Waardesisteem en literêre kommunikasie : 'n teoretiese ondersoek toegepas op prosatekste van C.M. van den Heever en Stijn Streuvels

Abstract

The point of departure for this study is situated in the fact that the literary work is a system of communication between author and reader . It is a characteristic of a literary work that it contains an immanent system of values of which the reception is to a large extent determined by the value system of the reader. In this framework, then, the study starts off with two hypotheses: 1 . The reason for the varying receptions of a literary work is to be found in the different readers with their individual, idiosyncratic sets of values; and 2. the time during which a work is written and received plays a role 1n its reception, and this links this hypothesis with the first. Considerable attention is paid to the reception theories of Jauss and lser, because the perspective for the study of literary communication and value system is strongly related to reception theory. The study of literary communication and value system is explicated by ~ay of a study of the prose corpus of C.M. van den Heever and to a lesser extent the works of Stijn Streuvels . Van den Heever's system of values is reconstructed by means of a study of reproductive reception documents pertaining to his works, and of statements made by himself in non-fictional works . It is demonstrated how this system of values is embodied in his novels, short stories and novellettes. I also highlight the manifestation and function of the numerous religious aspects in his work not only in terms of myself as a researcher , but also as a concrete or real reader. It emerges that the religious allusions are now, and were in the time of the original reception of the works, important links in the process of communication between the implicit author and the reader. It was considered necessary to include a chapter on the Flemish author Stijn Streuvels because of the acknowledged influence he had on Van den Heever's writing. The relationship between the two authors is described and Streuvels's system of values is reconstructed and my own reception as reader provided - in connection with the religious aspects of his works I provided my reception as a concrete reader. The emphasis fell on the novel De vlaschaard. The hypotheses postulated at the beginning of the study are verified by means of a theoretical study of literary communication and value system as illustrated in the prose works of C.M. van den Heever and Stijn Streuvels.