Slavernijromans als beginpunt voor een vergelijkend onderzoek tussen literatuur uit Zuid-Afrika en het Nederlands -Caribisch gebied

Despite huge differences between South Africa and the Caribbean, colonial Dutch influences are still highly visible in both areas, especially with regard to important cultural products such as language and memories of slavery. This article suggests that slave novels are an important starting point for comparative literary studies between these areas. A short description is given of the historical circumstances during the seventeenth century which lead to the formation of Dutch colonies in far flung southern and western parts of the globe. Against the background of insights from postmodern and postcolonial theories on historical novels as developed by Linda Hutcheon (1988) and Etienne van Heerden (1999), the article then explores a few slavery novels written by South African and Dutch-Caribbean authors in a comparative context.Inleidwing