Eco-Victorictoriaanse literere soortgenote: Ingrid Winterbach en A.S. Byatt

Abstract

This article focuses on the interaction between literature and science as it is represented in texts by respectively A.S. Byatt and Ingrid Winterbach. Both these contemporary authors are known for the effective integration of scientific knowledge in their "learned" novels and both allude to the influence of the Victorian writer George Eliot in this respect. Angels and Insects (Byatt 1992) and Karolina Ferreira (Viljoen 1993) are both underpinned by a revisitation of nineteenth-century Darwinistic assumptions. This problematisation of Darwinistic assumptions is widely regarded as a critical convention of the Victorian literary tradition (and its contem­porary permutation, the neo-Victorian novel). The significant similarities between the two novels prompted a comparative reading where the possibility of regarding these texts as neo-Victorian literary congeners was explored in an effort to unlock new interpretational possibilities .

Opsomming
Hierdie artikel fokus op die interaksie tussen die letterkunde en die wetenskap soos wat dit neerslag vind in twee eksemplariese tekste, naamlik een deur A.S. Byatt en een deur Ingrid Winterbach. Albei outeurs suggereer in hulle oeuvres 'n skat­pligtigheid aan die Victoriaanse outeur George Eliot, en albei tekste onder be­spreking, naamlik Angels and Insects (Byatt 1992) asook Karolina Ferreira (Viljoen 1993), word onderle deur 'n herbesoek aan negentiende-eeuse Darwinistiese aannames. Hierdie problematisering van Darwinistiese idees is 'n onderskeidende kenmerk van die Victoriaanse literere tradisie, asook die eietydse genre-permutasie daarvan (naamlik die neo-Victoriaanse romantradisie). Beduidende ooreenkomste tussen die twee tekste het gevolglik aanleiding gegee tot 'n vergelykende lesing waar die interpretatiewe winste van 'n neo-Victoriaanse genretipering onder meer ondersoek is.