Die pietistiese dagboek van Susanna Catharina Smit (1799-1863): 'n deskriptiewe ondersoek en diplomatiese teks uitgawe.

[摘要] The aim of this study is (1) to give a detailed description of the spiritual diary ofSusanna Smit (1799-1863), and (2) to provide a transcription of the whole diary ofthis remarkable woman writer, pietist, voortrekker and wife of the missionaryErasmus Smit. In this way a unique and so far inaccessible 19th century documenthas been prepared for possible publication. The manuscript is housed in the NatalArchives at Pietermaritzburg. The 22 individual booklets that have remained intactcomprise a corpus of more than 1000 pages.Part I deals with the description of the diary and its place in diary literature. The textfalls clearly into the category of a diary as a record of inner life despite the fact thatit contains some autobiographical features and reminiscences, and that there areperiods of prolonged interruptions. In the course of the investigation, and largelyas a result of linguistic and stylistic analysis it becomes evident that this diaryconstitutes a typical specimen of pietistic literature, the only one of its kind in SouthAfrica and written in Dutch by a born and bred, uneducated South African woman ofthe Eastern Cape. Although the diarist clearly was an Afrikaans mother tonguespeaker, she was surprisingly well versed in Dutch, and what is even moresurprising, she was steeped in the pietistic style of diary writings popular in Europein the 18th and 19th centuries in the circles and conventicles of pietists. As part ofthis religious tradition Susanna Smit describes her daily spiritual experiences, evendreams and 'visions' which are reminiscent of those of medieval mystics. Despiteits deeply spiritual nature, the diary also contains a considerable amount of generalinformation, e.g. references to people, books and daily-life events of the smallvoortrekker community at Pietermaritzburg.Part II contains the full text of the diary. This is the first time that the manuscript hasbeen transcribed in full, annotated and made available for further study andinvestigation. Since it is such a valuable socio-historical document, throwing lighton cultural and spiritual trends at the Cape in the 19th century, a diplomatic textedition was made with careful attention to spelling, line and page length, laterinsertions in the margins and other idiosyncrasies.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand