Browsing by Author "Dimitriu, Ileana."

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Bodylands : inscriptions of the body and embodiment in the novels of Lauren Beukes. Key terms : South African literature, inscriptions of the body and space, gender, abjection, the disciplined body, the grotesque and classical body.
(2015) King, Natasha.; Dimitriu, Ileana.; Sandwith, Corinne.
This dissertation takes up the question of the body and embodiment(s) in contemporary South African fiction, paying particular attention to the novels of award-wining author, Lauren Beukes. In the first three fictional works published to date, namely Moxyland (2008), Zoo City (2010) and The Shining Girls (2013), the body emerges as a persistent focus of narrative interest and attention. My aim in this dissertation is to explore how these fictional bodies are imagined and constructed; to ask what kinds of bodies predominate in Beukes’s texts and to consider their thematic, narrative, aesthetic and political significance. Taking my cue from contemporary cultural theory (the work of Foucault, Bakhtin and Scarry), and various studies in feminist theory (such as Gatens, Grosz and Butler), I hope to bring renewed attention to the body and its inscriptions within discourse by offering a reading of the body in Beukes’s first three fictional works: Moxyland (2008), Zoo City (2010) and The Shining Girls (2013). By extending the existing critical literature on the body, as well as these novels, I aim to provide a reading of the body in these texts in terms of the following themes: the disciplined body, the body in pain, the gendered body, the body in relation to power and the vulnerable body.
From dislocation to redefinition of home in Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup and Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret : a postcolonial perspective of home.
(2018) Every, Monique Simone Jo.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This study aims to investigate new understandings of ‘home’ as represented through the experiences of the migrant characters in Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup and Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret. I am interested in the connection between ‘home’ understood as a physical place of habitation and the novels’ portrayal of the migrant experience of border crossing. Migration is often traumatic and can result in feelings of alienation and emotional disconnectedness, experiences which are well documented within postcolonial literary studies. This study explores the complexity of emotional disconnectedness, whether during migration, or even before migration, in the characters’ home countries. Furthermore, there is the suggestion that the experience of emotional dislocation is an inescapable feature of modern society, characterised as it is by increased geographical and social movement. Finally, this study considers whether there is a typical trajectory that these characters follow once they have left home or have become otherwise displaced. How do they experience the liminal space and the emotional dislocation it involves? How does living on the boundaries of society affect their ability meaningfully to interact with the world around them? In both novels under scrutiny, there are some characters who grow out of emotional isolation and appear able to redefine their sense of home and belonging, while other characters remain unhomed, either by choice or as a result of external conditions imposed upon them. By analysing the experiences of these fictional characters from a postcolonial perspective, this study contributes towards the creation of a more encompassing definition of home and what it means to belong.
Mphahlele's Down Second Avenue in German : cultural transfer, norms and translation strategies in Kruger's Pretoria Zweite Avenue.
(2005) Jarvis, Emily.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
The aim of my study is to identify, describe and critique Es'kia Mphahlele's Down Second Avenue and its German translation, Pretoria Zweite Avenue. More specifically, the aim is to engage with the norms and constraints operative in the various translational relationships; also, to consider the impact - resulting from the shifts involved in cultural transfer - for a new readership in the 1960s in east Germany. Lambert and van Gorp's research model, "Hypothetical Scheme for Describing Translations", provides a framework for such a study that starts with an analysis ofpreliminary data, followed by a macro-level analysis and, finally, an analysis ofmicro-level data. Toury's over-arching theory of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), and Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory are used extensively, especially regarding the contextualisation of both source text (ST) and target text (TT). In considering - via a detailed analysis of shifts - how elements of South African culture have been transferred in translation, I also draw on Fairclough's theories regarding social power hierarchies, and the mutually constitutive nature of discourse. Given that norms and constraints are largely determined by cultural contexts, Fillmore's 'scenesand- frames semantics' is also invaluable to the ideological explanations necessary during the course ofthis project. Ideologically relevant extracts - representative of South African culture - from the ST, are compared with the corresponding German translations. This study makes extensive use of Baker's strategies for dealing with non-equivalence at various levels of the translation process. Based on all the above theoretical points of entry, ideological parallels between the imagined communities of east Germany and South Africa are drawn. My study proves the potential of translation projects, such as this one, of aiding in cultural dissemination between two countries that are culturally and geographically apart, but which share a profound understanding for the burdens of ideological over-determination.
Nadine Gordimer after apartheid : a reading strategy for the 1990s.
(1997) Dimitriu, Ileana.; Lenta, Margaret Mary.
The aim of this study is to suggest, by selective example, a method of interpreting Gordimer's fiction from a 'post-Apartheid' perspective. My hypothesis is that Gordimer's own comments in her key lecture of 1982, "Living in the Interregnum", reflect not only her practice in the years of struggle politics, but suggest a yearning for a time beyond struggle, when the civil imaginary might again become a major subject. She claims that she has continually felt a tension in her practice as writer between her responsibility to 'national' testimony, her "necessary gesture" to the history of which she was indelibly a part, and her responsibility to the integrity of the individual experience, her "essential gesture" to novelistic truth. In arguing for a modification of what has almost become the standard political evaluation of Gordimer, my study returns the emphasis to a revindicated humanism, a critical approach that, by implication, questions the continuing appropriateness of anti-humanist ideology critique at a time in South Africa that requires reconstitutions of people's lives. The shift in reading for which I argue, in consequence, validates the 'individual' above the 'typical', the 'meditative' above the ideologically-detennined 'statement', 'showing' above 'telling'. I do not wish to deny the value of a previous decade's readings of the novels as conditioned by their specific historical context. The philosophical concept of social psychology and the stylistic accent on neo-thematism employed in this thesis are not meant to separate the personal conviction from the public demand. Rather, I intend to return attention to a contemplative field of human process and choice that, I shall suggest, has remained a constant feature of Gordimer's achievement. My return to the text does not attempt to establish textual autonomy; the act of interpretation acknowledges that meaning changes in different conditions of critical reception. My study is not a comprehensive survey of Gordimer' s oeuvre. It focuses on certain works as illustrative of the overall argument. After an Introduction of general principles, Chapter One focuses on two novels from politically ' overdetermined' times to show that even in the 'years of emergency', Gordimer's commitment to personal lives and destinies had significantly informed her national narratives. Chapter Two turns to two novels from less 'determined' times as further evidence of Gordimer' s abiding interest in the inner landscapes behind social terrains. Having proposed a critical return to the 'ordinary' concerns of the 'civil imaginary', the study concludes by suggesting that the times in the 1990s are ready for a new look at the most intensely lyrical aspects of Gordimer' s art: her short stories. The specific examples culminate, at the end of each chapter, in brief observations as to how the reading strategy might apply to other works in Gordimer's achievement, as well as to an 'interior' as opposed to an 'exterior' accent in South African fiction as a whole.
Pasts remembered, future identities pursued : postcolonial nostalgia in Etienne van Heerden's novels, Ancestral voices and 30 Nights in Amsterdam.
(2013) Cornelius, Beverley Jane.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
The aim of this study is to explore the concept and application of nostalgia in two of Etienne van Heerden’s novels in their English translation, Ancestral Voices (1989) and 30 Nights in Amsterdam (2011). I aim to show that, although Van Heerden’s novels have localized content and context — they arise from the parochial tradition of the plaasroman (farm novel) — their wider focus is postcolonial in that the ‘ancestral voices’ implicate Afrikaans identity in a multicultural entanglement, as well as in a global, cosmopolitan identity. By selecting an earlier and a later novel, I suggest a trajectory in Van Heerden’s work in consonance with a post-apartheid movement from an inward-looking, insular culture to a more general sense of former colonies and metropoles as inextricably linked. The fact that Van Heerden’s novels, in translation, enjoy a world readership confirms a local-to-global trajectory, thus emphasizing the postcolonial significance of the author’s work. The concept of nostalgia is viewed by many in the contemporary world as sentimental and biased, based on its focus on positive recall and emotional yearning. In recent years, however, there has been a serious rethink about nostalgia and inquiries are being made into why nostalgic feelings arise, what they mean and what can be learnt from them. It is being recognized that, although it deals with the past, nostalgia has a significant bearing on the present and the future. Accordingly, this study explores how Van Heerden’s nostalgic treatment of the past complements his exploration of the anxieties of the present. Coming to terms with the past — in order to understand the present and imagine a future — is a challenge faced locally, as well as globally. Nostalgia is a concept that allows for the expression of the concerns generated by the rapid social changes in the world, and it is an effective literary device which Van Heerden has applied in his novels. My study adds to a body of work that explores postcolonial writing in translation and its impact on world writing. Such explorations promote inter-cultural understanding and help preclude cultural homogenization.
Postcolonial nostalgia and meaning: new perspectives on contemporary South African writings.
(2019) Cornelius, Beverley Jane.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This dissertation explores the concept and application of nostalgia in a selection of contemporary South African novels chosen as representative of the multi-cultural diversity of South Africa’s literature. The study explores novels by four authors – Etienne van Heerden (Ancestral Voices; 30 Nights in Amsterdam), Rayda Jacobs (The Slave Book; Joonie), Mongane Wally Serote (Revelations; Rumours), and Ronnie Govender (Song of the Atman; The Lahnee’s Pleasure) – to analyse these authors’ nostalgic treatment of the past as complementing their explorations of the anxieties of the present. Much of South African literature deals with the past, and postcolonial themes predominate: e.g. dislocation, diaspora, hybridity, ambivalence, home, identity, and belonging. Many authors dealing with issues of the past write nostalgically about it: either fondly, or with a sense of yearning, even though the past that is examined might have been turbulent and traumatic. However, this does not necessarily mean that their representations of the past are superficial or sentimental. On the contrary, nostalgic writers grapple with the paradoxical emotions associated with longed-for times and places. The term ‘nostalgia’ has often been misunderstood as an unreliable or biased form of memory. This is not always the case: the conventional understanding of nostalgia as ‘bitter-sweet’ gives the first clue as to the tensions inherent in its complex and nuanced texture. It is misleading to take nostalgia at its ‘sweet’ face-value only without also exploring its ‘bitter’ counterpart, as current research indicates. This study applies the concept of ‘nostalgia’ as a complex conceptual and analytical tool within recent debates in postcolonial literary study. In my investigation, I draw especially on Boym’s (2001) distinction between ‘restorative’ vs ‘reflective’ nostalgia, as well as on Medalie’s (2010) differentiation between ‘evolved’ vs ‘unreflecting’ nostalgia. I have also made intenstive use of related postcolonial concepts – such as ‘space and identity’ and ‘trauma and haunting’ – to inform my analysis. Finally, this study illustrates that contemporary writers can harness nostalgia as a positive force; and that instances of nostalgia, if critically applied and analysed, can unearth submerged memories and help transform trauma into meaning, thus providing fresh points of entry towards a reimagined future.
Representations of 'home' and 'exile' in Breyten Breytenbach's Memory of snow and of dust.
(2010) Jansen, Tanya.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This mini-dissertation aims to examine the way in which Breyten Breytenbach explores the concepts of home and exile in his novel Memory of Snow and of Dust. The author captures and conveys the experience of exile, and envisages through the exile’s double vision a more complicated conception of home. Through the novel one is able to observe the exilic condition and gain access to new insights. The narrative structure comprises of various discourses and illustrates the restless nature of an unsettling and unstable existence. In the Introduction the theoretical framework for this study is outlined: recent developments in postcolonial and postmodern theories, Breytenbach’s oeuvre and literary criticism devoted to his work are discussed. Chapter One examines the distressing journey into a new awareness of what constitutes home. Chapter Two inspects the restless, yet regenerative condition of exile. Chapter Three considers a more fluid response to spatiality and the concept of home through an exploration of fresh perspectives that may emerge from extreme mental suffering. This study concludes with an affirmation of the relevance of Memory of Snow and of Dust, in times in which the overlapping boundaries of home and exile are becoming a global condition.
Representations of home, dislocation, and nostalgia in select contemporary South African novels.
(2021) Naidoo, Lavasha.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This dissertation analyses the literary representation of home in Michiel Heyns’s Lost Ground (2011) and Zoë Wicomb’s October (2014), by investigating the fictional reflection of the (e)migrant’s ‘home visit’. I am interested in the trope of the return-home visit as representing a turning point in the migrant’s trajectory, an event which initiates a crisis of identity and challenges conventional understandings of home and belonging. While most critical studies have addressed the migrant’s experience in the ‘host’ country to investigate issues of ‘home’, ‘belonging’, and ‘identity’, I argue that focusing on the migrant’s visit to the original ‘home’ country can offer equally valuable insights into such postcolonial concerns. By drawing on relevant critical studies and theoretical perspectives — for example, Marschall’s seminal research on the issue of the migrant’s home visit (2017, 2018) — this dissertation examines the literary representation of the migrant’s ‘return-home visit’ in two contemporary South African novels. Each novel presents a migrant protagonist who has spent a significant amount of time in another country, and whose return visit to the original home is problematic and depicted through a nostalgically reflective and self-critical gaze. Based on a postcolonial theoretical framework, I analyse the representation of the migrant’s home visit as a liminal experience marked by conditions of alienation, dislocation, and nostalgia. This dissertation, therefore, emphasises the return-home visit as a significant life event during which migrants reflect deeply on their personal histories and their individual understanding of ‘home’. The literary trope of the return-home visit, which in turn reveals the psychological intricacies of the migrant condition, further emphasises the instability of ‘home’ and the inevitable psychological disruption and dislocation associated with the journey across borders.
Representations of home, dislocation, and resilience in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.
(2021) Hordyk, Mia.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This dissertation aims to explore the literary representations of ‘home’, dislocation and resilience in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013). Through a close-text analysis of the migrant trajectory from dislocation (within and beyond the boundaries of the homeland) to the possibility of a permanent return home, I intend to investigate what opportunities there are for migrants to overcome the challenges of uprootedness and reestablish a meaningful sense of ‘home’ and belonging in new spaces. The novel depicts two central protagonists who are estranged from their home country as a consequence of postindependent disenchantment, and whose ways of understanding ‘home’ are further challenged upon their return to a ‘strange’ and unfamiliar Nigeria. I have, therefore, found it necessary to investigate alternative perspectives of ‘home’ that offer a broader and more nuanced understanding of what it means to belong in an increasingly globalised and fluid world. By applying select postcolonial and psychological theoretical concepts and perspectives, this dissertation seeks to explore pathways of managing and overcoming the trauma of emotional and physical dislocation. While acknowledging the severe consequences of border crossing on the migrant’s psyche, I also consider possible coping strategies that initiate a process of building resilience and overcoming adversities. Drawing on recent psychological approaches, I aim to provide a more balanced interpretation of the novel’s depiction of the migrant experience, suggesting that such experiences have the potential to deepen personal growth and world knowledge.
Translating South Africa's transition : Ivan Vladislavi*c's Missing persons in French.
(2008) Toniolo, Giuditta.; Dimitriu, Ileana.
This short dissertation is based on the comparative analysis of Ivan VladislaviC's short-story collection, Missing Persons (1989) and its French (Belgian) translation, Portes Disparus (1997). The thematic concerns of the source text - produced in South Africa at a time of "increasing socio-political upheaval and transition" (Wood 2001: 21) - add interest to such an investigation, providing insights into how South Africa's transition to democracy has been re-written for a Belgian Francophone audience. In line with recent debates in the field of Translation Studies, the study addresses the central problem of cross-cultural transfer, by embracing two essentially systemic approaches to the study of translated literature: Descriptive Translation Studies (or DTS), and Polysystem Theory. In addition, Lambert and Van Gorp's "Hypothetical Scheme for Describing Translations" is used to investigate and explain the strategies adopted by the translators to transfer concepts that are culturally and historically specific to a transitional South Africa. The initial hypothesis to be tested is that, while Portes Disparus is mainly the product of strategies of 'domestication', it also displays traces of 'foreignisation', which suggest broadly ideological, rather than purely linguistic, motivations on the part of the translators.