Poësie en die politiek van die postmodernisme : 'n ondersoek na die postmodernistiese poësie van Wilma Stockenström

Abstract

This dissertation comprises a study of the postmodernist tendencies in Wilma stockenstrom's poetry text Die heengaanrefrein (1989). It is argued that the postmodernist text carries with it certain political implications, among which are an interrogation of the way in which history is represented, as well as an interrogation of the ways in which each literary text can be read as a rewriting of existing, or precursor texts. It is further argued that the interrogation of historical representations opens up links between the postmodern debate and postcolonial discourse. This is especially pertinent when reading literary texts from a former colony such as South Africa, and specifically a text which focuses on an event which forms part of the country's colonial history, that being the arrival at the Cape of the Huguenots in 1688-89. Finally it is argued that this postmodernist text, by way of intertextual references, not only implies a rewriting of colonial perspectives on history, but also a rewriting of a literary history, thereby contributing to the decolonisation of the Subject.