Teks op teks op teks: intertekstualiteit in Ingrid Winterbach se <i>Niggie</i>

Abstract

Text on text on text: intertextuality in Ingrid Winterbach’s Niggie This article focuses on the creative adaptation of Anglo-Boer War material in Ingrid Winterbach’s (formerly Lettie Viljoen) “Niggie” (“Cousin”) (2002) with specific reference to the historiographical-metafictional element and intertextual game with texts written during or shortly after the Anglo-Boer War in Dutch, such as Totius’ “Vier-en-sestig dae te velde: ’n oorlogsdagboek” (“Sixty four days afield: a war diary”) (1977) and in English, “Woman’s endurance” (1904) by A.D.L. and Deneys Reitz’s “Commando: a Boer journal of the Boer War” (1932). The intertextuality of more recent texts such as “Op soek na generaal Mannetjies Mentz” (“In Search of General Mannetjies Mentz”) (1998) by Christoffel Coetzee, Klaas Steytler’s “Ons oorlog” (“Our war”) (2000) and Etienne Leroux’s “Magersfontein, O! Magersfontein” (1976) will also be discussed. A literary analysis is done of the novel “Niggie”, with specific focus on the nature and function of Anglo-Boer War material in Winterbach’s text. The question is posed why is there such a sustained focus and creative adaptation of Anglo-Boer War texts in Winterbach’s oeuvre, especially in “Belemmering” (“Impediment”) (1990); “Karolina Ferreira” (1993); “Buller se plan” (“Buller’s plan”) (1999) and “Niggie” (“Cousin”) (2002)? How does she adapt this material? What is the function of this process and in what way does this novel impact on the reader a century after the war?