Resumen

ERASMUS-ALT, Joanita  y  VAN COLLER, H.P.. S.J. Naudé's The alphabet of birds (2011) - A hybrid between the novel and the short story volume. (Part 1). Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2017, vol.57, n.2-1, pp.441-458. ISSN 2224-7912.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2017/v57n2-1a12.

The socio-cultural and political relationship between literature and society implies that postmodern literature - like contemporary world views - reflects an increasing inclination to cross boundaries. Ratiani (2007) is of the opinion that the literary work is an intermediary liminal object or rather a transitional stage between the real world and that of the imagination. Due to the fact that the literary work is a link between these two worlds, the crossing or elimination of boundaries is relevant for literature. When seminal texts within the Afrikaans literary field, especially of the last decade, are scrutinised it becomes clear that the crossing or elimination of boundaries is also an important feature. One of these seminal texts is the volume of short stories by S.J.Naudé, Alfabet van die voëls (2011), translated by the author as The alphabet of birds (2015). The crossing of boundaries takes place on al three of the traditional narratological levels (cf. Rimon-Kenan 1983; Brink 1989): story, discourse and narration. In studies that concentrate on the crossing of borders, there is usually reference to the concept of liminality - a concept introduced by Arnold van Gennep in his publication Les rites de passage (1908). On the webpage border poetics, liminality is defined in the following terms: […] liminal refers to a transitory, in-between state or space, which is characterized by indeterminacy, ambiguity, hybridity, potential for subversion and change (border poetics s.j.). Although the individual short stories in Naudé's book can be read as relatively autonomous entities, there are several reasons why they should rather be seen as interlinked, repeating and developing a central theme - typical of prose cycles. The same theme, or rather thematic node, is present in all the different stories. Many characters appear in more than one story and the same liminal space is present in all of the stories. Seven of these stories are structured in the same way and are even alike as far as narration (focus, perspective and presentation) and time structure are concerned. Several reviewers allude to this as a musical structuring due to the subtle repetitions and variations of a dominant theme. One of the effects is that the ontological boundaries between stories ánd that between a novel and a volume of short stories are questioned and even challenged. In this article one of the central hypotheses is that Naudé's text is unique in Afrikaans literature as an aesthetic revolt against stringent genological boundaries. The separate stories are much longer than what is usually expected of short stories and do not adhere to other ingrained expectations: they do not always concentrate on one character or space and in actual fact are sometimes more akin to the novel. Naudé's novel received several literary prizes and accolades and in its translated form was hailed as remarkable, even in an international context. None of the other prose texts (nor poetical texts for that matter) nominated for one of the most prestigious literary prizes for literary debuts in Afrikaans, the Eugène Marais Prize, awarded by the literary commission of Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (The South African Academy for Arts and Sciences) was hailed internationally as texts of international status. Yet Naudé's text did not receive this prize. This article is therefore also an implied reassessment of that decision.

Palabras clave : S.J. Naudé; The alphabet of birds; Boundaries; Hybrid genres; Unified volume of short stories; Short story series; Composite novel; Short story sequence; Short story composite; Short story cycle.

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