Die representasie van Kwasi/Aquasi : 'n ondersoek na die voortsetting al dan nie van die koloniale diskoers in De zwarte met het witte hart deur Arthur Japin

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The term 'representation' is often used to refer to the possibility of a link betweenliterature and reality. The word also suggests the reiteration of an event and is used inliterary studies to indicate that a representation should be read as the author'sinterpretation of events and thus as a mediated rendition thereof.This study focuses on the representation of a black character who lived in the 19thCentury by a white author from the zo Century, Arthur Japin, in his novel, Dezwarte met het witte hart (1997). This novel, based on historical events, is a renderingof the lives of two Ashanti princes who were taken to the Netherlands in 1837 asguarantee to an agreement between the king of the Ashanti and the Netherlands. Thisstudy therefore looks at the way in which Japin interpreted and represented theavailable information in his novel.This study furthermore focuses on ways in which this novel, written in what may betermed a postcolonial era could be read as a continuation of the colonial discourse inthe 21st Century. This is demonstrated by identifying and examining thecharacteristics of colonial discourse, postcolonial discourse, the historic novel and thedidactic novel, as well as ways in which these genres deal with representation. Thestudy refers to the work of literary and social theoreticians such as Edward Said,Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Linda Hutcheon and Maaike Meijer.The study indicates that this novel can partially be read as a continuation of thecolonial discourse. The results of this study also indicates that an uncritical reading ofthe novel De zwarte met het witte hart could lead to a continuation of the colonialdiscourse in the 21st Century. The role and responsibility of the reader in theinterpretation and the subversion of the colonial discourse could therefore be furtherinvestigated.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University