Om Amsterdam te verbeel(d): 'n verkenning van die stadsruimte in 30 Nagte in Amsterdam van Etienne van Heerden
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Authors
Nel, Adéle
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Suider-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Neerlandistiek
Abstract
This article investigates the topos of geographical displacement from South-Africa to a foreign country
in Etienne van Heerden’s novel 30 Nagte in Amsterdam (30 Nights in Amsterdam). The
novel tells of the protagonist’s travel to and accommodation in Amsterdam while attempting to take
possession of an inheritance left by an aunt that he has not seen for a long time. He experiences
Amsterdam as (temporary) migrant from a postcolonial subject position, and is confronted by the
option of emigrating to Amsterdam permanently. Nancy Stieber (2006) discusses the city-as-space
and distinguishes between the image of the city, the imagined city and the imaginary city. This is
used as a framework in order to establish how Amsterdam is experienced, or represented or imagined
in 30 Nagte in Amsterdam. In addition to an imagined city, Amsterdam is examined as zone
and heterotopia, where the focus is on the two incommensurable and mutually exclusive worlds,
namely Eastern-Cape (South-Africa) and Amsterdam (Netherlands)
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Citation
Nel, A. 2009. Om Amsterdam te verbeel(d): 'n verkenning van die stadsruimte in 30 Nagte in Amsterdam van Etienne van Heerden. Tydskrif vir Nederlands en Afrikaans, 16(2):18-36. [http://www.savn.org.za/index.php/tydskrif-vir-nederlands-en-afrikaans]