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Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W
Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614004967374848 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Wolfswinkel, David Evan |
| author2 | Venter, Carina |
| author_browse | Venter, Carina Wolfswinkel, David Evan |
| author_facet | Venter, Carina Wolfswinkel, David Evan |
| author_sort | Wolfswinkel, David Evan |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
|
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132313 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:45:08.467Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132313 Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W Wolfswinkel, David Evan Venter, Carina Muller, Stephanus Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music. Van Niekerk, Marlene South African drama -- History and criticism Violence in literature -- Criticism and interpretation Aesthetics -- Political aspects -- South Africa Art -- Moral and ethical aspects Theater and society -- South Africa -- History Music in the theater -- History and criticism UCTD Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Wolfswinkel, D. E. 2025. Violent Aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/ad316cd9-e315-46d1-a27f-e855e55c8202 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines Marlene van Niekerk’s Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W, positioning it as a critical response to the pervasive and multifaceted violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa. This violence, as portrayed in Anastasia W, infiltrates the structures of social organization, history, and knowledge, disrupting the frameworks that traditionally define its meaning and intelligibility, while also undermining the potential for authentic aesthetic expression. Rather than resolving the tensions it highlights, Anastasia W embodies these conflicts, transforming the raw materials of suffering and their aesthetic depiction into a multilayered, visceral critique that resists easy interpretation. Drawing on Theodor Adorno’s philosophy of dialectical aesthetics, Gayatri Spivak’s concept of strategic subversion, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque, this thesis explores how Anastasia W uses its position as an artwork to critique and deconstruct violence and its shifting frameworks of meaning and intelligibility. These theoretical perspectives not only illuminate the ideological context of Anastasia W, but also account for its dramaturgy and the aesthetic strategies employed in Van Niekerk’s text, Marthinus Basson’s original direction and design, and the music composed for the production by Braam du Toit and Mr. Cat and the Jackal (Gertjie Besselsen and Jacques du Plessis). A close reading of Anastasia W's musical centrepiece, ‘Die Kindermarimba’, will demonstrate the specific aesthetic methodology at work in the production. Ultimately, this thesis presents Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W as a seminal work in South African music theatre, one that actively challenges and redefines our understanding of art, violence, and aesthetic knowledge in the post-apartheid context. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek Marlene van Niekerk se Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W en posisioneer dit as 'n kritiese reaksie op die alomteenwoordige en veelvuldige geweld in Post-Apartheid Suid-Afrika. Hierdie geweld, soos uitgebeeld in Anastasia W, dring die strukture van sosiale organisasie, geskiedenis en kennis binne, versteur die raamwerke wat tradisioneel betekenis en verstaanbaarheid definieer, en ondermyn ook die potensiaal vir outentieke estetiese uitdrukking. In plaas daarvan om die spanning wat dit na vore bring op te los, vergestalt Anastasia W hierdie konflikte en transformeer die rou materiaal van lyding en hul estetiese uitbeelding in 'n gelaagde, intense kri6ek wat weerstand bied teen simplistiese interpretasie. Deur gebruik te maak van Theodor Adorno se filosofie van dialektiese estetika, Gayatri Spivak se konsep van strategiese subversie, en Mikhail Bakhtin se teorie van die karnaval, verken hierdie tesis hoe Anastasia W sy posisie as 'n kunswerk gebruik om geweld en veranderende raamwerke van betekenis en verstaanbaarheid te kritiseer en te dekonstrueer. Hierdie teoretiese perspektiewe werp nie net lig op die ideologiese konteks van Anastasia W nie, maar verduidelik ook die dramaturgie en die este6ese strategieë wat gebruik word in Van Niekerk se teks, Marthinus Basson se oorspronklike regie en ontwerp, en die musiek wat vir die produksie gekomponeer is deur Braam du Toit en Mr. Cat and the Jackal (Gertjie Besselsen en Jacques du Plessis). ’n Noukeurige ontleding van Anastasia W se musikale kernstuk, ‘Die Kindermarimba’, illustreer die spesifieke este6ese metodologie. Uiteindelik postuleer hierdie tesis Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W as 'n baanbrekerswerk in Suid-Afrikaanse musiekteater wat ak6ef die manier waarop ons kuns, geweld, en estetiese kennis in 'n post-apartheid konteks verstaan, uitdaag en herdefinieer. Masters 2025-06-03T10:13:04Z 2025-06-03T10:13:04Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132313 en Stellenbosch University 76 pages : music application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Van Niekerk, Marlene South African drama -- History and criticism Violence in literature -- Criticism and interpretation Aesthetics -- Political aspects -- South Africa Art -- Moral and ethical aspects Theater and society -- South Africa -- History Music in the theater -- History and criticism UCTD Wolfswinkel, David Evan Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title | Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title_full | Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title_fullStr | Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title_full_unstemmed | Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title_short | Violent aesthetics in Marlene van Niekerk’s die kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W |
| title_sort | violent aesthetics in marlene van niekerk s die kortstondige raklewe van anastasia w |
| topic | Van Niekerk, Marlene South African drama -- History and criticism Violence in literature -- Criticism and interpretation Aesthetics -- Political aspects -- South Africa Art -- Moral and ethical aspects Theater and society -- South Africa -- History Music in the theater -- History and criticism UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132313 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wolfswinkeldavidevan violentaestheticsinmarlenevanniekerksdiekortstondigeraklewevananastasiaw |