Martina Vitackova | Ghent University (original) (raw)

Books by Martina Vitackova

Nizozemština, jazyk, kterým mluví Nizozemci a Vlámové, je s více než 25 milionů mateřských mluvčí... more Nizozemština, jazyk, kterým mluví Nizozemci a Vlámové, je s více než 25 milionů mateřských mluvčích třetím nejvíce zastoupeným germánským jazykem. Díla psaná nizozemsky začala vznikat již v 8. století našeho letopočtu a nizozemská literatura patří k literaturám, které jsou hojně překládány do češtiny. Dílo představuje přehled dějin nizozemské a vlámské literatury od počátku až do současnosti, včetně odvětví, jako jsou literatura pro děti a mládež nebo nizozemská literatura, psaná v bývalých koloniích.

The main aim of the book is to find possible answers to the dilemma of Western society how to sta... more The main aim of the book is to find possible answers to the dilemma of Western society how to state one's socio-cultural identity in an other way than based on the hierarchical opposition self - the other. Furthermore the book attempts to explore how literary characters in contemporary postcolonial works in Dutch and Afrikaans deal with the altered binary system and what solutions do they offer to us, the readers. Based on a close-reading analysis of a research corpus of a number of contemporary postcolonial works by female authors from the Netherlands and South Africa, the analysis concentrates on the ways how their literary female characters search, resp. find their identity in the postcolonial situation. teh emphasis lies on the changing concept of 'women' and 'femininity' connected with th female body and motherhood, i.e. those aspects of the 'female experience' that have been silenced and/or backgrounded in the majority colonial (patriarchal) discourse.

Keywords: feminist literary theory, postcolonialism, women writers, identity, Dutch literature, Afrikaans literature

Papers by Martina Vitackova

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 2019

Geraadpleegde bronne Cochrane, N. "'Closure' is vir die tuinvoëls bedoel". Rapport, 10 Sept. 2017... more Geraadpleegde bronne Cochrane, N. "'Closure' is vir die tuinvoëls bedoel". Rapport, 10 Sept. 2017, www.netwerk24.com/ Vermaak/Boeke/closure-is-vir-die-tuinvoels-bedoel-20170909#loggedin. Geraadpleeg op 12 Nov. 2018. L i t N e t. " Ky k N E T-R a p p o r t p r y s e 2 0 1 8 : Commendatio's En Foto's." LitNet, 27 Sept. 2018. www.litnet.co.za/kyknet-rapportpryse-2018-commendatios-en-fotos/. Geraadpleeg op 12 Nov. 2018. Steinmair, D. "Taljaard takel omstrede temas in sielkundige riller ". Netwerk24, 28 Jul. 2017. www.netwerk24.com/vermaak/boeke/ taljaard-takel-omstrede-temas-in-sielkundigeriller-20170728. Geraadpleeg op 12 Nov. 2018.

Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 2009

In search of adventure: Ladislav Mikeš Parízek, a Czech in the Congo Ladislav Mikeš Parízek's boo... more In search of adventure: Ladislav Mikeš Parízek, a Czech in the Congo Ladislav Mikeš Parízek's books, articles and lectures had a large impact on the image of the Congo as it existed in communist Czechoslovakia from the 1940s till the 1970s, but this Czech traveller and writer has almost been forgotten. Through an analysis of his works and of reviews of these works published in newspapers of the 1950s, the nature of the African discourse as it was created in communist Eastern Europe, as well as the (mis)use of this discourse by the ruling party, is revealed. Special attention will be paid to the illustrations accompanying his books, articles and lectures.

In 1996 writes Hambidge, true to the “omnibus” tradition so popular amongst genre fiction, five n... more In 1996 writes Hambidge, true to the “omnibus” tradition so popular amongst genre fiction, five novelettes, each in the style of a different genre of popular fiction, and all with Sonja Verbeek as main character. The title Swart Koring is a reference to Tryna du Toit’s Groen Koring (1948) – one of the seminal popular romance texts in Afrikaans. While the plot follows the expected developments of the respective popular genres, it queers and, yes, at the same time celebrates the different forms of ‘low literature’.

Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 2013

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 2020

Neerlandica Wratislaviensia

The article analyses the novel Alles verandert (Everything changes, 2015) by Flemish author Krist... more The article analyses the novel Alles verandert (Everything changes, 2015) by Flemish author Kristien Hemmerechts in the context of “feminist rewriting”. At the same time “feminist rewriting” is being introduced as a functional literary strategy that enables the writer to challenge and adapt the existing literary canon. Summing up the existing scholarship on feminist/women’s rewriting, the article makes a plea to include “feminist rewriting” in the (not only) Dutch literary-analytical toolbox in order to get a better understanding of such practices and their intentions.

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde

This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial ... more This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial others are represented in the work of the Afrikaans popular romantic fiction writer Sophia Kapp. Comparing her first three novels to the latest one, the article points to a development in her writing and tracks the changes it has undergone over the course of the almost ten years of Kapp's writing career. Starting off with exclusively white and heterosexual characters in her first novels, her latest novel includes a number of black and homosexual secondary characters. However, while these characters appear to be equal to the white hero and heroine, an analysis of their representation shows that they are rendered in such a way that they support the white heterosexual marriage as the unquestionable standard, and it becomes clear that the inclusion of sexual and racial others appears for the most part to be in the function of "surrogate and enabler" for the white heterosexual m...

This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial ... more This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial others are represented in the work of the Afrikaans popular romantic fiction writer Sophia Kapp. Comparing her first three novels to the latest one, the article points to a development in her writing and tracks the changes it has undergone over the course of the almost ten years of Kapp's writing career. Starting off with exclusively white and heterosexual characters in her first novels, her latest novel includes a number of black and homosexual secondary characters. However, while these characters appear to be equal to the white hero and heroine, an analysis of their representation shows that they are rendered in such a way that they support the white heterosexual marriage as the unquestionable standard, and it becomes clear that the inclusion of sexual and racial others appears for the most part to be in the function of " surrogate and enabler " for the white heterosexual marriage ideal.

AbstrAkt Článek uvádí koncept postkoloniálního přepisu do českého a slovenského akademického disk... more AbstrAkt Článek uvádí koncept postkoloniálního přepisu do českého a slovenského akademického diskursu a zároveň představuje literaturu v nizozemštině jako potenciálně postkoloniál-ní literaturu. Po krátkém úvodu do problematiky je navrženo několik charakteristických znaků tohoto fenoménu. Ty jsou poté v praxi ukázány na příkladu komparativní analý-zy dvou děl nizozemské spisovatelky Helly S. Haasse – novely Oeroeg (1948) a románu Sleuteloog (2002). Posun v intenci autorky je patrný především na srovnání závěrečných pasáží obou děl, jejichž close-reading analýzu článek nabízí. POSTKOLONIALISMUS V posledních několika desetiletích se postkolonialismus ironicky stal moderním označením, používaným v nejrůznějších situacích. V akademickém kontextu spadá do oblasti kulturních studií a jako ostatní disciplíny v této kategorii se zabývá studiem nejrůznějších textů – kulturních produktů – a jejich společenského kontextu. V souvislosti s literaturou je termín používán především kritiky a teoretiky, stává se jen zřídka, že by se sám autor označil za postkoloniálního spisovatele nebo básníka. Co ale postkoloniální literatura znamená? Velmi obecně lze říci, že postkoloniální literatura dává hlas těm, kteří byli v koloniálním systému (diskursivně) umlčeni. Literatura je mnohem více, než jen způsobem, jak vyprávět příběhy. Hegemonické systémy jako kolonialismus, ale třeba také patriarchát, (pod)vědomě využívaly literatury jako diskursivního nástroje k potvrzení a upevnění své nadvlády. Homi Bhabha, jeden z nejdůležitějších postkoloniálních kritiků, charakterizoval koloniální systém jako aparát založený na rozlišování rasových/kulturních/historických rozdílů. Jeho hlavní strategickou funkcí je vytvoření prostoru pro " podrobené " lidi pomocí sestavení korpusu znalostí, jímž se provádí společenský dohled a který vzbuzuje komplexní formu (ne)libosti (Bhabha 70). 1 Koloniální systém potřeboval ke své existenci jasně stanovenou hranici mezi (kulturně) nadřazenými a podřazenými, mezi " já " a " ten druhý " (self – the other). Pro Bhabhu je klíčovým aspektem koloniálního systému neměnnost (fixity) (Bhabha 94). Sandra Ponzanesi, významná evropská postkoloniální teoretička, kombinující znalosti postkoloniální teorie a gender studies, které pak aplikuje na evropskou

Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 2013

king tot het vrouwelijke ouder wordende lichaam. Er wordt veel nadruk gelegd op de bredere cultur... more king tot het vrouwelijke ouder wordende lichaam. Er wordt veel nadruk gelegd op de bredere cultureel-maatschappelijke context waarin de bundel is veschenen, en waarin hij wordt gelezen. Theoretisch is de analyse geïnspireerd door de Franse feministische literatuurtheorie, met name écriture féminine, het vrouwelijk schrijven, voornamelijk zoals beschreven door Julia Kristeva en Hélène Cixous. Het vrouwelijk schrijven wordt gekenmerkt door een vrouwelijke lyrische subversiviteit die zich losmaakt van de fallocentrische socio-symbolische orde waarin de man centraal staat. Écriture féminine spoort vrouwen aan om zich los te maken uit de discursieve ruimte die hen toegewezen werd in de fallogocentrische orde. De theoretica's van het vrouwelijk schrijven pleiten voor een nieuwe manier van schrijven waarin diversiteit centraal staat, en die dichter bij het (vrouwelijke) lichaam komt. Cixous daagt vrouwen uit om zichzelf los te schrijven van de (literaire) wereld geconstrueerd door mannen en om het onbespreekbare, het verzwegen onder de woorden te brengen. Kristeva pleit ervoor dat vrouwen (mensen) dichtbij het lichaam blijven in hun schrijfwerk en niet wegdrijven in de gedematerialiseerde, en daardoor patriarchale, wereld van metaforen. Allebei -Cixous in The laugh of the Medusa (1976) en Kristeva in Revolution in poetic language (origineel in 1974(origineel in , Engelse vertaling in 1984 en Powers of horror: an essay on abjection (origineel in 1980, Engelse vertaling in 1982) -leggen de nadruk op het vernietigende effect van het vrouwelijke lichaam en de poëti-In de jaren zeventig, onder invloed van de tweede feministische golf, verschijnt er een nieuwe generatie van vrouwelijke schrijvers die als vrouw (en over vrouwen) schrijven.

The paper presents an analysis of three contemporary novels by woman authors in Dutch, in order t... more The paper presents an analysis of three contemporary novels by woman authors in Dutch, in order to give an account of the way how female subjectivity, especially motherhood, is depicted in nowadays´ literary works by women. The central argument of this paper is that there is a new concept of motherhood appearing in literature written by women since the beginning of the century. This newly appearing phenomenon of subversive motherhood is in compliance with the theories of Julia Kristeva whose writing on motherhood is used as theoretical background of this paper. The paper shows that contemporary woman writers have written themselves out of the Oedipal ‘father-son’ narrative and offer new alternative plots, one of which the subversive empowering narrative of motherhood.

Deze bijdrage neemt onder de loep de positie van blanke vrouwen in de postkoloniale samenleving. ... more Deze bijdrage neemt onder de loep de positie van blanke vrouwen in de postkoloniale samenleving. Aan de hand van een korte analyse van twee voorbeelden van de hedendaagse postkoloniale literatuur in het Nederlands, geschreven door vrouwelijke auteurs, worden theoretische opvattingen uit het gebied van postkoloniale en feministische (literaire) theorie verduidelijkt. De analyse van de personages van Ada in Nelleke Noordervliets Pelican Bay en Janera in Gezandstraald van Aliefka Bijlsma laat in de praktijk zien hoe ambivalent de positie van een blanke vrouw op de botsing van de as van gender en ras kan zijn. Tevens zal een oplossing voor de postkoloniale identiteitscrisis aangeboden worden, met behulp van de theorie van Homi Bhabha, en in de praktijk aangewezen op de voorbeelden van de personages van Ada en Janera.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain a number of films have been produced with a major or minor Eas... more Since the fall of the Iron Curtain a number of films have been produced with a major or minor Eastern-European female character. These characters are often represented in a very stereotypical way, stressing above all their uncontrolled sexuality and erotic potential. Furthermore, their irrationality, animosity and sensuality are emphasized. Similarly to the representation of e.g. black women, the Euro-American discourse uses, while representing Eastern-European women, a number of othering strategies to create an exoticist other as an object on the contrast to which the West, disregarding gender, can build its own identity. In this paper the particular processes of the production of the Eastern-European female other in Euro-American cinema will be denounced and further analyzed, using postcolonial theory combined with the insights of feminist film theory. On two film examples of different genres the fact will be demonstrated, how common this phenomenon has been within the Euro-American majority discourse at the break of the centuries and consequently how dangerous this phenomenon can be within the image forming influenced by this discourse.

Keywords: feminist literary theory, postcolonialism, women writers, identity, Dutch literature, Afrikaans literature

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 2019

Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 2009

Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 2013

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 2020

Neerlandica Wratislaviensia

Tydskrif vir Letterkunde

This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial ... more This article provides a feminist critique of representation, analysing the way sexual and racial others are represented in the work of the Afrikaans popular romantic fiction writer Sophia Kapp. Comparing her first three novels to the latest one, the article points to a development in her writing and tracks the changes it has undergone over the course of the almost ten years of Kapp's writing career. Starting off with exclusively white and heterosexual characters in her first novels, her latest novel includes a number of black and homosexual secondary characters. However, while these characters appear to be equal to the white hero and heroine, an analysis of their representation shows that they are rendered in such a way that they support the white heterosexual marriage as the unquestionable standard, and it becomes clear that the inclusion of sexual and racial others appears for the most part to be in the function of " surrogate and enabler " for the white heterosexual marriage ideal.

Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 2013

Ladislav Mikeš Pařízek’s books, articles and lectures had a large impact on the image of the Cong... more Ladislav Mikeš Pařízek’s books, articles and lectures had a large impact on the image of the Congo as it existed in communist Czechoslovakia from the 1940s till the 1970s, but this Czech traveller and writer has almost been forgotten. Through an analysis of his works and of reviews of these works published in newspapers of the 1950s, the nature of the African discourse as it was created in communist Eastern Europe, as well as the (mis)use of this discourse by the ruling party, is revealed. Special attention will be paid to the illustrations accompanying his books, articles and lectures.

Naima el Bezaz (Meknes, Morocco, 1974) is one of the first women immigrant authors, and the first... more Naima el Bezaz (Meknes, Morocco, 1974) is one of the first women immigrant authors, and the first Moroccan-Dutch woman, to be published in the Netherlands. El Bezaz deals with the position of immigrant (Moroccan) women in contemporary Dutch society in her whole oeuvre. She criticizes rigid Muslim belief and speaks openly about the issues of religiosity, sexuality and society in general. In her second book, Minnares van de duivel (Devil´s Mistress, 2002) El Bezaz touches on the contentious theme of Muslim (women´s) sexuality and the erotic which has annoyed the Muslim as well as the protestant public in the Netherlands. De verstotene (Outcast, 2006) continues this trend and includes even more open sexual scenes than the previous book. Lesbian sex, sex between a Muslim woman and a Jew, masturbation, ... The well-selling writer explores in her work the tolerance border of the Moroccan-Dutch community and by doing so creates space for social debate concerning stigmatized Muslim women's sexuality. "I don't even know how many times I have already been threatened, but on the other hand I also find it somehow cool, because not that I would enjoy offending people, but because I can touch people with my writing, that I touch something sensible. And that is kind of thrilling,"

The writer Naima el Bezaz is the first woman of Dutch-Moroccan origin to be published in the Neth... more The writer Naima el Bezaz is the first woman of Dutch-Moroccan origin to be published in the Netherlands. From the publication of her first novel onwards, her work and the way she expresses herself in the public have caused a lot of controversy. The writer self works actively with the attention she gets in the media, both r in her Spits column and on Facebook where she challenges Dutch society while at the same time promoting her person and her work. Naima el Bezaz posts a new status on Facebook approximately once a day and gets tens of comments on each, mainly from the same followers. The most frequent topics are Dutch politics and society and the writer´s personal life. She often comments on racist prejudices in the Netherlands and her personal experiences of them. Based on Bezaz´ published posts in a period of time, as well as the reactions on these, the paper analyzes the mechanisms of identity forming on Facebook. With the concrete example of Naima el Bezaz´ Facebook followers from different groups I will show how both the liberal as well as conservative Moroccan-Dutch and the Dutch establish their identity as members of one or another group and how an important role this medium plays in the process of acquiring a sense of belonging.

Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, 2020

Recensie van de debuutroman van Valda Jansen - Hy kom met die skoenlappers. 'n Elegie aan verlore... more Recensie van de debuutroman van Valda Jansen - Hy kom met die skoenlappers. 'n Elegie aan verlore liefde (in Dutch)
We hebben hem of haar allemaal—die ene liefde van lang (of niet zo lang) geleden. Die liefde die voor altijd perfect zal blijven want het is eigenlijk altijd net imaginair gebleven. Het is de liefde waaraan we altijd denken als er iets mis gaat in onze reële verhouding, het is de liefde waarmee we elke andere verhouding voor altijd zullen vergelijken. Het is en het blijft perfect omdat het eigenlijk nooit is gebeurd.
Maar wat als de mogelijkheid van deze ideale liefde niet meer bestaat? Wat gebeurt er als we te weten komen dat deze geliefde er niet meer is? Dat is wat Valda Jansen gaat verkennen in haar debuutroman Hy kom met die skoenlappers—een boek zo fijn en poëtisch geschreven dat het bijna als een lang, lyrisch gedicht leest.

Review of Ksenie Robbe's 'Conversations of Motherhood. South African Women’s Writing Across Tradi... more Review of Ksenie Robbe's 'Conversations of Motherhood. South African Women’s Writing Across Traditions'. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. 2015
Review published in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 52(2), 2015

Ksenia Robbe embarks on a daring and very relevant undertaking with her analysis of
women’s writing from South Africa in both English and Afrikaans. Her comparative crosscultural reading is inclusive and intersectional, taking into account race, class, cultural background and, naturally, gender. The author herself describes her approach as “reading both along the lines of ‘traditions’ and across them” (3). Engaging in a dialogue with pro-inclusive theorists of South African literature, such as Ena Jansen or Michael Chapman, Robbe argues for one body of South African literature, while taking into account the differences along the possible axes of oppression. The main emphasis of the author’s reading is, as the title suggests, the notion of motherhood
in the broadest sense of the word, concentrating on “representations of experiences of
mothering” (4), while tracing the changes in mothering practices, such as childbirth, nurturing, childcare etc., or, as she mentions, the process of “remoulding motherhood” (15).

Die nuutste digbundel van Joan Hambidge lyk op die eerste oogopslag eklekties. Die bundel bevat '... more Die nuutste digbundel van Joan Hambidge lyk op die eerste oogopslag eklekties. Die bundel bevat 'n aantal dele waarvan die titels min samehang met mekaar vertoon. Daar is, nogal ongewoon vir 'n digbundel, baie illustrasies in die bundel. By die lees van die gedigte self is ons egter op bekende Hambidge-terrein.

Meet Esmeralda Hamman, the pathetic elderly white trash writer of slushy romances with a writer's... more Meet Esmeralda Hamman, the pathetic elderly white trash writer of slushy romances with a writer's block and issues with food and alcohol, and Sus Niemand, the just as pathetic teenage boervrou who gave birth to her first child at the age of fourteen and who is entangled in incestuous relationships with her father and brother. These are the two "armsalige hoofkarakters" of Gerda Taljaard's second novel Kelder. One stole her child from another woman and the other murdered hers -every single one of them.

Oproep vir bydrae vir 'n dubbele uitgawe van stilet.digital oor die huidige stand (die studie) va... more Oproep vir bydrae vir 'n dubbele uitgawe van stilet.digital oor die huidige stand (die studie) van Afrikaanse populêre romantiese fiksie en 'n herwardeering van die rol en impak van Cecilia Britz.

stilet.digital, 2021

This special issue will appear 25 years after the publication of Stilet 9(1) – then the first the... more This special issue will appear 25 years after the publication of Stilet 9(1) – then the first themed issue of a South African accredited journal dealing with popular fiction. Significantly, the issue followed on a full-day seminar in 1996 to which academics, publishers, authors of popular romance and readers were asked to participate. Such a ‘mixed’ method – up to that point unprecedented in Afrikaans literary analysis – went some way in de-stigmatising popular romance (both in the reader’s and in the academic’s mind). The date – two years into South Africa’s nascent democracy – is not incidental. Social change abounded in the years immediately following 1994, and a very definite post-1994 texture is today observable in both the social fabric and in cultural products such as popular romance.