Reis as tema en metafoor in die egoliteratuur van Elsa Joubert
Date
2023-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Elsa Joubert (1922-2020) het met ʼn reisverhaal haar skrywersloopbaan in 1957 ingelui en sedertdien
wye erkenning verdien as ʼn belangrike reisverhaalskrywer in die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Sy het egter
veral bekendheid verwerf weens haar duidelike standpuntinname oor politieke en sosiale
vraagstukke wat sy vreesloos in haar romans (1963-2002), asook in haar egoliteratuur (2005-2017)
aangepak het. Reis is ʼn deurlopende tema in haar oeuvre, maar vir die doeleinde van hierdie studie
is die ondersoekveld afgebaken tot die outobiografiese drieluik in haar egoliteratuur: ʼn Wonderlike
geweld. Jeugherinneringe (2005); Reisiger: Die Limietberge oor (2009), en Spertyd (2017).
Die sterk verband tussen Joubert se persoonlike lewe en die breër kulturele en sosiopolitieke
samelewing, haar Afrika-gerigtheid, haar rol as vroueskrywer in die veranderende politieke klimaat
in Suid-Afrika, en haar ouderdomsbelewing, word in haar egoliteratuur gereflekteer. Heersende
konseptuele beskouings van die outobiografie, fiksionaliteit in die egoliteratuur, identiteit, die outoetnografie, die feminisme, en die literêre gerontologie is die teoretiese hoek van waaruit Joubert se
tekste in hierdie studie beskou word.
Haar lewensgeskiedskrywing verloop parallel met reis as ʼn lewenservaring wat haar van jongs af
gefassineer het. Sy is uiteraard op verskillende vlakke getransformeer deur haar reise oor verskeie
kontinente heen. Aspekte van die reisliteratuur wat vir hierdie studie relevant is, is die postkoloniale
diskoers en die rol van die ruimte en die metafoor in die kreatiewe herskepping van die reisgegewe.
In haar egoliteratuur is reis ʼn metafoor vir “binnereise” – reise waarin jy nuwe aspekte van jouself
ontdek. Dié soort reis, deur Joubert beskryf as haar “geleefde ervaring van een mens”, spruit uit die
outobiograaf se perspektief vanuit die hede, waarmee sy haar jonger self se optrede, denke en
aspirasies herbeleef. Dit word in haar nadenke ʼn nuwe reis, met ander betekenisse, en in Spertyd
word dit afgesluit met ʼn spirituele besinning oor die mens se bestaan. In hierdie studie word
ondersoek ingestel na die wyse waarop Afrikanerskap, patriotisme, skrywerskap, identiteit,
spiritualiteit, en veroudering figureer as metaforiese reise.
Reis as ʼn spesifieke tema, asook die metaforiese aard van reis as ʼn selfopenbarende element in ʼn
outobiografie in die algemeen, en in die besonder in Elsa Joubert se egoliteratuur, word in hierdie
studie as skering en inslag van Joubert se tekste beskou. Die fokus op die samehang tussen Joubert
se drie outobiografiese werke, en die rol van Spertyd as eenheidsvormende sluitstuk van die drieluik,
sowel as van haar oeuvre, sluit die navorsing af.
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Elsa Joubert (1922-2020) began her writing career with a travelogue in 1957 and has since earned wide recognition as an important travel writer in Afrikaans literature. However, she gained fame due to her clear stance on political and social issues, which she fearlessly addressed in her novels (1963– 2002), as well as in her life writing (2005-2017). Travel is a continuous theme in her oeuvre, but for the purpose of this study, the field of investigation is limited to the autobiographical triptych in her life writing: ʼn Wonderlike geweld. Jeugherinneringe (2005); Reisiger. Die Limietberge oor (2009), and Spertyd (2017). The strong connection between Joubert's personal life and the broader cultural and socio-political society, her African orientation, her role as a woman writer in the changing political climate in South Africa, and her experience of aging are reflected in her life writing. Prevailing conceptual views of autobiography, fictionality in life writing, identity, autoethnography, feminism, and literary gerontology are the theoretical angles from which Joubert's texts are viewed in this study. Her autobiography runs parallel to the journey as a life experience that fascinated her from a young age and led to her travels across several continents, which transformed her life on various levels. Aspects of travel literature relevant to this study are the postcolonial discourse and the role of space and metaphor in the creative new history of the travel experiences. In her life writing the journey becomes a metaphor for "inner journeys" - journeys in which one discovers new aspects of oneself. This kind of journey, described by Joubert as her "lived experience of one person", stems from the perspective of the autobiographer from the present, with which she reinvents her younger self's actions, thoughts, and aspirations. In her mind, it becomes a new journey, with other meanings, and in Spertyd it is concluded with a spiritual reflection on human existence. This study investigates the way in which being an Afrikaner, patriotism, authorship, identity, spirituality, and aging figure as metaphorical journeys. Travel as a specific theme, as well as the metaphorical nature of travel as a self-revealing feature in an autobiography in general, and particular in Elsa Joubert's life writing, are considered in this study as fundamental to Joubert's texts. The focus on the coherence between Joubert's three autobiographical works, and the role of Spertyd as a unity-forming closing piece of the triptych, as well as of her oeuvre, conclude the research.
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Elsa Joubert (1922-2020) began her writing career with a travelogue in 1957 and has since earned wide recognition as an important travel writer in Afrikaans literature. However, she gained fame due to her clear stance on political and social issues, which she fearlessly addressed in her novels (1963– 2002), as well as in her life writing (2005-2017). Travel is a continuous theme in her oeuvre, but for the purpose of this study, the field of investigation is limited to the autobiographical triptych in her life writing: ʼn Wonderlike geweld. Jeugherinneringe (2005); Reisiger. Die Limietberge oor (2009), and Spertyd (2017). The strong connection between Joubert's personal life and the broader cultural and socio-political society, her African orientation, her role as a woman writer in the changing political climate in South Africa, and her experience of aging are reflected in her life writing. Prevailing conceptual views of autobiography, fictionality in life writing, identity, autoethnography, feminism, and literary gerontology are the theoretical angles from which Joubert's texts are viewed in this study. Her autobiography runs parallel to the journey as a life experience that fascinated her from a young age and led to her travels across several continents, which transformed her life on various levels. Aspects of travel literature relevant to this study are the postcolonial discourse and the role of space and metaphor in the creative new history of the travel experiences. In her life writing the journey becomes a metaphor for "inner journeys" - journeys in which one discovers new aspects of oneself. This kind of journey, described by Joubert as her "lived experience of one person", stems from the perspective of the autobiographer from the present, with which she reinvents her younger self's actions, thoughts, and aspirations. In her mind, it becomes a new journey, with other meanings, and in Spertyd it is concluded with a spiritual reflection on human existence. This study investigates the way in which being an Afrikaner, patriotism, authorship, identity, spirituality, and aging figure as metaphorical journeys. Travel as a specific theme, as well as the metaphorical nature of travel as a self-revealing feature in an autobiography in general, and particular in Elsa Joubert's life writing, are considered in this study as fundamental to Joubert's texts. The focus on the coherence between Joubert's three autobiographical works, and the role of Spertyd as a unity-forming closing piece of the triptych, as well as of her oeuvre, conclude the research.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2023.