Historical Imaginaries: Flashbacks with Karel Schoeman
Op 14 juli 2023 houdt Yves T’Sjoen in Bloemfontein de Karel Schoeman Gedenklezing (Universiteit van die Vrystaat, Vrystaat Kunstefees, 10-15 juli): ‘Historische verbeelding. Terugblikken met Karel Schoeman/Historical Imaginaries: Flashbacks with Karel Schoeman’.
Dutch author Cees Nooteboom describes memory as a dog that lies where it wants. In Karel Schoeman’s oeuvre the canonical histories of the Afrikaner and South Africa are subject to revision. In his novels, Schoeman develops a critical response to the Afrikaner-nationalist imaginary of the past and modifies this history in far-reaching ways. In this context, concepts such as “historiographic metafiction” and “metahistory” offer useful tools to interpret the relationship between literature and history. The translation of the past results in a linguistic construct that presents a fictional, and hence adulterated, perspective on history. As a result, tangible historical imaginaries arguably emerge more successfully from the work of novelists such as Karel Schoeman, than from the efforts of historians. – Yves T’Sjoen
