PM Lebopa : Papetso ya Dikanegelotseka tsa Lebopa (Sepedi)

Abstract

In this dissertation Lebopa' s two short stories entitled Ntlo ya monna yo mongwe and Bomahlwabadibona are compared with each other. Groenewald is the first person to have pointed out the importance of these two detective short stories. By doing this he also pointed out the importance of Lebopa as a Sepedi author. The named two short stories have never been examined comprehensively. It was therefore decided that they would be compared to each other in this study. The study begins with a description of the concept 'detective story'. Stewart (1980: 12) states that this type of story deals with an investigator who tries to unravel a mystery. The Boileau - Narcejac and Groenewald classifications of these types of stories also receive attention. The Groenewald classification is used in this dissertation. Strachan and Mojalefa's opinion that a literary work consists of three levels forms the basis of the model used to analyse the short stories. Mojalefa refers to these three levels as 'content level', 'structure level' and 'style level'. 'Topic' and 'theme' are two basic concepts in this investigation. 'Topic' is relevant on a content level while 'theme' is important on a structure level'. The two stories were not analysed stylistically. The content of a text consists of four elements, namely characters, events, time and space, and the study of content concentrates on these four elements. Two main figures who are involved in a conflict with each other are identified in the investigation. The events are divided into three categories. The first category contains basic events and is exclusively determined by the topic. The second and third categories respectively contain relevant and coincidental events. The 'time' concept is subdivided into 'point of time' and 'lapse of time'. 'Place' includes amongst other things, 'geographic', 'socio-cultural' and 'symbolic place'. The analysis of the structural level relies heavily on the 'mini-framework' concept which involves the microstructure of a work. Attention is devoted to the title. Hereafter the investigation focused on the different parts of the structure i.e. the exposition, the development, the climax and the resolution. The structural analysis concentrates mainly on the author's use of literary techniques. The concept 'technique' is defined and the following techniques from Ntlo ya monna yo mongwe and Bomahlwabadibona are identified and discussed: repetition, shifting, frequency, dramatic irony, omission, focus, complication and deceit. The investigation is a functional analysis and not a taxonomic one, which means that the ways in which the techniques function also receive attention. The comparison between the two short stories reveals that they belong to two different kinds of detective stories. In Ntlo ya monna yo mongwe the unravelling of the mystery receive the most attention. In Bomahlwabadibona those events which gradually expose the cruelty of the antagonist and which deal with his punishment are most prominent. This is in accordance with Dresden and Vestdijk's description of the English and American detective story respectively. The positions of Ntlo ya monna yo mongwe and Bomahlwabadibona in relation to the rest of the Sepedi narrative genre is then precisely indicated. The concluding chapter is a summary. At the end of this chapter a brief allusion is made to Dresden and Vestdijk's opinion that the detective story is a modern fairytale.