Die haiku in Afrikaans

Abstract

A few specific genre studies have successfully been completed in Afrikaans: Belcher (1996) wrote on the sonnet and Bekker (1974) on the quatrain, for example. This study, like the above mentioned descriptive research, has been aimed at producing a scientific report on a poetry typification which has an extensive development history: the haiku. This specific form of verse from the East, which has been used frequently in both Afrikaans and Dutch literature, has to date received surprisingly little attention in the literary system of Afrikaans critical thinking. Through a Post-modernistic perspective on genre, the process of handing down literary constants and textual trans-positioning has awakened new theoretical and literary-critical interest. The problem statement at basis of this study had been presented as follows: How far is it possible in literature to transpose an Eastern consciousness to a Western or African consciousness, either by means of form or content? Furthermore: is the survival and development of the Japanese poetry typification, the haiku, in form and content an example of a successful trans-posal in Afrikaans? By using some terms from current literary theory, namely: inter-textuality, inter-subjectivity and vraisemblable it has been argued that the term form intertextuality satisfactorily clinches the process of literary transposal from one language, culture, tradition and epoch to another, while still taking cognisance of the complex balance between characteristic identities and the call for renewal. The usefulness of this term is also confirmed by the diachrony of the haiku. It was found in the study that of all the possible Eastern verse forms, the haiku is the only one which has been incorporated into Afrikaans literature. The theoretical precisioning of the haiku has been researched diachronically to indicate the long and complex developmental history of this form of verse. Characteristic features of the haiku have been accentuated throughout the study: the conciousness of nature as thematic focus, concepts denoting seasons, the centralizing of the senses and sensory observation in constituting the poem awareness, the importance of the haiku moment (in terms of Zen-Buddhistical 'enlightenment'), the compositional balance and equilibrium which occurs in terms of a tectonic dichotomy and then the one aspect which cannot be described in non-Eastern languages, namely the cut phrase. Notice has been taken of the inclination of haikus to be self-reflexive, also which specific role figures of speech and certain poetic techniques play in the haiku. Throughout Afrikaans and Dutch examples were used to illustrate the theory. Even though many texts bear the qualification or label of being a haiku, the study proves that poets and critics don't have enough knowledge of the distinctive features of the haiku. It has been indicated how the term and features have been applied loosely and that most of the haikus in Afrikaans don't comply with the minimum requirements for the establishment of a true haiku. The hypothesis that the haiku as verse form in Afrikaans has not been fully exploited yet, has clearly been shown by the descriptive examples. Finally the existence of genuine haikus and so-called mutations has also been indicated. It is a clear indication of the fact that both the form and content of the haiku mutate and adjust to function properly within a new literary system. Besides the usefulness of the comprehensive description of the haiku as an interesting and complex typification of poetry, this study has also pointed out that in future any successful genre theory will have to be less rigid, and specified with less detail in terms of impermeable features categories, less 'pure' and more 'open' to confirm new permutation possibilities. In the Post-modernistic paradigm, the usage of generic prescriptions is actually undermined to exploit the (semantic) potential of genre, sub-genre or typification. It has clearly been confirmed by this particular study.