Die digter as reisiger : twee gedigsiklusse van Leipoldt en Krog
Date
2003
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Afrikaanse Letterkundevereniging
Abstract
This article focuses on the genre of travel literature, more specifically on two cycles of Afrikaans poems about travelling. The first is a cycle of poems, "Uit my Oosterse dagboek", by C. Louis Leipoldt, published in the volume Uit drie wêrelddele (1923), and the second is a cycle of poems by Antjie Krog, "van litteken tot rivier", published in the volume Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000). Both of these cycles are based on real travel experiences on which the poets also reported in non-fictional texts. The article explores the relationship between the non-fictional and the poetic texts, but also looks into the way in which the experience of travel leads to an intensified form of "making strange" (to quote the Russian Formalist, Sklovsky). Attention is also given to the way in which these poetic texts about travelling demonstrate the way in which travel can lead to self-discovery. Because travel leads to a crossing of boundaries in the literal as well as the figurative sense, travel writing is potentially transgressive. According to Barthes, travel writing is also the most "ideologically saturated" form of writing one can find, apart from propaganda. For this reason travel writing often forms an important part of the political and ideological debates of the time. This article discusses the way in which the cycles of poetry by Leipoldt and Krog reflect the way in which they think about their relationships with themselves, their country of birth as well as about their sense of a South African identity within a larger context.
Description
CITATION: Viljoen, L. 2003. Die digter as reisiger : twee gedigsiklusse van Leipoldt en Krog. Stilet, 15(1).
Keywords
Citation
Viljoen, L. 2003. Die digter as reisiger : twee gedigsiklusse van Leipoldt en Krog. Stilet, 15(1).