Abstract
This article aims at making an intertextual analysis of Albert Camus’ second-last work of prose. La Chute, with the question of how meaning is structured by the act of reading as its point of departure. Based on the theories of Julia Kristeva and Jonathan Culler on intertextuality, the article tries to point out to what extent a knowledge of other texts influences the way in which the reader receives La Chute. Attention is given to the different ways in which other texts, first-person narratives, the Bible, Dante’s Inferno, Camus’ L ’Homme Révolté and the social-cultural context of the twentieth century, are integrated in La Chute. The degree to which a knowledge of these other texts and contexts is necessary for reading La Chute is also touched upon.
Highlights
This article aims at making an intertextual analysis of A lbert Camus’ second-last work of prose
In sy kommentaar op hierdie formulering van intertekstualiteit deur Kristeva, spel Culler (1975:139) die rol uit wat intertekstualiteit speel in die ontvangs van ’n teks deur ’n leser: A work can only be read in connection with or against other texts, which provide a grid through which it is read and structured by estabhshing expectations which enable one to pick out sahent features and give them a structure
Wanneer ’n mens wegbeweeg van hierdie eerste vlak, naamlik dié van die spesifieke genre, waarop intertekstualiteit werksaam is en meewerk tot die skep van betekenis, en kyk na die wyse waarop bepaalde temas na vore kom in die verhaal, is die rol van ander tekste weer eens opvallend
Summary
Ter wille van helderheid is ’n kort opsomming van die verhaalgegewe van La Chute nodig. ’n Suiwer monoloog is dit dus nie, want alhoewel ’n mens geen direkte weergawe van sy antwoorde het nie, is dit dikwels die gespreksgenoot se reaksies wat Clamence se diskoers van rigting laat verander. Weer eens stel hierdie afwyking van die gewone tegniek van die eerstepersoonsvertelling die leser in staat om ’n bepaalde betekenis af te lees, ’n betekenis wat slegs gepeil kan word teen die agtergrond van ander tekste wat tot dieselfde genre behoort. Hierdie tegniek pas aan by en illustreer Clamence se drang tot absolute oorheersing: sy stem oorheers die toneel en laat die toehoorder nie toe om te veel individualiteit te openbaar nie - daar is geen plek in sy sisteem vir ’n mening wat sy eie sou kon relativeer nie. Ook die leser is uitgelewer aan die mag van Clamence se woord
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