Wittenberg, HermannDaffue, Samantha Leigh2024-09-162024-10-302024-09-162024-10-302023https://hdl.handle.net/10566/16430Masters of ArtThe aim of this study is to examine the concept and effect of framing in two postcolonial novels, Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee and Reputations by Juan Gabriel Vasquez. A frame can be defined as “[t]hat in which something, esp. a picture, pane of glass, etc., is set or let in, as in a border or case” (Oxford English Dictionary). It thus encloses, limits but also structures a particular point of view or way of seeing. The thesis will examine such conceptions of framing as devices that serve to isolate and foreground particular moments or scenes within the larger narrative. Specific instances of framing will be analysed in the two chosen novels. Disgrace is set in post-Apartheid South Africa, against a backdrop of the political transition. The story grapples with a literature professor’s challenges concerning his lack of insight and empathy, and at the centre is the question of gender-based violence. The analysis will focus on several moments of framing which allow insight into his limited point of view and his lack of empathetic engagement with others. Similarly, Reputations focuses on the life of an accomplished, middle-aged political cartoonist whose life comes to a standstill when past, private events intersect with his prosperous present in Bogota, Colombia. As these are both novels from the Global South, there are various degrees of comparison; however, this thesis will focus on framing, and how this literary technique brings pivotal moments to the forefront.enFramingVisualityParergonCompartmentalisationGabriel VasquezThesisUniversity of the Western Cape