Zur Darstellung der weißen Frau als Hauptfigur in ausgewählten Unterhaltungsromanen der Gegenwart mit Afrikabezug

[摘要] The noticeable popularity of contemporary German novels set in Africa, as well as themany similarities between these novels, provided the cause for this investigation.Especially the large number of autobiographies, biographies, novels, televisionproductions and films featuring a white female protagonist raised some questionsregarding the cause of the popularity of this character. The aim of this thesis is to tryand answer some of these questions based on a close analysis of two particular femalecharacters in two contemporary German novels set in Africa.A short overview of the research done on popular fiction, colonial German literatureand the history of the white woman in Africa in literature will be given. Theoreticalpoints of departure involve a discussion of the aims and effects of popular fiction ingeneral, as well as a look at how German colonial Fantasies, as found in colonialLiterature, are being propagated by contemporary Literature set in Africa, specificallywith regard to the representation of the white female Protagonist. Further theoreticalbackground will be provided by a brief appraisal of Gender Studies and PostcolonialStudies.Furthermore, a considerable part of the research for this thesis involved the reading ofseveral contemporary popular German novels. Ein Land, das Himmel heißt (2002) byStefanie Gercke and Die weiße Jägerin (2005) by Rolf Ackermann were selected asprime examples for closer analysis. In this thesis the two female protagonists of theselected novels, Jill Court and Margarete Trappe, will be analysed in order to identifyand interpret a pattern followed in the representation of the white female protagonistin Africa in general.A central aspect of the depiction of this protagonist is her ability to cross boundariesbetween stereotypical representations of both masculinity and femininity. Therefore,she is a versatile character, allowing a large number of readers to identify with her.However, her capacity to cross such boundaries is limited to a certain extent and shenever oversteps the boundaries far enough in order to surpass her lover when it comesto strength, knowledge, and maturity. The conclusion of this study is that both theversatility and the limitations of this protagonist explain her immense popularity as anew literary stereotype.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University