Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera

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dc.contributor.advisorBrink, Andre Pen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLilford, Grant Charles en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-07T14:35:36Z
dc.date.available2016-04-07T14:35:36Z
dc.date.issued1996en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis thesis examines the trope of Allegory in the work of two Southern African writers, JM Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera. It discusses the trope's use in redefining the dominant theme of the dialectic between scarcity and plenty. In much of Southern African literature, this dialectic is expressed allegorically. Drought represents a physical and spiritual lack while gardens represent human attempts to respond to that lack by creating fertility and meaning. The thesis is based on the premise that Southern African literature is best understood from as wide a perspective as possible. Coetzee and Marechera redefine the form and the content of a variety of texts, both African and non-African. In order to study this process of redefinition more closely, I have placed the work of each writer within the context of other genres of writing. Many critics view Marechera's writing as modernistic and European. I attempt to establish his unconscious reliance upon African traditional narrative, particularly the Shona rungano. Marechera uses Shona orature as a mythic pre-text for the more explicitly allegorical sections of his House of Hunger. Similarly, several of Coetzee's novels allegorise concerns around drought found in novels of settlement in Southern Africa. Both writers work within a more global tradition of writing about scarcity and plenty. The garden also appears in Homer, Milton, Rousseau, Voltaire, Dickens and Rushdie, among others, as a site of refuge from poverty and oppression. Contextual chapters examine other texts handling these related themes as background for those chapters which deal with Marechera and Coetzee's work in depth. The thesis makes use of the twentieth-century theory of allegory, particularly as presented by Edwin Honig, Angus Fletcher and Maureen Quilligan. It examines the relationship between consciously allegorical texts, like those written by Coetzee and Marechera, and the unconscious and ubiquitous . use of allegory as an instrument of rhetoric in ostensibly realistic or philosophical texts. Coetzee and Marechera use allegory in critiquing dominant forms of discourse and this thesis uses close critical reading to expose the links between their allegory and its pre-texts.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationLilford, C. G. (1996). <i>Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18705en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationLilford, Charles Grant. <i>"Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18705en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationLilford, C. 1996. Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Lilford, Charles Grant AB - This thesis examines the trope of Allegory in the work of two Southern African writers, JM Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera. It discusses the trope's use in redefining the dominant theme of the dialectic between scarcity and plenty. In much of Southern African literature, this dialectic is expressed allegorically. Drought represents a physical and spiritual lack while gardens represent human attempts to respond to that lack by creating fertility and meaning. The thesis is based on the premise that Southern African literature is best understood from as wide a perspective as possible. Coetzee and Marechera redefine the form and the content of a variety of texts, both African and non-African. In order to study this process of redefinition more closely, I have placed the work of each writer within the context of other genres of writing. Many critics view Marechera's writing as modernistic and European. I attempt to establish his unconscious reliance upon African traditional narrative, particularly the Shona rungano. Marechera uses Shona orature as a mythic pre-text for the more explicitly allegorical sections of his House of Hunger. Similarly, several of Coetzee's novels allegorise concerns around drought found in novels of settlement in Southern Africa. Both writers work within a more global tradition of writing about scarcity and plenty. The garden also appears in Homer, Milton, Rousseau, Voltaire, Dickens and Rushdie, among others, as a site of refuge from poverty and oppression. Contextual chapters examine other texts handling these related themes as background for those chapters which deal with Marechera and Coetzee's work in depth. The thesis makes use of the twentieth-century theory of allegory, particularly as presented by Edwin Honig, Angus Fletcher and Maureen Quilligan. It examines the relationship between consciously allegorical texts, like those written by Coetzee and Marechera, and the unconscious and ubiquitous . use of allegory as an instrument of rhetoric in ostensibly realistic or philosophical texts. Coetzee and Marechera use allegory in critiquing dominant forms of discourse and this thesis uses close critical reading to expose the links between their allegory and its pre-texts. DA - 1996 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1996 T1 - Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera TI - Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18705 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/18705
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationLilford CG. Allegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marechera. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1996 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18705en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnglish Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.titleAllegories of drought and of gardens in the novels of J.M. Coetzee and Dambudzo Marecheraen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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