Sosio-literêre perspektiewe op die eietydse digkuns van vroue in die Afrikaanse en Nederlandse taalgebiede

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:A study of poetry by six contemporary women in the Afrikaans and Dutch-speakingworlds points toward a multi-focal approach. While texts by poets of a marked diversityare presented as aesthetic objects, the scope of my research has been determined byconsiderations of gender, language and culture. The central line of investigationconcerns the interplay between the poem as an artefact and the changing socio-culturalcontexts by which the respective poets have been informed.My dissertation was inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's argument in favour of a fusionbetween the close reading practices of the New Critics (and in this case, their Dutchcounterparts, the Merlinists) and the contextual approach advocated by literaturesociologists. Concomitantly the art philosophical standpoint of Marcia Eaton and theviews on the écriture féminine or women's style of writing held by Helene Cixous areapplied to poetry. By incorporating insights from adjacent disciplines and therebydecentering the relative autonomy of the poetic text, I hope to demonstrate how thestudy of literature could acquire new relevance, either by expanding its own parameters,or by enriching the field of cultural and gender studies.In conclusion I regard the poetry written by contemporary women as a polyphonicdiscourse voicing women's newly-found position as subjects and challenging notionssuch as a monolithic female identity and the marginalization of women's poetry.From this perspective, the aesthetic value of the poetic genre is paralleled by its functionas a source of knowledge and a cultural agency.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University