‘Historiese improvisasie’: Verhalende geschiedschrijving in de roman Skepelinge. Aanloop tot ‘n roman (2017) van Karel Schoeman

Abstract

Karel Schoeman’s fictional historiography Skepelinge. Aanloop tot ‘n roman (2017) offers an alternative representation of the early colonial history at Cape of Good Hope with its pronounced emphasis on marginalized individuals or groups and unrealized social potentials of the (hybridized) colonial society. By activating forgotten or concealed narratives and alternative visions of history and by writing from the position of historical ‘losers’, the text also contains an anti-colonial potential and reveals a constant ideological struggle in the historiographical representations. The novel therefore fits into the postapartheid literary trend of rewriting (national) history, parodizing canonical texts and criticizing the ideological strongholds of Afrikaner nationalism.