Romaneindes in enkele Suid-Afrikaanse tekste

Abstract

Drawing on Yuri Lotman's (1978) observation that the ending of a novel is the primary determinant of its meaning, this paper investigates the endings of selected post-1994 novels that chart the South-African socio-political landscape and simultaneously transgress into private life: J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace (1999), Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat (2004), Eben Venter's Horrelpoot (2006), Etienne van Heerden's 30 Nagte in Amsterdam (2008), and Michiel Heyns's Invisible Furies (2012). All deal with the ending of a period in history. Each concludes by affirming that ending, offset against an historical period of colonisation and apartheid and its ideological heritage, as manifested in the lives and circumstances of the characters. I argue that the farm, once an idyllic and mythical setting, remains engraved in Afrikaner collective memory. With reference to the traditional farm novel ("plaasroman"), the texts are still connected to land and landownership, generational and hereditary succession, Afrikaner identity, and above all the survival of the former white coloniser in Africa. The novels bring to life a South African landscape whose significance lies both in its outward appearance and in the inward imprint it has left on its inhabitants. Subjacent to the various narratives is ideological content that includes the debunking of the farm, a discourse of political power and a relativised value system. This article also analyses metaphors of marginalisation, exile, and estrangement from a once reliable reality that appear in multiple layers in these novels.