In a number of reviews and articles published in the 1940's Herman Charles Bosman expressed his appreciation for the Afrikaans language and for Afrikaans literature. He fiercely attacked what he described as a tendency in ...

In Marlene van Niekerk's Triomf "wall paper" becomes a central metaphor for the idea that language, narratives, ideologies, religion etc. are lies, because it leads to generalisations. These generalisations deny "reality" ...

Over the last few decades postmodernist literature and criticism have rejected the idea of a white, western, male monoculture. Elements of Derridean and Foucauldian thought have penetrated to every level of literary ...

Karel Schoeman's attempt in his "autobiography" as well as in his historical works and fiction, is to create a "bulwark against time and oblivion". By narrating the past, an important contribution is made towards ...

Two contrasting views of narratives are explored by discussing two Afrikaans novels, André Brink's Duiwelskloof (1998) and Marlene van Niekerk's Triomf (1994). On the one hand (as represented by Duiwelskloof - in accordance ...

Between the threat of forgetting on the one hand and the reprobation to remember on the other, three aspects of knowledge about the past are investigated in Karel Schoeman’s Hierdie lewe (This life) with references to the ...

Die hoofkarakter in Francois Smith se jongste roman is ʼn dokter op ʼn plattelandse dorp. Wanneer dokter Gustav van Aardt voor een van die kunswerke in sy spreekkamer staan, dink hy: “Egte kuns is nie net mooi prentjies ...

The experience of the passage of time and our attempts to remember the past is central in Elsa Joubert’s Die reise van Isobelle (1995) (translated in English as Isobelle’s Journey). In this novel memory and the importance ...

In Andre Brink's Devil's Valley the emphasis falls on stories. The important role that narratives play in a community to create a history and an identity for that community and for individuals in the community, is illustrated. ...

Following his death a high number of tributes to André Brink had been published. A common denominator that ran through these tributes was the mention time and again of the life-changing effect his work had on people’s ...