Die vroulike as kode in die oeuvre van T.T. Cloete : 'n intratekstuele studie

Proefskrif (PhD (Afrikaans en Nederlands)) PU vir CHO, 1997.This research is prompted by the wealth of feminine figurations and the complex intratextual relations between feminine figurations in the poetry of T.T. Cloete as depicted in the volumes Angelliera, Jukstaposisie, Allotroop, Idiolek, Driepas and Met die aarde praat. The aim is to investigate the validity of the statement that these feminine figurations constitute a central code in Cloete's poetry. More specific objectives are to expound the complexity of feminine figurations by considering the coding of feminine figurations; to analyse the coding of non-human entities as feminine; to use the psychoanalytic theory of C.G. Jung as an approach to form a conclusion on the nature and meaning of the feminine code in the oeuvre. These perspectives confirm intratextual relations between certain poems and feminine figurations. The aim is not to present new literary theoretical views, but various theoretical approaches (e.g. semiotic, structural) have been integrated into a personal argument. As starting point theoretical concepts like literary genre, code, intratextuality, intertextuality, presentation of the feminine in literature, as well as the unique presentation of femininity in some of the poems of Cloete are dealt with. A priori is the conviction that the text is the result of the co-existence of many codes. No text can exist in isolation – a fact that is self-evident when we come to terms with intertextuality as defined by Kristeva and the Bakhtin group. Intratextuality, within the broader perspective of intertextuality, refers to the relation between earlier and later poems (texts) of a specific poet. The unique presentation of the feminine in some poems includes figurations from all spectra of feminine life, for example the young girl, the adult woman, the spouse, the sexually deprived, the fulfilled, the physically perfect but also mortal woman. The feminine code is further complicated because other non-human objects and phenomena like a town, a home, trees, water, earth, heaven, music, destruction and creation are depicted as [+ feminine). The complex presentation of the feminine confirms a central theme in the poetry of Cloete: the depiction of unity in multiplicity. The literary subject strives towards integration with as many life forms as possible through dissolution of the self, which is masculine. This is the key for gaining further insight into or to be enlightened on his own being and the cosmos of God. In "his" search, the feminine is one of the many ways in which the poet looks for a deeper in sight into being or existence or the whole or the wonderful creation of God. The presence of many voices in the text creates the possibility of using psychoanalytic insights of Jung as an intertextual reading perspective. A process of individuation in striving to be part of the whole can be identified in the analysis of certain poems. This process comprises reconciliation of opposites - masculine versus feminine - in reaching an integrated self. The link between eye, "I", earth, heaven and the feminine is explained by means of the intratextual sign[+ round]. Everything God created forms a microloop on its own, but together it links into what I would like to call the macroloop of God's creation. All things forming the macroloop are linked because they were created by the same Hand. This again emphasises the theme of unity in multiplicity . The feminine figurations also form a microloop within the macroloop of God's creation. The most important conclusion regarding the unique presentation of the feminine is that masculinity and femininity are supplementary to each other. In the integration of these opposite sides as depicted in "uniseks" (Allotroop: 55) a broader perspective on life is expounded. There is no doubt that the feminine code forms an important code in the poetry of T.T. Cloete.Doctora