Joernaal van Jorik herlees

Abstract

With reference to Ricoeur and Thompson's views on ideology and the criticism of ideology, this article offers a discursive analysis of D.J. Opperman's Joernaal van Jorik (1949). Key passages in the poem are analysed to show that the story of Jorik is closely linked to historical meta-narratives about Western man, colonial history and the growth of a new nation at the Cape. The argument is that different intertexts in the poem are related to one another hierarchically, with the result that Jorik's action within a sociopolitical context is interpreted as the "betrayal" of an ahistorical human and poetic task. Finally, passages in the poem that deal with the poetic fixation of temporary phenomena are related to Opperman's claim in "Kuns is boos!" that the complete work of art displays a correlation between its internal order as a revelation of the complex essential nature of each phenom­enon within a field of oppositions and the structure of Divine creation.

Opsomming
Met verwysing na Ricoeur en Thompson se opvattings oor ideologie en ideo!ogiekritiek bied hierdie artikel 'n diskursiewe analise van D.J. Opperman se Joernaal van Jorik (1949). Deur 'n ontleding van 'n aantal sleutelpassasies word aangetoon dat die verhaal van Jorik vervleg is met historiese metaverhafe oor die Westerse mens, die kolonia!e geskiedenis en die "Volksplanting" aan die Kaap. Die argument is dat verskillende intertekste in die gedig in 'n hierargiese verhouding tot mekaar verkeer, sodat Jorik se optrede binne 'n sosiopolitieke konteks geTnterpreteer word as "verraad" teenoor 'n a-historiese menslike en digterlike taak. Passasies oor die vaslegging van temporele verskynsels in die gedig word ten slotte in verband gebring met Opperman se aanspraak in "Kuns is boos!" dat daar in die voltooide kunswerk 'n korrelasie is tussen die interne ordening as openbaring van elke verskynsel se komplekse eie "wesenheid" binne 'n veld van opposisies, en die struktuur van die Goddelike skepping self.