Browsing by Author "Mbingo, Seluliwe Felicia"

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    The representation of water in selected Southern African fiction
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Mbingo, Seluliwe Felicia; Steiner, Tina; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Water, in all its forms, is essential to human life. This thesis offers a study of the representation of water in selected novels from Southern Africa, namely Bessie Head When Rain Clouds Gather (1969), Karen Jayes For the Mercy of Water (2012) and Unconfessed: A novel (2007) by Yvette Christiansë. The thesis explores the trope of water in these selected texts and highlights how water in its absence and abundance represents fundamental human experiences, while in a political discourse it represents inequality and dispossession, frequently as a response to colonial violence. I analyze both the material reality of the element of water as well as its metaphorical meanings as depicted in the three narratives. I argue that the representation of water articulates the intricate traits of water as it affects social and ecological concerns. In my exploration of water, I adopt the idea of water as a literary device which enables dialogues across different times, cultures, and contexts. I focus in particular on the way in which characters experience the presence or absence of water. I am interested in the context in which water or bodies of water appear and how this is used to represent social realities as well as abstract qualities. The three main chapters focus on how human nature is connected and reliant on watery resources of nature. Through close reading of the selected novels in each chapter, the discussions within this study involves a selective emphasis on how the narratives explore human nature and the theme of water. The watery reading of texts invites us to explore the interaction of the political, social, and ecological frame.