“Hell’s view” : Van de Ruit’s Spud – changing the boys’ school story tradition?

dc.contributor.authorRobertson, J.
dc.date.accessioned2012-05-23T06:10:48Z
dc.date.available2012-08-30T00:20:02Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThe article identifies salient features of Van de Ruit’s novels “Spud: a wickedly funny novel” (2005) and “Spud – the madness continues” (2007) and compares them with the corresponding motifs commonly found in historical British boys’ school stories, tracing shifts in discourse to establish the novels’ construction of a South African boyhood. The article argues that through his conscious subversion of the imperial model’s defining discourses, Van de Ruit’s fictional representation of Spud’s school experience portrays the previously accepted “ideal” construction of boyhood, with its unmistakably defined principles and uncontested ethical code, as fundamentally challenged by the variety of alternative discourses to which the modern protagonist is exposed. The resultant construction of Spud’s South African boyhood is, therefore, characterised by the protagonist’s constant struggle to assimilate the frequently incongruous and bewildering discourses (about moral courage and personal integrity, in particular) that compete for his attention. The pivotal component of this particular construction of boyhood may be argued not to be a strict adherence to a clearly defined schoolboy ethic, but as a variable that is ultimately dependent on the boy’s choices.en
dc.description.abstractHierdie artikel identifiseer sentrale eienskappe van Van de Ruit se romans “Spud: a wickedly funny novel “(2005) en “Spud – the madness continues” (2007) en vergelyk dit met die ooreenstemmende motiewe wat algemeen in tradisionele Britse skoolverhale oor seuns voorkom. Die artikel ondersoek ook diskoersverskuiwings om die romans se konstruksie van Suid- Afrikaanse seunsjare te bepaal. Die skrywer voer aan dat Van de Ruit, deur middel van sy doelbewuste ondermyning van die bepalende diskoerse van die imperiale model in sy fiktiewe uitbeelding van Spud se skoolwedervarings, die voorheen aanvaarde, “ideale” konstruksie van seunsjare (met sy onmiskenbaar omskrewe beginsels en onbestrede etiese kode) uitbeeld as iets wat fundamenteel bevraagteken word deur die verskeidenheid alternatiewe diskoerse waaraan die hedendaagse protagonis blootgestel word. Die gevolglike konstruksie van Spud se Suid-Afrikaanse seunsjare word derhalwe gekenmerk deur die protagonis se konstante worsteling met die assimilasie van die dikwels lagwekkende diskoerse (oor morele moed en persoonlike integriteit in die besonder) wat hom verwar terwyl hulle meeding om sy aandag. Die slotsom is dat die spil van hierdie spesifieke konstruksie van seunsjare nie soseer streng gehoorsaamheid aan ’n duidelik omskrewe skoolseunetos is nie, maar wel ’n veranderlike is wat uiteindelik van die keuses wat die seun maak, afhang.af
dc.description.librariannf2012en
dc.description.urihttp://www.puk.ac.za/literator/en_US
dc.identifier.citationRobertson, J 2011, '“Hell’s view” : Van de Ruit’s Spud – changing the boys’ school story tradition?', Literator, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 33-63.en
dc.identifier.issn0258-2279
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/18822
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBureau for Scholarly Journalsen_US
dc.rightsBureau for Scholarly Journalsen_US
dc.subjectImperial construction of boyhooden
dc.subjectSpud: a wickedly funny novelen
dc.subjectSpud: the madness continuesen
dc.subjectTraditional British boys’ school storiesen
dc.subjectTraditional school ethicsen
dc.subjectBritse skoolverhale vir seuns, tradisioneleaf
dc.subjectImperiale konstruksie van seunsjareaf
dc.subjectSuid-Afrikaanse skoolverhaalaf
dc.subject.lcshSchoolboys in literatureen
dc.subject.lcshSchoolboys -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa -- Fictionen
dc.subject.lcshVan de Ruit, John. Spud ...en
dc.subject.lcshTeenage boys -- South Africa -- Fiction.en
dc.subject.lcshBoarding schools -- South Africa -- Fiction.en
dc.title“Hell’s view” : Van de Ruit’s Spud – changing the boys’ school story tradition?en
dc.title.alternative“Hell’s view”: Van de Ruit se Spud – ’n omwenteling in die tradisionele skoolverhaal vir seuns?af
dc.typeArticleen

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