Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal
Reading fictional narratives is a complex process that has been a preoccupation of scholars and critics in linguistics and literary criticism since Plato and Aristotle. The contention that texts are constructed (and reconstructed) through a network of prior and concurrent discourses problematises th...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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AOSIS
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Literator |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1595 |
| _version_ | 1818909926331777024 |
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| author | Esther Mavengano Muchativugwa L. Hove |
| author_facet | Esther Mavengano Muchativugwa L. Hove |
| author_sort | Esther Mavengano |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reading fictional narratives is a complex process that has been a preoccupation of scholars and critics in linguistics and literary criticism since Plato and Aristotle. The contention that texts are constructed (and reconstructed) through a network of prior and concurrent discourses problematises the view that a text functions as a hermetic, self-sufficient, closed system. This article examines selected Zimbabwean fictional narratives that are Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal focusing on how the texts speak to each other and reconfigure the African literary canon. The article draws from post-structuralist, Julia Kristeva’s intertextuality theory in order to interrogate stylistic and thematic (re)configurations in the selected novels. Close textual analysis shows that the act of reading plunges the reader into a maze of textual relations and meanings that emerge from this never-ending interaction. Intertextuality is an insightful and essential interpretive framework that draws our attention to the complexities and multiplicities of discourses in fictional narratives. The framework points to the complex matrix of textual relations that oppose the fixation of meanings but rather suggests an infinite range of interpretations. This brings into sharp focus and conversation the question of the author’s intentionality, the need for critical evaluation of textual interactions and the role of the reader in the production of meanings. Intertextuality engenders new horizons of reading and understanding literary texts by generating multiple sites of textual meanings. In other words, intertextuality theory posits that the textual interpretative trajectory is inconclusive, calling on readers to explore the textual entanglement and dialogic selves which facilitate a (re)discovering and (re)constructing of ambivalence and negotiation of meanings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:34:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd7a7e4f037746858ddc6f1c9f091c21 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0258-2279 2219-8237 |
| language | Afrikaans |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:34:40Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Literator |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd7a7e4f037746858ddc6f1c9f091c212022-12-21T20:03:15ZafrAOSISLiterator0258-22792219-82372019-07-01401e1e1210.4102/lit.v40i1.15951305Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s OrdealEsther Mavengano0Muchativugwa L. Hove1Department of English and Media Studies, Great Zimbabwe University, MasvingoSchool for Languages Education, North-West University, MafikengReading fictional narratives is a complex process that has been a preoccupation of scholars and critics in linguistics and literary criticism since Plato and Aristotle. The contention that texts are constructed (and reconstructed) through a network of prior and concurrent discourses problematises the view that a text functions as a hermetic, self-sufficient, closed system. This article examines selected Zimbabwean fictional narratives that are Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal focusing on how the texts speak to each other and reconfigure the African literary canon. The article draws from post-structuralist, Julia Kristeva’s intertextuality theory in order to interrogate stylistic and thematic (re)configurations in the selected novels. Close textual analysis shows that the act of reading plunges the reader into a maze of textual relations and meanings that emerge from this never-ending interaction. Intertextuality is an insightful and essential interpretive framework that draws our attention to the complexities and multiplicities of discourses in fictional narratives. The framework points to the complex matrix of textual relations that oppose the fixation of meanings but rather suggests an infinite range of interpretations. This brings into sharp focus and conversation the question of the author’s intentionality, the need for critical evaluation of textual interactions and the role of the reader in the production of meanings. Intertextuality engenders new horizons of reading and understanding literary texts by generating multiple sites of textual meanings. In other words, intertextuality theory posits that the textual interpretative trajectory is inconclusive, calling on readers to explore the textual entanglement and dialogic selves which facilitate a (re)discovering and (re)constructing of ambivalence and negotiation of meanings.https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1595IntertextualityKakaPost-StructuralismStyleCanonDysfunction. |
| spellingShingle | Esther Mavengano Muchativugwa L. Hove Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal Literator Intertextuality Kaka Post-Structuralism Style Canon Dysfunction. |
| title | Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal |
| title_full | Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal |
| title_fullStr | Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal |
| title_short | Kaka country: An intertextual reading of national dysfunction in Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Jinga’s One Foreigner’s Ordeal |
| title_sort | kaka country an intertextual reading of national dysfunction in bulawayo s we need new names and jinga s one foreigner s ordeal |
| topic | Intertextuality Kaka Post-Structuralism Style Canon Dysfunction. |
| url | https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1595 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT esthermavengano kakacountryanintertextualreadingofnationaldysfunctioninbulawayosweneednewnamesandjingasoneforeignersordeal AT muchativugwalhove kakacountryanintertextualreadingofnationaldysfunctioninbulawayosweneednewnamesandjingasoneforeignersordeal |