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Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk
Includes bibliographical references.
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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School of Languages and Literatures
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613233855070208 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Crous, Matthys Lourens |
| author2 | Higgins, John |
| author_browse | Crous, Matthys Lourens Higgins, John |
| author_facet | Higgins, John Crous, Matthys Lourens |
| author_sort | Crous, Matthys Lourens |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes bibliographical references. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10311 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:52.713Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | School of Languages and Literatures |
| publisherStr | School of Languages and Literatures |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10311 Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk Crous, Matthys Lourens Higgins, John Language and Literature Includes bibliographical references. In this thesis, three of Marlene van Niekerk's novels, translated from Afrikaans into English, are examined, with the focus on the representation of abjection in the texts under discussion.The theoretical point of departure of this study is Julia Kristeva's essay Powers of horror (1982), which addresses, in particular, the notion of abjection and how certain abject elements play a pivotal role in people's everyday lives. From a psychoanalytic perspective, abjection is viewed as a revolt against the mother and foregrounds particularly the influence of the maternal body over the subject. In this instance, the subject desires liberation from the hold of the maternal and seeks to subject the mother to abjection. Bodily fluids seeping out of the body, diseases, viruses, dirt and death (and in particular the corpse) are all elements that are encompassed in the concept of abjection. Manifestations of abjection in the form of the abject mother, abject spaces, abject bodies and the link between abjection and filth are comparatively analysed in the three texts. The thesis concludes by showing that Van Niekerk deliberately inscribes elements of the abject into her texts so as to transgress and deconstruct the norms associated with a patriarchal and racist society in South Africa. Van Niekerk also undermines the norms that underpin such a society: religious indoctrination, gender oppression and Othering. By writing her novel Triomf (1999) in a demotic register, Van Niekerk furthermore questions the prevalent assumptions about what is deemed proper language for writing a novel. Writing, for her, thus serves the purposes of abjecting, of rejecting the impositions of the symbolic order. Following the publication of her first collection of short stories, Die Vrou wat haar verkyker vergeet het [The woman who forgot her binoculars] in 1992, there was general consensus that the baroque nature of the language resulted in reader resistance to the text. This explains why she decided to write her first novel in the crude and obscene language of a low-class family, the Benades of Triomf. 2014-12-27T19:53:11Z 2014-12-27T19:53:11Z 2013 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10311 eng application/pdf School of Languages and Literatures Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Language and Literature Crous, Matthys Lourens Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| title_full | Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| title_fullStr | Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| title_full_unstemmed | Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| title_short | Abjection in the novels of Marlene Van Niekerk |
| title_sort | abjection in the novels of marlene van niekerk |
| topic | Language and Literature |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10311 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT crousmatthyslourens abjectioninthenovelsofmarlenevanniekerk |