Wachten op de barbaren: Metageschiedenis in het werk van Peter Blum

Abstract

Waiting for the Barbarians: Metahistory in the oeuvre of Peter Blum
This article explores metahistory in the poetry of Peter Blum. In many of Blum’s poems Western civilisation is confronted with the forces of barbarism, without civilisation necessarily being given preference over barbarism. By focussing on the metahistorical aspects of Blum’s work, it is possible to illuminate the dialectical relationships between apparently disparate cultural domains in his work—past and present, Europe and South Africa—which critics up till now have treated as self-contained entities. From this angle, Blum appears to be a poet who was highly critical of white South African culture of the 1950s.

Keywords: Peter Blum, Afrikaans poetry, metahistory, civilisational discourse, barbarians.

Article text in Dutch