Journal Article

THE TRAGIC AND THE COMIC: SELLO DUIKER'S AND NIQ MHLONGO'S CONTRASTING VISIONS OF POST-APARTHEID SOCIETY

Tsehloane, Thabo

2010

Overview

According to Gqola (2009) this 'masculinist spectacle' is described as follows: 'By masculinist spectacle I refer to the hypervisible, and self-authorising performance of patriarchal masculinity in public spaces, where such performance hints at masculine violence or a contest between forms of manhood' (Gqola, 64). [...]the narrative paradigms and literary forms chosen and used in these narratives are linked and connected to the particular ideological conception of the world. [...]tragedy seeks to grasp the soul in its vision of the real beyond the surface issues of social status and practical utility. Mhlongo seems thus to be validating what Henri Bergson has said about the prerequisite of a comic effect: \"To produce the whole of its effect, then, the comic demands something like a momentary anesthesia of the heart\" (63-64). [...]for the comic effect to be functional, human affairs should be portrayed with unruffled indifference and minimal emotional involvement as Mhlongo is doing in this narrative.

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group,Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subject: Duiker, K Sello / Literary criticism / Masculinity / Mhlongo, Niq / Narrative techniques / Patriarchy / Post-apartheid era / Violence