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Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction
S.J. Naudé's collection of short stories, The Alphabet of Birds, foregrounds the diasporic experiences of its marginalised, transnational subjects. The stories unearth profound grief and a deep sense of loss and displacement. The title of the collection suggests that the content grapples with issues...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of English Language and Literature
2018
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| _version_ | 1867613867421466624 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Smith, Alé Elizabeth |
| author2 | Twidle, Hedley |
| author_browse | Smith, Alé Elizabeth Twidle, Hedley |
| author_facet | Twidle, Hedley Smith, Alé Elizabeth |
| author_sort | Smith, Alé Elizabeth |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | S.J. Naudé's collection of short stories, The Alphabet of Birds, foregrounds the diasporic experiences of its marginalised, transnational subjects. The stories unearth profound grief and a deep sense of loss and displacement. The title of the collection suggests that the content grapples with issues that are central to the discourse of diaspora: movement, freedom, borders, home, dwelling, meaning, and identity. Jaco van Schalkwyk's debut novel, The Alibi Club, is structured around the story of a young man's efforts to build a new life in an unfamiliar country. Although very different in style, tone, and form, Naudé and Van Schalkwyk both ask questions about the nature of belonging, pain and loss associated with the diasporic experience: How does one come to terms with one's past?; How does one navigate oneself in an increasingly estranging global world?; Is it possible to re-imagine the past, to rewrite the stories one tells about oneself? Naudé and Van Schalkwyk are not the first South Africans to give thought to these questions; in fact, our country has a rich history of pre- and post-apartheid diasporic writings. What I find compelling, however, is how a new generation of authors - a group of writers that faces unique challenges - draws on the literary form to engage with and relate to the past and present, their country of birth, and their language. I consider in what ways the literary form allows these two authors to articulate and re-imagine the lived diasporic experiences of their Afrikaans-speaking, contemporary transnational subjects who inhabit multiple identities. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/28117 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:58.324Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/28117 Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction Smith, Alé Elizabeth Twidle, Hedley English Literature and Modernity S.J. Naudé's collection of short stories, The Alphabet of Birds, foregrounds the diasporic experiences of its marginalised, transnational subjects. The stories unearth profound grief and a deep sense of loss and displacement. The title of the collection suggests that the content grapples with issues that are central to the discourse of diaspora: movement, freedom, borders, home, dwelling, meaning, and identity. Jaco van Schalkwyk's debut novel, The Alibi Club, is structured around the story of a young man's efforts to build a new life in an unfamiliar country. Although very different in style, tone, and form, Naudé and Van Schalkwyk both ask questions about the nature of belonging, pain and loss associated with the diasporic experience: How does one come to terms with one's past?; How does one navigate oneself in an increasingly estranging global world?; Is it possible to re-imagine the past, to rewrite the stories one tells about oneself? Naudé and Van Schalkwyk are not the first South Africans to give thought to these questions; in fact, our country has a rich history of pre- and post-apartheid diasporic writings. What I find compelling, however, is how a new generation of authors - a group of writers that faces unique challenges - draws on the literary form to engage with and relate to the past and present, their country of birth, and their language. I consider in what ways the literary form allows these two authors to articulate and re-imagine the lived diasporic experiences of their Afrikaans-speaking, contemporary transnational subjects who inhabit multiple identities. 2018-05-25T07:42:14Z 2018-05-25T07:42:14Z 2018 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28117 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | English Literature and Modernity Smith, Alé Elizabeth Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| title_full | Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| title_fullStr | Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| title_short | Re-imagining the past, negotiating the present: the lived diasporic experience in S.J. Naudé and Jaco van Schalkwyk's fiction |
| title_sort | re imagining the past negotiating the present the lived diasporic experience in s j naude and jaco van schalkwyk s fiction |
| topic | English Literature and Modernity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28117 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT smithaleelizabeth reimaginingthepastnegotiatingthepresenttheliveddiasporicexperienceinsjnaudeandjacovanschalkwyksfiction |