Burger, Willie2012-07-232012-07-231994-04Burger, W 1994, 'Postmodernisme : doelgerig of vrolike fuif? 'n Polisieroman en 'n moorddroom', Literator, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 59-71.0258-2279http://hdl.handle.net/2263/19485Article digitised using: Suprascan 1000 RGB scanner, scanned at 400 dpi; 24-bit colour; 100% Image derivating - Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3 - Image levels, crop, deskew Abbyy Fine Reader No.9 - Image manipulation + OCR Adobe Acrobat 9 (PDF)This article was written by Prof. Willie Burger before he joined the University of PretoriaThe incredulity towards metanarratives in the postmodernist era holds serious implications for historiography. Two "historiographic meta fictional novels" (Hutcheon's term), one Flemish and one Afrikaans, are discussed in this article. There is a significant difference in the way these two texts react to ontological doubt. On the one hand there is a celebration of the loss of metanarratives in Het beleg van Laken (Walter van den Broeck). On the other hand this loss is used in a very serious way to undermine existing metanarratives in Kroniek uit die doofpot (John Miles). The joyous humour and celebration in Het beleg van Laken is absent in Kroniek uit die doofpot. It is concluded that some historiographic metafiction frivolously celebrates decentring and the incredulity towards metanarratives. In other historiographic meta fiction ontological doubt manifests without humour or celebration and serves to undermine metanarratives. It might be true that the celebration belongs to a late capitalist Western culture whereas it is unsuitable for a developing country.8 pagesPDFAfrikaansBureau for Scholarly JournalsMetanarrativesMetafiksiePostmodernism (Literature)Narration (Rhetoric)Suspense fiction -- History and criticismBroeck, Walter van den, 1941- .Het beleg van Laken : een moorddroomMiles, John, 1938- .Kroniek uit die doofpot : polisieromanArticle