View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT The Obsessive Compulsive Imagination Rewriting the novels of others Verfasserin Katharina Lucia Eder, BA angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2011 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuer: Univ.- Prof. DDr. Ewald Mengel 1 Declaration of Authenticity I hereby confirm that have conceived and written this thesis without any outside help, all by myself in English. Any quotations, borrowed ideas or paraphrased passages have been clearly indicated within this work and acknowledged in the bibliographical references. There are no hand-written corrections from myself or others, the mark I received for it cannot be deducted in any way through this paper. Vienna, November 2011 _______________________________ Katharina Eder 2 To Mum and Dad 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deeply-felt gratitude to my parents, Carola and Helmut, for their invaluable support, for always being there for me, and above all, for their infinite love. I would also like to thank Adam for his patience and unfailing help. Further, my thanks are due to Univ.-Prof. DDr. Ewald Mengel, for his professional guidance and support. 4 Table of contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………...……7 2. Origin and Conception of an International Phenomenon……………………...10 3. Traumatization of a Country as a Gateway for Rewriting Fiction............... .20 4. The Obsessive Compulsive Imagination………………………………………….22 4.1. Freud, Repetition Compulsion and Writing Trauma………………………...….22 4.2. Trauma and Narrative…………………………………………………………..…28 4.3. Trauma Fiction and Intertextuality…………………………………………….....35 4.4. South Africa´s Fiction- A Space of Recurring Pain……………………….........40 4.4.1. Formal Repercussions and Crisis Reiteration as an Epistemological Form………………………………………………..........44 5. Reconciliation vs. Retaliation: J.M. Coetzee´s Disgrace and Achmat Dangor´sBitter Fruit…………………………………………………….….47 5.1. Narrative Strategies………………………………………………………….....…50 5.2. Rape and Race………………………………………………………………….…52 5.3. A Child of Rape………………………………………………………….……...….57 5.4. The TRC…………………………………………………………………...…….….62 5.5. Plot Structure…………………………………………………………………..……68 5.6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….….74 6. `What kind of child can seed like that give life to, seed driven into the woman not in love but in hatred …´ Ken Barris and What Kind of Child ………………………………………………77 6.1. Two Children of Rape…………………………………………………………..…78 6.1.1. Luke Turner………………………………………………………………………...80 6.1.2. Malibongwe Joyini…………………………………………………………………86 6.2. Depiction of Rape and Implications for South Africa´s Future………………..90 6.3. An Everlong Oppression of Women…………………………………………..…93 6.4. Further Considerations…………………………………………………….………97 5 7. `I rest my case on the rights of desire … On the god who makes even the small birds quiver´: André Brink and The Rights of Desire…………………………………………………………………………………100 7.1. Plot Structure and Parallels…………………………………………………..…101 7.2. Antje of Bengal and the Condition of Women…………………………………………………………………………….106 7.3. From Egoism to Empathy or “The Reasons for Change in a Man”…………109 7.3.1. The Interplay of Past and Present and Bookishness as a form of Political and Social Irresponsibility……………………………………….……114 7.4. Rape and Preoccupation with Post-Apartheid Violence…………………..…116 7.4.1. Social Contract vs. Helplessness………………………………………………117 7.4.2. South Africa´s Future…………………………………………………………….119 7.5. Fatherhood and the Representation of Masculinity…………………………..120 7.6. Further Considerations…………………………………………………………..123 8. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….125 9. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..129 10. Index……………………………………………………………………………………137 11. Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..140 12. Curriculum Vitae…………………………………………………………………..…142 6 1. Introduction If stories are re-told and re-imagined, the re- is of decisive importance: each new invention happens in the margins of the already-written, or against the background of the already-written. This excludes a reading of the new narrative as a fortuitous invention, as ‘mere fiction,’ because it engages with the world – the world itself being conceived of as a story.1 Intertextuality is a ubiquitous phenomenon, traceable in the literatures of all ages. It represents the notion that every text constructs itself as a tissue of devices, absorbing and transforming material from other texts. Intertextuality and Rewriting are used in a more specific sense, to refer to the particular set of plots, images, characters or conventions which a given narrative may invoke for its readers. There are several reasons why contemporary writers engage in the global literary trend of intertextuality. The globality of our cultures lures authors to model their texts on precursor works. As with any other art form, literature depends on the socio-cultural and political realities of the current milieu and therefore, the written and oral texts for its impetus. It does not move within a vacuum2. South African writing is obsessed with the depiction of pain. Hardly any novel can be found without the portrayal of attacks, rapes, murders, incest, or other cruelties and miseries. Various authors compulsively rework these crises and their effects, frequently picking up the narrative of their fellow writers, altering or complementing the plot, thereby suggesting an underlying trauma. Violence and pain proliferated by the causality of apartheid were followed by a crime wave in South Africa, accompanied by the problem of Zimbabwe, the national crises of the HIV epidemic, and the 2008 outbreaks of xenophobic assaults. In addition to these crises, the rights and freedoms promised by the achievement of 1Cf. Brink 1998, In: Attridge & Jolly 1998. 2 Cf. Kehinde 2003. 7 democracy have not been fulfilled. Post-apartheid literature can be regarded as a space of recurring suffering and anguish, ostensibly following the repetition compulsions that have beset South Africa.3 The realm once dominated by Apartheid´s anguish has been substituted by a new set of wounds, which are repeatedly embraced by contemporary South African authors. This thesis seeks to explore intertextuality and compulsive rewriting as a key stylistic device of contemporary South African Trauma Fiction. Contemporary South African novelists appear to vacillate between the institution of apartheid and its post-traumatic aftermaths. Their compulsive re-writing of certain themes and motifs can be seen as an expression thereof. Important shifts of focus were made after the fall of the Apartheid regime; however, the mode through which South Africa´s writing is interpreted is still one of crisis. Questions arise as to whether South African writers are addicted to an enduring contemplation of pain. Are they neurotic themselves? The fact that Apartheid as something palpable to attack had suddenly dissipated seems significant in this context. Reiteration mimics the effects of trauma, suggesting the persistent return of the dreadful event, enforced through a disruption of narrative progression and chronology. The motif of an inevitable fate or trajectory, which the author can produce through rewriting, corresponds to Freud´s elaboration of the repetition- compulsion in Beyond the Pleasure Principal4. Rewriting is also a way of “working through” trauma, an attempt to cope. Not only are South Africa´s writers to some extent neurotic, they also have a certain amount of freedom of choice, expressed in their rewritings. The strategy of repetition is one of the key literary devices in trauma fiction. It can act at the levels of plot, language or imagery. South African novelists evoke the Freudian notion of repetition- compulsion in rewriting their fellow writers´ texts. Their characters are subject to the plots of someone else´s story. Intertextuality enables the authors to present new perspectives on their fellow writers´ works. The overlap between trauma 3 Cf. Boehmer 2012 (unpublished manuscript) 4 Cf. Freud 1920. 8 fiction and postcolonial fiction in the use of intertextuality, grants formerly repressed voices the right to tell their own stories. In chapter 2, an introduction on intertextuality as a general international phenomenon, with regard to its formation and development, shall be given. After a brief discussion of South Africa as a nation characterized by trauma, the focus shifts to Sigmund Freud and his concept of Repetition Compulsion, as well as the various ways in which this correlates to intertextuality and trauma fiction. Formal repercussions and crisis reiteration as an epistemological form will be discussed. Chapters 5-7 present the analyses of the following four novels with regard to their engagement in intertextuality: J.M. Coetzee´s Disgrace, Achmat Dangor´s Bitter Fruit, Ken Barris´s What Kind of Child, and André Brink´s The Rights of Desire. Frequently, the difference between acceptable and problematic change, and variant approaches in dealing with recent history lies in the eye of the beholder. Contemporary South African writers often find themselves at odds with the way their fellow writers deal with the demons of the past and suggest different ways of working through the trauma of Apartheid. Freedom of choice comes in on part of the authors. The analyses of the four novels in this thesis alludes to the fact that South Africa´s authors clearly express their ways of how to deal