Journeys from the horizons of history: Text, trial and tales in the construction of narratives of pain
Loading...
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Southern African Literature and Culture Centre, UKZN
Abstract
This article draws
inspiration from Jauss's theorisation of the concepts of horizon, reception, and
construction. The problem we confront relates to the way we receive, interpret,
and apply texts without cognisance of the ways our horizons advance, limit, and
intersect with a multiplicity of meanings that might not have been foreseen by
the text's contemporaries. What are the distances between public encounters
with the past on the one hand, and on the other the testimonies heard by the
Commission or readings of trauma offered by social scientists and historians?
In this paper we wish to offer a tentative response to this question by reflecting
on various readings of the trial of Andrew Zondo and the public testimony of
Lephina Zondo at the TRC. We are interested in the ways in which truths, and
histories, are produced "by virtue of multiple forms of constraint".
Description
Keywords
South Africa, Interpretation of texts, Zondo, Andrew, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Historical evidence
Citation
Lalu, P. & Harris, B. (1996). Journeys from the horizons of history: Text, trial and tales in the construction of narratives of pain. Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 8 (2): 24-38