening my eyes to the history of my country and the state of Minnesota, where I am originally from. Thanks always and forever to my parents, for everything. I do not think they saw any of this coming—certainly not from that old picture on the bus, or the way I used to worry about the dog when I believed he was lost. Finally, thanks to Ma & Bapa for showing me what is truly good in this life. The ideas in these pages are rooted in my relationship with them and a particular lake in Minnesota, where they live. 2 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract: This thesis examines the use of specific narrative strategies, metafiction and metaphor in Mar- lene van Niekerk’s Triomf (2004) an Agaat (2010). Each of these expansive novels are set in South Africa during the period of national transition to democracy in the 1990s, and explore issues related to ideological aspects of space, race, class and land dispossession. Throughout the thesis I highlight and refer to illustrations of “epochal weaving”, a literary framework that is used to trace historical overlap between the narrative past and present. These depictions of “epochal weaving” in each novel suggest thinking about the capacity for literature to represent the multi-layered nuances informing national and historical contexts in South Africa and be- yond in relation to personal, and lived experiences. My reading of metaphors in relation to the depiction of social space in Triomf focuses on city streets and the significance of repositioning marginalised spatial histories. The alternative landscape of Johannesburg’s western suburbs that Van Niekerk recreates, evokes, in turn, the former history of Sophiatown, and seems to advocate imagining new ways for addressing the issues of neglected urban space. My close examination of Agaat traces specific metaphors of narrative and the novel’s display of notions of metafiction, and Van Niekerk’s reinterpretation of the literary history of the plaasroman from a post-apartheid perspective. In the final chapter I put Triomf and Agaat into conversation to display how Van Niekerk appears to weave national histories, embedded in each text, to- gether through the physical and domestic space of the family homes. Through the metaphorical significance of mirrors, an object which overlaps in these texts, various images reflected in mirrors produce multi-layered reconsiderations of national and sociopolitical issues embodied in the lived experiences and memories of the characters. Framing my reading, this thesis adopts an international gaze to consider not only how the literary features and narrative strategies in Van Niekerk’s fiction illuminate local issues related to cultural, historical, political and social contexts, but also create awareness about similar concerns that transcend national borders. In short, what South African literature, such as Van Niekerk’s work, stimulates in a reader who encounters it in translation. 3 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstrak: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die gebruik van spesifieke narratiewe strategieë soos metafiksie en metafoor in Marlene van Niekerk se Triomf (2004) en Agaat (2006). Beide van hierdie omvattende romans neem plaas in Suid-Afrika gedurende die periode van nasionale oorgang na demokrasie in 1990, en verken kwessies verwant aan ideologiese aspekte soos spasie, ras, klas, en landontneming. Deurlopend belig hierdie tesis en verwys na uitbeeldings van “epogale verwewing”, ʼn literêre raamwerk wat gebruik word om historiese sameval na te trek tussen die narratiewe verlede en hede. Hierdie uitbeeldings van “epogale verwewing” in beide romans dui na ʼn kapasiteit van literatuur om veelvoudige lae van betekenis en nuanse voor te stel, in verwantskap met die persoonlike en geleefde ondervinding, wat nasionale en historiese kontekste in Suid-Afrika en selfs wyer inlig. Ek interpreteer metafoor in verwantskap met die uitbeelding van sosiale spasie in Triomf en fokus op die stadspaaie en die belang daarvan om gemarginaliseerde historiese spasies te herplaas in nuwe kontekste. Die alternatiewe landskap van Johannesburg se westelike woonbuurte wat van Niekerk herskep in fiksie herroep in beurt, die geskiedenis van Sophiatown, en blyk om nuwe maniere aan te voer om kwessie aan te spreek aangaande verontagsame en dus vergete stedelike spasie. My nasporing van spesifieke metafore van narratief in Agaat raak ʼn tentoonstelling van die roman se begrip van metafiksie asook van Niekerk se herinterpretasie van die literêre geskiedenis van die plaasroman vanuit ʼn post-apartheid perspektief. In die finale hoofstuk plaas ek Triomf en Agaat in ʼn gesprek om te vertoon hoe van Niekerk nasionale geskiedenisse verweef en beide tekste word bespreek deur die fisiese - en huislike spasie van die familiewonings. Deur die metaforiese belang van spieëls, ʼn voorwerp wat opduik in beide tekste, word vele afspieëlings weerkaats wat veervuldige heroorwegings produseer aangaande die nasionale en sosio-politiese kwessies vergestalt in die geleefde ervarings en herinneringe van die karakters. Wat my interpretasie ook raam is my internasionale posisie en oogpunte. Ek oorweeg nie net hoe die literêre funksies en narratiewe strategieë in van Niekerk se fiksie plaaslike kwessies verwant aan die kulturêle, geskiedkundige en sosiale kontekste belig nie, maar ook hoe hierdie strategieë bewusmaking bevorder oor soortgelyke probleme in ander kontekste oor nasionale grense heen. Ek vra: wat stimuleer Suid-Afrikaanse fiksie, soos byvoorbeeld van Niekerk se werk, in ʼn leser wat dit in vertaling teëkom? 4 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Table of Contents Declaration................................................................................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Abstrak...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction: Encountering Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf and Agaat at the University of Kansas ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Chapter One: A Carnivalesque Revision of Social Space in Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf .................................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter Two: Metaphors of Narrative and Metafiction in Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat .... 48 Chapter Three: Mirroring the Past, and “Epochal Weaving” in Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf and Agaat ................................................................................................................................. 81 Conclusion: Reflections on “Epochal Weaving” .................................................................. 104 Works Cited .......................................................................................................................... 109 5 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Introduction: Encountering Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf and Agaat at the