Servicios Personalizados
Articulo
Indicadores
Links relacionados
- Citado por Google
- Similares en Google
Compartir
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde
versión On-line ISSN 2309-9070
versión impresa ISSN 0041-476X
Resumen
NGWENYA, Thengani. Symbolic self-translation in Bloke Modisane's Blame Me on History. Tydskr. letterkd. [online]. 2017, vol.54, n.1, pp.34-43. ISSN 2309-9070. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/tvl.v.54i1.2.
The article examines Modisane's self-portrayal in his autobiography, Blame Me on History (1963). The author argues that for Modisane autobiographical self-representation takes the form of a complex and multi-layered process of symbolic and metaphorical translation of (self) identity. Symbolic self-translation in Modisane's autobiography involves attempts by the narrator-protagonist to untangle the conundrum resulting from what is presented as an unbridgeable chasm between the kind of person he could have been in a country devoid of racial oppression and what he was forced to become in the racially segregated South Africa of the twentieth century. Central to the analysis of Modisane's chosen mode of self-portraiture is James Olney's notion of "metaphors of self" in terms of which the autobiographical self seeks to articulate its elusive ontological status through metaphors and symbols. The article also provides a critique of contradictions inherent in the ideology of liberal humanism which is presented as universally desirable in Modisane's autobiography.
Palabras clave : alienation; identity; self-representation; South African literature; translation.