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Journal

2014 | 9 | 2 | 31-58

Article title

“Die hart ’n droë blaar”: Verlies, rou en melancholie in Olga Kirsch se Afrikaanse poësie / “The heart a dry leaf”: Loss, Mourning and Melancholia in Olga Kirsch’s Afrikaans Poetry

Authors

Title variants

Languages of publication

EN

Abstracts

EN
Reading Olga Kirsch’s Afrikaans poetry, one is struck by the important role that the experience of loss occupies in her oeuvre. It is evident in the first two volumes of poetry she published while still living in South Africa, as well as in the five volumes she published after emigrating to Israel in 1948. Because her poetry, especially the volumes written in Israel, exudes an air of melancholy, this article uses Freud’s writings on loss, mourning and melancholia, as well as the historical tradition preceding his work, as a guideline in exploring the way in which the experience of loss, mourning and melancholy is portrayed in Kirsch’s oeuvre. The article focusses on the way in which loss is portrayed in her poetry: her sense that the Jewish experience of loss over the centuries forms part of her history and identity, the way in which she experiences the loss of South Africa and the language Afrikaans in which she is best able to express herself poetically when she emigrates to Israel, the way in which the loss of her father and mother at different times in her life affected her, her feeling that her experience of loss and the ensuing melancholy are carried over to her children.

Publisher

Journal

Year

Volume

9

Issue

2

Pages

31-58

Physical description

Dates

published
2014-11-01
online
2014-12-30

Contributors

  • University of Stellenbosch Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands Universiteit van Stellenbosch Privaatsak X1 Matieland 7602 South Africa

References

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  • Braude, Claudia. 1993. “Interview with Olga Kirsch.” Jewish Affairs 48(2): 113-115.
  • _____. 1997. “Olga Kirsch, Expatriate South African Poet.” HerStoria 3(3): 31-36.
  • Clewell, Tammy. 2004. “Mourning beyond Melancholia: Freud’s Psychoanalysis of Loss.” Journal of the American Psychological Association 52(1): 43-67.
  • Crous, Marius. 2008. “Portrette van en gesprekke met vaders: die vader-dogterverhouding in die werk van enkele vrouedigters.” LitNet Akademies 5(3): 1-17. <http://www.litnet.co.za/Article/portrette-van-en-gesprekke-met-vaders-dievader- dogter-verhouding-in-die-werk-van-enkele-v>.
  • Eng, David L. 2000. “Melancholia in the Late Twentieth Century.” Signs 25(4): 1275-1281.[Crossref]
  • Eng, David L., and Kazanjian, David, eds. 2003. Loss: The Politics of Mourning. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press.
  • Freud, Sigmund. 1957. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. James Strachey. Vol. XIV. Londen: The Hogarth Press.
  • _____. 1961. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. James Strachey. Vol. XIX. Londen: The Hogarth Press.
  • _____. 2001 [1913]. Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics. Londen & New York: Routledge.
  • Hugo, Daniel. 1994. “Inleiding.” Nou spreek ek weer bekendes aan: Gedigte 1944-1983. Olga Kirsch. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. 9-15.
  • _____. 2014. “A Poet for All Seasons.” Werkwinkel 9(2): 11-16.
  • _____. 2006. “Olga Kirsch” Perspektief en profiel. Ed. H.P. van Coller. Pretoria: Van Schaik. Vol. III . 342-349.
  • Human, M.P. 2007. “Verlies in die oeuvre van Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach.” Diss. Universiteit van Johannesburg.
  • Kirsch, Olga. 1944. Die soeklig. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.
  • _____. 1948. Mure van die hart. Johannesburg: Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel.
  • _____. 1972. Negentien gedigte. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. _
  • ____. 1976. Geil gebied. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  • _____. 1978. Oorwinteraars in die vreemde. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  • _____. 1982. Afskeide. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  • _____. 1983. Ruie tuin. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  • _____. 1994. Nou spreek ek weer bekendes aan: ’n Keur 1944-1983. Ed. Daniel Hugo. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  • Klibansky, Raymond, Panofsky, Erwin, and Saxl, Fritz. 1979 [1964]. Saturn and Melancholy: Studies in the History of Natural Philosophy, Religion and Art. Nendeln: Kraus.
  • Minnaar, W.F.T. 2012. “’n Herwaardering van Olga Kirsch se oeuvre: Identiteit, moederskap en ballingskap aan die hand van die psigoanalitiese teorieë van Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan en Julia Kristeva.” Diss. Universiteit van Kaapstad.
  • Petrovsky-Shtern, Yonahan. n.d. “Military Service in Russia.” The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. 20 Jul. 2014. <http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article. aspx/Military_Service_in_Russia>.
  • Radden, Jennifer. 2000. “Introduction: From Melancholic States to Clinical Depression.” The Nature of Melancholy. From Aristotle to Kristeva. Ed. Jennifer Radden. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3-51.
  • Roth, Egonne. 2013. “Unassimilable Strangeness: The Afrikaans Poetry of Olga Kirsch.” Werkwinkel 8(1): 101-124.[WoS]
  • Wessels, Andries. 2009. “The Outsider as Insider: The Jewish Afrikaans poetry of Olga Kirsch.” Prooftexts 29: 63-85.[WoS]
  • Žižek, Slavoj. 2000. “Melancholy and the Act.” Critical Inquiry 26(4): 657-681.

Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.doi-10_2478_werk-2014-0011
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