Vertellershouding, afgelei van die taal en styl van die teks: Hennie Aucamp se “Vir vier stemme”

Summary

In literature the importance of the narrator in the narrative is generally recognised. In interpretation the narrator represents a point of convergence for all the other narrative elements. It is obviously important for the reader of literature to be able to gauge the attitude or disposition of the narrator. In written texts it is possible to deduce this attitude from the selection and arrangement of the narrative data, or from the narrative point of view (first‐ or third‐person narration), but also, even especially, from the language and style of the text (language as “the sum total of the structures available to the writer, while style concerns the characteristic choices in a given context”, Traugott & Pratt 1980).

The text selected as an example for this article is the short story “Vir vier stemme” (from Volmink 1981) by Hennie Aucamp. This text forms part of a literary tradition including works by, among others, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner and the Dutch author Louis Paul Boon. In these texts “the same” story is told by more than one narrator. In Aucamp's story there is a first‐person narrator (also a character in the story) Toon Lourens, and three third‐person narrators who tell their version of the story in succession. This article examines the way in which the attitude of the first‐person narrator may be deduced from the language and style of the first subtext, “n Grap is ‘n grap”. The focus is on his oral (anecdotal) narrative style, his colloquial field of reference, his sentence structure and the intertextual links of his story with those of other narrators, among others Herman C. Bosman's Oom Schalk Lourens, as revealed by the implied author.

In die letterkunde word die belangrikheid van die verteller in die verhaalteks algemeen aanvaar. By interpretasie is die verteller ‘n konvergensiepunt waarheen al die ander verhaalelemente herlei kan word. Dit spreek dus vanself dat dit vir die literêre leser belangrik is om die houding of instelling (ingesteldheid) van die verteller te kan peil. By geskrewe tekste is dié houding afleibaar van die seleksie en rangskikking van die verhaalgegewens, van die vertelperspektief (eerste‐of derdepersoonsvertelling), maar ook, of veral, van die taal en styl van die teks (taal as die somtotaal van die strukture wat beskikbaar is vir die skrywer en styl as die keuses in die gegewe konteks; vgl. Traugott & Pratt 1980).

Die voorbeeldteks wat vir hierdie opstel gekies is, is die kortverhaal “Vir vier stemme” (uit Volmink 1981) van Hennie Aucamp. Die teks sluit aan by ‘n bekende literêre tradisie en herinner onder meer aan tekste van Charles Dickens, William Faulkner en die Nederlandse skrywer Louis Paul Boon. Die procédé is dat “dieselfde” storie deur meer as een verteller vertel word. In Aucamp se “Vir vier stemme” is daar ‘n karakterverteller, Toon Lourens, en drie derdepersoonsvertellers wat agtereen‐volgens die verhaal vertel. In hierdie artikel word nagegaan hoe die houding van die ekverteller afgelei kan word van die taal en styl van die eerste subteks, “n Grap is ‘n grap”. Daar word gefokus op sy mondelinge (anekdotiese) vertelstyl, sy lokale verwysingsveld, sy sinstruktuur en sy intertekstuele verbintenisse met ander vertellers, onder meer met Herman C. Bosman se Oom Schalk Lourens, soos onthul deur die implisiete outeur.

Keywords:

• Aucamp, Hennie
• literary stilistics
• style
• narrator
• stance
• folk narrator