South African satire : a study of Zakes Mda's The Madonna of Excelsior

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis analyses Zakes Mda's The Madonna of Excelsior from three differentpoints of view, namely post-colonial, feminist and satirical. The latter constitutes themain interpretation of the novel and serves as a link with the other two discourses –the key argument being that satire is not a solipsistic form of art, and thus a satiricaltext should not be considered on its own, but should rather be interpreted inconjunction with other cultural discourses. This thesis is of the opinion that one needsall three of the named viewpoints in order to fully comprehend and appreciate thedepth of Mda's satire and his comments on South African society. His novel containsseveral candid comments on the political situation of South Africa in both theapartheid and the democratic eras, and his tongue-in-cheek observations force thereader to consider his novel from a political and a satirical angle. As apartheid is aform of colonialism and South Africa carries several scars from colonial times (suchas diasporic conditions and multi-cultural identity crises, to name a few of thosediscussed), this thesis analyses Mda's political commentary in terms of post-colonialdiscourse. Due to Mda's use of female protagonists, this thesis also considers afeminist interpretation as necessary for a better understanding of the novel: throughthe use of feminist discourse, the violence that is committed against some of thefemale characters in the novel is interpreted as a way of enforcing colonial powerrelations. Chapters two, three and four respectively each discuss one of theseinterpretations: post-colonial, feminist and satirical, whilst chapter one is devoted todefining the art of satire.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University