Fact and Fiction in Postmodernist Writing

Abstract

In this article the concept of postmodernism as "nothing makes a difference" and "anything goes" is rejected in favor of a reader's decision to construct himself a difference in accord with his cultural or historical knowledge and his ethical position. Postmodernist texts are characterized by a plurality of voices which do not constitute a figuration of hierarchical dependencies but which form, nevertheless, a communicative figuration. Although fact and fiction are no longer clearly distinguishable and although the notion of fact or factual relation is being replaced by the concept of mental or social creation, the communicative figuration of postmodern novels may call our attention to the historical discourse that is part of them. In my reading of The White Hotel (D.M. Thomas) and Die letzte Welt (Christoph Ransmayr), I propose to take into account the historical intertext of the Holocaust. I conceive of it as a strong voice in the signifying interplay _0f narrative elements, which, to a certain point, is capable of undermining the non-hierarchical relation of fact and fiction.

Opsomming
In hierdie artikel word die konsep van Postmodernisme as "niks maak 'n verskil nie" en "enigiets deug" verwerp ten gunste van 'n leser se besluit om vir homself 'n verskil te konstrueer in ooreenstemming met sy kulturele of historiese kennis en sy etiese posisie. Postmodernistiese tekste word gekarakteriseer deur 'n veelvoud van stemme wat nie 'n figurasie van hiërargiese afhanklikhede konstitueer nie, maar wat, desnieteenstaande, 'n kommunikatiewe figurasie vorm. Alhoewel feit en fiksie nie meer duidelik onderskeibaar is nie, en alhoewel die gedagte van feit of feitlike relasie vervang word deur die konsep van intellektuele of sosiale skepping, mag die kommunikatiewe figurasie van postmoderne romans ons aandag verg vir die historiese diskoers wat deel daarvan vorm. In my lesing van The White Hotel (D.M. Thomas) en Die letzte Welt (Christoph Ransmayr), is ek van plan om die historiese interteks van die Holocaust in aanmerking te neem. Ek beskou dit as 'n sterk stem in die beduidende wedersydse spel van verhalende elemente wat, in 'n sekere mate, in staat is om die non-hierargiese relasie van feit en fiksie te ondermyn.