Artis bene moriendi, voorskrifte & tekeninge vir 'n goeie dood : Memorandum : 'n verhaal met skilderye

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries.