| Summary: | The thesis represents an attempt, within the broad field of religion and literature
and of identity studies, to read the early unpublished fiction of Alan Paton, dating
from approximately 1922 (the end of his student days) to 1935 (when he became
Principal of Diepkloof Reformatory). It is pointed out that research into the
interrelationship of literature and religion, while well-established in a number of
countries, is lagging in South Africa, and it is believed that the present thesis is
the first full-length work of its kind, at least as far as South African literature in
English is concerned.
The writer advances reasons for his explicitly religious and hermeneutic
approach to questions of human identity, as found in Paton especially, and
focuses these on two particular areas: narrative identity, as propounded in the
later work of Paul Ricoeur, and relational identity (to the other human being and
to the Other, God), as theorised by Emmanuel Levinas in his later writing. In
order to contextualise the study in Africa and in South Africa, brief attention is
accorded to writers such as Soyinka, Mbiti and Mbembe and to current debates
regarding white identity in South Africa. To lend a sense of historical context,
Paton's work is viewed against the backdrop of identity in colonial Natal. The
overall approach adopted may be described as broadly, but critically,
postmodernist.
Paton's earliest, fragmentary novel, 'Ship of Truth' (1922-1923) is read in some
detail; his second, and only complete early novel, 'Brother Death' (1930), is
commented on in as much detail as its frequently rambling nature warrants. A
chapter on shorter fiction discusses his short story 'Little Barbee' (1928?), his
short story 'Calvin Doone' (1930), his third novel, 'John Henry Dane' (1934), and
a novel or novella, 'Secret for Seven' (1934). From all these readings it emerges
that the Paton of his early fiction is markedly different from the Paton generally
known: his concepts of human identity, of God and of religion, though earnest,
are unformed and frequently ambivalent; his characterisation often stereotyped
and wooden; his political views usually prejudiced and his stylistic and other
techniques, though adequate in a young writer, highly repetitive.
Various suggestions are made for future research: into South African literature
from a religious perspective, into other aspects of Paton's works, and so forth. === Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
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