Karnavaleske elemente in die uitbeelding van geweld in Blood Meridian deur Cormac McCarthy en Buys deur Willem Anker

Abstract

In this dissertation a comparative study is undertaken of an Afrikaans novel, Willem Anker’s Buys: ’n Grensroman (2014) and an American novel, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West (1985). The study focuses on the nature and function of carnivalesque elements in the portrayal of violence in the two novels. The theory of the carnivalesque, as developed by Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World (1984), serves as a broad theoretical point of departure, while Steven Frye’s article “Blood Meridian and the Poetics of Violence” (2013) serves more specifically as a theoretical approach for the investigation into the protrayal of violence in the two novels. Following on Frye’s view of the carnivalesque as an “aesthetic strategy”, reference is made to the views of Terry Eagleton, Kenneth Burke and Fredric Jameson who regard the text as a strategic reaction to a given situation or context. The novels are consequently approached with due consideration to the violent contexts in which they were written, namely America in the wake of the Vietnam War in the case of Blood Meridian and the violence-ridden postcolonial South Africa in Buys’s case. Connections between the carnivalesque and postcolonial discourse as well as between the carnivalesque and violence are explored. The aestheticisation of extreme violence in Blood Meridian and Buys through the utilisation of carnivalesque images coupled with poetic, richly imagistic language which involves the reader emotionally, is briefly demonstrated. Ethical reservations regarding the aestheticisation of violence in literature are explored, while the ethical value Kearney atrributes to a narrative approach to historical violence is also considered. This is followed by a comparative analysis of violent scenes in the two novels in which the grotesque body, carnivalesque clothing, the carnivalesque blending of the kitchen with the battlefield and carnivalesque language occur. Finally the study concludes that the utilisation of carnivalesque imagery in scenes of violence in Blood Meridian and Buys is an aesthetic strategy whereby the reader’s experience of those historic atrocities are intensified as a result of being emotionally drawn to the events. This hightens the reader’s consciousness of the historical reality of moral transgression – a function performed by the original Medieval carnival – and calls attention to the fact that the violence demands an ethical response.

In hierdie verhandeling word ’n vergelykende studie onderneem van ’n Afrikaanse roman, Willem Anker se Buys: ’n Grensroman (2014), en ’n Amerikaanse roman, Cormac McCarthy se Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West (1985). Die studie fokus op die aard en funksie van karnavaleske elemente in die uitbeelding van geweld in die twee romans. Die teorie van die karnavaleske, soos ontwikkel deur Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World (1984) dien as breë teoretiese vertrekpunt, terwyl Steven Frye se artikel “Blood Meridian and the Poetics of Violence” (2013) meer spesifiek as teoretiese invalshoek dien vir die ondersoek na die uitbeelding van geweld in die twee romans. Na aanleiding van Frye se beskouing van die karnavaleske as ’n “estetiese strategie” word daar ook aansluiting gevind by Terry Eagleton, Kenneth Burke en Fredric Jameson se sienings van die literêre teks as ’n strategiese reaksie op ’n gegewe situasie of konteks. Die romans word dus benader met inagneming van die gewelddadige kontekste waarbinne hulle gestalte gekry het, te wete Amerika in die nadraai van die Viëtnam-oorlog in die geval van Blood Meridian en die geweldgeteisterde postkoloniale Suid-Afrika in Buys se geval. Verbande word getrek tussen die karnavaleske en die postkoloniale diskoers, asook tussen die karnavaleske en geweld. Daar word kortliks aangetoon hoedat ekstreme geweld in Blood Meridian en Buys verestetiseer word deur karnavaleske beelde wat gepaard gaan met poëtiese, beeldryke taalgebruik wat die leser emosioneel betrek. Daar word stilgestaan by etiese voorbehoude oor die verestetisering van geweld in literatuur, terwyl die etiese waarde wat Kearney heg aan ’n narratiewe benadering tot historiese geweld ook onder die loep kom. Dit word gevolg deur ’n vergelykende ontleding van geweldstonele in die twee romans waarin die groteske liggaam, karnavaleske kleredrag, die karnavaleske vermenging van die kombuis en die slagveld en karnavaleske taalgebruik voorkom. Ten slotte word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die aanwending van karnavaleske beelde in geweldstonele in Blood Meridian en Buys ’n estetiese strategie is waardeur die leser se ervaring van daardie geweldsvergrype in die verlede geïntensiveer word deurdat hy emosioneel daarby betrek word. Dit verhoog die leser se bewustheid van die historiese werklikheid van morele transgressie – ’n rol wat ook deur die oorspronklike karnaval in die Middeleeue vertolk is – en maak ’n appèl op die leser dat die geweldsvergrype ’n etiese respons vereis.