| Summary: | Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2005. === ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A study of poetry by six contemporary women in the Afrikaans and Dutch-speaking
worlds points toward a multi-focal approach. While texts by poets of a marked diversity
are presented as aesthetic objects, the scope of my research has been determined by
considerations of gender, language and culture. The central line of investigation
concerns the interplay between the poem as an artefact and the changing socio-cultural
contexts by which the respective poets have been informed.
My dissertation was inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's argument in favour of a fusion
between the close reading practices of the New Critics (and in this case, their Dutch
counterparts, the Merlinists) and the contextual approach advocated by literature
sociologists. Concomitantly the art philosophical standpoint of Marcia Eaton and the
views on the écriture féminine or "women's style of writing" held by Helene Cixous are
applied to poetry. By incorporating insights from adjacent disciplines and thereby
decentering the relative autonomy of the poetic text, I hope to demonstrate how the
study of literature could acquire new relevance, either by expanding its own parameters,
or by enriching the field of cultural and gender studies.
In conclusion I regard the poetry written by contemporary women as a polyphonic
discourse voicing women's newly-found position as subjects and challenging notions
such as a monolithic "female identity" and the marginalization of "women's poetry".
From this perspective, the aesthetic value of the poetic genre is paralleled by its function
as a source of knowledge and a cultural agency. === AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Ondersoek na die poësie van ses eietydse vroue in die Afrikaanse en Nederlandse
taalgebiede veronderstel reeds 'n multifokale invalshoek. Nie alleen word tekste van
uiteenlopende digters as estetiese objekte aan die orde gestel nie, maar staan
oorwegings soos geslag, taal en kultuur sentraal by die afbakening van die ondersoeksterrein.
Daarby vorm die wisselwerking tussen die gedig as artefak en die veranderende
sosio-kulturele konteks die riglyn van die betoog.
Pierre Bourdieu se aandrang op 'n fusie tussen die stipleesmetode van die New Critics
(in Nederland nagevolg deur die Merlinisten) en die kontekstuele benadering van
literatuur wat deur literatuursosioloë voorgestaan word, het as aanset tot hierdie studie
gedien. Terselfdertyd word die kunsfilosofiese standpunte van Marcia Eaton en die
siening van Héléne Cixous omtrent die écriture féminine ("vroulike skryfwyse") op die
poësie betrek. Deur insigte uit naasliggende dissiplines te betrek en die outonomie van
die poësieteks te relativeer, wil die ondersoek aantoon dat literatuurstudie 'n nuwe
relevansie verkry wanneer die parameters van die vakgebied versit, of kultuur- en
genderstudies daardeur verryk word.
Uiteindelik beskou ek die digkuns van eietydse vroue as In polifoniese diskoers waarin
vroue op uiteenlopende wyses stem gee aan hul nuutverworwe subjekposisie, en wat
daarmee die nosie van In monolitiese "vroulike identiteit" en dié van "damespoësie" as
afsonderlike en gemarginaliseerde kategorie dekonstrueer. Naas die estetiese waarde
daarvan, verkry die poësie uit hierdie perspektief ook In nuts- of instrumentele waarde
as 'n alternatiewe bron van kennis en In kultuurskeppende agens.
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