Brongebruik in die populêre historiese roman, met spesiale verwysing na Engela van Rooyen en Oswald Pirow

Abstract

"Use of sources for popular historical novels, with special reference to Engela van Rooyen and Oswald Pirow"

This paper focuses on the infl uence that an almost unknown Afrikaans novel, Mlungu Mungoma by Oswald Pirow, (published in 1949) had on aspects regarding characterisation and plot in the popular historical novel Vuur op die horison by Engela van Rooyen (2000). The connection between these two novels and the questions that
are raised concerning certain characteristics of the historical novel – more specifically the popular historical novel as opposed to clearly postmodern novels – is investigated.
The principal problem statement is the following: in what way or ways do authors of popular historical novels (and in this instance Van Rooyen in particular) give recognition to and admit indebtedness to a text or texts that were used as sources – either as sources of inspiration (which is the case here) or for the historical presentation of the novel? Questions that the author addresses are the following:
- What is the nature of the historical novel – how can it be characterised and distinguished from other kinds of fi ction?
- Does the popular novel show an awareness of the complex relation between historiography and fi ction?
- Is there an existing convention regarding the use and recognition of sources in the (late twentieth, early twenty fi rst century) popular historical novel?
The author argues that the delicate balance between text and source should perhaps be admitted by authors of popular novels, even though the self-conscious way in which postmodern fiction approaches this relationship is absent from typical popular fiction discourse.