Die roman as meertalige lag: Die diskoers in Wilma Stockenström se Abjater wat so lag

Summary

In his study on the prehistory of novelistic discourse Mikhail Bakhtin emphasizes two factors: polyglossia and laughter. My cursory discussion of the Rabelaisian carnival and the related metaphor of the grotesque body introduces an examination of the interchange of discourses and the presence of laughter in the novel Abjater wat so lag, by Wilma Stockenstrôm. While the novel in its totality presents itself as a monologue, the diversity of discourses and genres in the text and the quoted conventional dialogue of characters prove its heteroglossic nature. The objections of reviewers to the stylistic differences in the discourse of the anonymous main character may be seen as an example of monologizing on their part. This tendency to convert interior monologue to speech reveals a phonocentric predisposition which regards speech as a transparent window on meaning. Similarly the principal character's yearning for the liberating laugh of the man Abjater is an indication of a striving after a transcendental signified. Besides the laughter of Abjater and the donkey‐like singing of the main character the novel contains many examples of carni‐valesque elements. The idea of the carnival as an analytic category can, however, be useful only if it is displaced into the broader concept of symbolic inversion and transgression. The conclusion is drawn that every attempt in the novel to escape from the tyranny of a monologic dispensation by means of transgression is futile. The intentionally hybrid nature of the text's discourse specifically confirms this insight.

Opsomming

In sy studie oor die voorgeskiedenis van die romandiskoers beklemtoon Mikhail Bakhtin twee faktore: die vermenging van diskoerse en die voorkoms van die lag. In hierdie artikel word die Rabelaisiaanse karnaval en die verwante metafoor van die groteske liggaam kortliks bespreek en daarna word die diskoersvermenging en die lag nagegaan in Wilma Stockenstrôm se roman Abjater wat so lag. Alhoewel die roman in die geheel ‘n monoloog is, lewer die verskeidenheid diskoerse en genres in die teks en die aangehaalde konvensionele dialoog van karakters bewys van die heteroglossiese aard daarvan. Die besware van resensente teen die stilistiese verskille in die diskoers van die naamlose hoofkarakter kan beskou word as ‘n voorbeeld van monologisering aan hul kant. Die neiging om interne monoloog tot spraak te herlei, verraai ‘n fonosentriese ingesteldheid wat spraak as deursigtige venster op betekenis beskou, net soos wat die hoofpersonasie se uitreik na die bevrydende lag van die man Abjater ‘n aanduiding is van ‘n strewe na ‘n transendentale betekende. Naas die lag van Abjater en die donkie‐agtige gesingery van die hoofkarakter is daar vele voorbeelde van karnavaleske elemente in die roman. Die denkbeeld van die karnaval as analitiese kategorie is egter eers nuttig wanneer dit verplaas word tot dië groter konsep van simboliese inversie en transgressie. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat elke poging in die roman om deur transgressie aan die tirannie van ‘n monologiese bestel te ontkom, futiel is. Die intensioneel hibridiese aard van die teksdiskoers het juis ten doel om hierdie insig te bevestig.