Die Marxistiese literere kritiek en 'n plek vir Uitdraai, 'n Afrikaanse roman, en die Afrikaanse letterkunde in die bevrydingstryd

Abstract

In this article an attempt is made to apply the Marxist approach to literary texts in a manner which is less rigid and prescriptive than is usual to an Afrikaans text, Uitdraai, by Wilma Stockenstrom. The analysis is based on the arguments of Tony Bennett and Fredric Jameson as respectively formulated in Formalism and Marxism and The Political Uncon­scious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act - that the political value of a literary text cannot only b9 read from the text but also depends on the labour applied to the texts by the critic. It is then argued that although a text such as Uitdraai exhibits certain "reactionary" features - because it is necessarily imbedded in the present power relations - it also contains features which point to a future in which these relations do not exist, and that the responsibility for the recognition and utilisation of these "progressive" features resides, in the first place, with the literary critic.

Opsomming
In hierdie artikel word daar 'n poging aangewend om 'n minder rigiede en voorskrywende stroming binne die Marxistiese literêre kritiek te gebruik vir die analise van 'n Afrikaanse teks, Uitdraai, deur Wilma Stockenstrom. Die analise steun op die argumente van Tony Bennett en Fredric Jameson soos onderskeidelik uiteengesit in "Formalism and Marxism" en "The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act" in besonder waar hulle die arbeid wat kritici op literêre tekste uitvoer, sien as bepalend van die uiteindelike politieke waarde van die teks. In die geval van 'n teks soos Uitdraai word daar dan betoog dat, alhoewel die teks noodwendig ingebed is in die bestaande magsverhouding in Suid-Afrika en daarom "reaksionere" tendense vertoon, dit die laser egter 66k bewus kan maak van 'n orde wat die beperkings van die bestaande orde deurbreek - en dat die verantwoordelik­heid vir die erkenning en gebruikmaking van hierdie "progressiewe" moment in die eerste plek by die literêre kritikus le.