'n "Allegoriese" lesing van Lady Anne

Abstract

In this article an "allegorical" reading of Antjie Krog's Lady Anne is attempted. The allegorical point-for-point similarities between Antjie and Anne include thematic (feminism and revolution), structural (both characters have concluding poems) and narratological (a "story" of concern about injustice supplanted by despair about art's function) resem­blances. This allegorical process could be explained as the succession of abstract ideas; the portrayal of these ideas in a text; the retrieval of these ideas by the reader and then the potential application of these ideas in the life of the reader. This model of interpretation as allegorical provides an in'adequate explanation of especially the metafictional elements of Lady Anne and therefore postmodernist critics such as De Man (allegory as the incomprehensible nature of the text); Jameson (the inevitable use of known explanatory models in the interpretation of texts) and Derrida (the term "differance" enables a synthesis of the viewpoints of De Man and Jameson) are used to develop a reading strategy in which a comparison may be drawn between Antjie's "reading" of Anne and my reading of Lady Anne in terms of the three nonconsecutive stages of context, interpretation and patterning .

Opsomming
In hierdie artikel word 'n "allegoriese" lesing van Antjie Krog se Lady Anne onderneem. Die allegoriese punt-vir-punt parallelle tussen Anne en Antjie sluit in tematiese (feminisme en revolusie), strukturele (albei personasies het eindgedigte) en narratologiese ('n "storie" van sensitiwiteit vir onderdrukking, opgevolg deur wanhoop oor die rol van kuns) ooreen­komste. Hierdie proses van allegorisering kan verklaar word as die opeenvolging van abstrakte idees van die skrywer; die uitbeelding daarvan in die kunsteks; die herwinning van die idees deur die leser en die uiteindelike moontlike toepassing van die idees in die lewe van die leser. Hierdie model van interpretasie as "allegories" word as onvoldoende beskou vir die verklaring van die metafiksionele elemente in Lady Anne en daarom word postmoderne kritici soos De Man (allegorie as die oninterpreteerbaarheid van die teks), Jameson (allegorie as die onontkombaarheid van bekende verklarende modelle by die lees van 'n teks) en Derrida (die begrip "differance" bied 'n sintese van die posisies van De Man en Jameson) gebruik om 'n leesstrategie te ontwikkel waarbinne 'n vergelyking tussen Antjie se "lees" van Anne en my lees van Lady Anne in terme van drie nie-chronologiese fases, naamlik konteks, interpretasie en patroonvorming, kan plaasvind.