Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays

Reza de Wet has more than once referred in interviews to the syncretic relationship she sees as existing in the “long history” between Afrikaner and black cultures. Due to its close association with black African cultures, she claims that Afrikaner culture has fused a belief in mythologies and “magi...

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Main Author: A. Krueger
Format: Article
Language:Afrikaans
Published: AOSIS 2010-07-01
Series:Literator
Subjects:
Online Access:https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/46
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spelling doaj-3661bb2eb69e4583803143174a4a6ea22020-11-24T22:08:16ZafrAOSISLiterator0258-22792219-82372010-07-01312456010.4102/lit.v31i2.4632Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English playsA. Krueger0Department of Drama, Rhodes UniversityReza de Wet has more than once referred in interviews to the syncretic relationship she sees as existing in the “long history” between Afrikaner and black cultures. Due to its close association with black African cultures, she claims that Afrikaner culture has fused a belief in mythologies and “magical thinking” with a “European consciousness” (Solberg, 2003:180). This article investigates ways in which some of De Wet’s English translations – as well as her play “Concealment” (De Wet, 2004) – demonstrate the consequences of a fear of this amalgamation; a dread of hybridity. Concurrent with this anxiety is the danger inherent in a repression of desire. In a number of De Wet’s plays it seems that what is cloistered and protected within the purity of family (possibly a metaphor for the Afrikaner people) conceals an incestuous perversion.https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/46AfrikanerConcealmentPlayReza De WetHybridityIncestJungShadowPostapartheid LiteratureRepressionSouth African TheatreDrama
collection DOAJ
language Afrikaans
format Article
sources DOAJ
author A. Krueger
spellingShingle A. Krueger
Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
Literator
Afrikaner
Concealment
Play
Reza De Wet
Hybridity
Incest
Jung
Shadow
Postapartheid Literature
Repression
South African Theatre
Drama
author_facet A. Krueger
author_sort A. Krueger
title Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
title_short Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
title_full Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
title_fullStr Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
title_full_unstemmed Keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in Reza de Wet’s English plays
title_sort keeping it in the family: incest, repression and the fear of the hybrid in reza de wet’s english plays
publisher AOSIS
series Literator
issn 0258-2279
2219-8237
publishDate 2010-07-01
description Reza de Wet has more than once referred in interviews to the syncretic relationship she sees as existing in the “long history” between Afrikaner and black cultures. Due to its close association with black African cultures, she claims that Afrikaner culture has fused a belief in mythologies and “magical thinking” with a “European consciousness” (Solberg, 2003:180). This article investigates ways in which some of De Wet’s English translations – as well as her play “Concealment” (De Wet, 2004) – demonstrate the consequences of a fear of this amalgamation; a dread of hybridity. Concurrent with this anxiety is the danger inherent in a repression of desire. In a number of De Wet’s plays it seems that what is cloistered and protected within the purity of family (possibly a metaphor for the Afrikaner people) conceals an incestuous perversion.
topic Afrikaner
Concealment
Play
Reza De Wet
Hybridity
Incest
Jung
Shadow
Postapartheid Literature
Repression
South African Theatre
Drama
url https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/46
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