Werkwinkel, 2013, vol. 8(1)
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Wim Willems, Hanneke Verbeek Honderd jaar heimwee: De geschiedenis van Polen in Nederland(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Sterckx, JoA review of Wim Willems, Hanneke Verbeek Honderd jaar heimwee: De geschiedenis van Polen in Nederland Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Boom, 2013. 349 pp. ISBN 9789461050595Item H.P. Grebe Op die keper beskou: Oor die ontstaan van Afrikaans(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Conradie, JacA review of H.P. Grebe Op die keper beskou: Oor die ontstaan van Afrikaans Pretoria: Van Schaik Uitgewers, 2012 167 pp. ISBN 9780627030215Item David Attwell, Derek Attridge, eds The Cambridge History of South African Literature(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Olivier, FanieA review of David Attwell, Derek Attridge, eds The Cambridge History of South African Literature Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012 894 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-19928-5Item Unassimilable Strangeness: The Afrikaans Poetry of Olga Kirsch(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Roth, EgonneThe Afrikaans poetry of Olga Kirsch (1924-1997) makes an important and lasting contribution to Afrikaans literature, despite its “unassimilable strangeness.” In a genre dominated until then by men, Kirsch introduces the voice of a woman poet; more importantly, she is the only Jewish poet in Afrikaans. And Kirsch seals her ‘strangeness’ by her early, initial critique of apartheid policies. Kirsch also wrote in English and Hebrew, but her published output in Afrikaans is more significant and will ultimately determine her place in the national canon and the cultural consciousness of post-apartheid South Africa.Item “Een nieuwe taal voor een urgent verhaal”: Over de samenspraak van tekst en context bij Robert Vuijsjes Alleen maar nette mensen(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Louwerse, HenriëtteIn 2009 the novel Alleen maar nette mensen [Only Decent Folk] by Robert Vuijsje caused a stir in the Netherlands. It was in particular the way in which black women were represented that gave rise to a heated discussion of the role of literary texts and the responsibility and accountability of the author. This contribution maps the events and discussions around Vuijsje’s novel and will argue that the written text cannot be regarded in a vacuum. The paratext, which includes the positioning and performance of the author in the media, influences the way the novel is read and regarded. The concept autobiografiction, as suggested by Max Saunders, is used as an analytical tool to shed light on the complex relationship between fiction and autobiography. This paper will argue that literary text is part of a ‘package’ a system of (self)representation that involves both fictional and autobiographical moments or gestures. Essentialist genre differences prove untenable in a contemporary setting, which is characterized by the interaction between the written text and the (media) context.Item Van nationaal belang: De functie van het Nederlandse literaire erfgoed in de eerste helft van de negentiende eeuw(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Petiet, FrancienAt the end of the 18th century the interest in the literary past emerged in the Netherlands. In this article I will try to explain why all of a sudden the literary past became an object of study. First of all the authors from the past were used to improve the contemporary Dutch literature. Another reason was the belief that patriotic feelings could be disseminated through literature. After 1813 the literary past became vital for engendering a national recovery. The focus came to lie upon the restoration of the national identity and the literature, especially the literature from the seventeenth century, had an important role to play in this.Item De ene schrijver is de andere niet: Het beeld van de auteur in een functionalistische perspectief(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) de Geest, DirkThe present article articulates a functional perspective on the author as a central category in literary historiography. Taking as its starting point the common practices in Dutch literary historiography the paradoxes surrounding the authorial function -- even in so-called postmodern histories -- are analyzed. Authors remain a central dimension of literature and hence of its scholarly study, although the ‘death of the author’ has been claimed time and again. The present article does not plead for a further death or, alternately, a clear resurrection of the author. Rather it argues for an meticulous analysis of the authorial category as a crucial discursive category, which can be both analyzed and thematized in a Foucaldian way. A number of topics in relation to this discursivefunctionalist approach to literature are presented.Item Fata morgana‘s van de auteursintentie: Intentieprocessen als valkuil voor biografisch en teksteditorisch onderzoek(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) T‘Sjoen, Yves; De Potter, LindeThe notion “author’s intention” is nothing less than a booby trap. Intention counts as a diffuse concept for literary research. In editorial theory and the practical application of it, scholars use concepts such as “intended meaning” and “authorial intention” in order to legitimize certain decisions concerning the choice of the text version and the determination of variants respectively typographical errors. Contemporary research on text editing distinguishes between “authorial will” and “authorial intention” (Mathijsen 1995: 141-142). Not the (testamentary) will of the author will be decisive in order to edit or interpret a certain text (version): the focus lies on what the author has “intended.” This differentiation between “will” (a legal concept) and “intention” (a psychological category) is clear. Nevertheless, it has been neglected regularly by biographers (of a more “hagiographic” and psychologizing kind). In this view, biographical and editorial research, and even literary history show dubious similarities. These research disciplines pretend to be able to know and study intentions and opinions of an author. Notwithstanding these similarities and points of view, biographers almost never make use of the results of text genetics. For a scholarly discipline, it is at least remarkable that some biographers and editors rely on hypotheses and speculations in order to express textual decisions.Item Afscheid van de (Nederlandse) literatuur? Inleidende opmerkingen over literatuurgeschiedenis als cultureel project en wetenschappelijke onderneming(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Dorleijn, GillisIn this introductory article a view on literary-history research is presented on the basis of topics addressed by the other contributions to this issue of Werkwinkel. Central to a new paradigm in cultural studies is a new, dynamic conception of culture, informed by current insights of cultural sociology, cognitive sciences and a functionalist approach: culture is fragmented, situation dependent, led by mediation and framing effects and inheres not in the objects or artefacts, perceptions or symbolizations but in the interactions among them. Consequently, the object of research on literary-history should be reconceptualised as a complex form of communicative behaviour. Besides, it is argued that traditionally and even in recent times, literary historiography still is determined by cultural agenda’s or by a mix of academic and cultural aims. Current policy of science requires that academic research contributes to societal issues; hence, traditional literary historiography can function as a form of knowledge dissemination. However, scientific criteria should always be prominent. Reviewing the subsequent contributions, this article identifies some new themes of literary-history like media context, transnational literature and the interaction with other, non-literary discourses. Such a broad and dynamic concept of literary history runs a risk that the literary-historical research programme succumbs to its ambitions. Yet, this might be overcome by formulating precise and well-defined research questions within a sound theoretical framework.