Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

wolnen' has cxetnplary status (llaymond I996
L,eavis' sliding of critic and artist into one co~nposite figure in Fov C'ontin~~ily (
all act of transference resliapes Fleait, as an ol~tsidcr interpreting a I-ural Bots
community, in the image ofIhc sensitive acad
of a colnlnoll11~1nanit): or obligations, and t
a ~ reader ~ d effectively cuts [tie subject offfrorn the forces that determine it.
Barbara Bobven, the IJ.S. series editor of South Afviccrn ~enzjnisrns'
concludes her overview of scholarship in the immediate post-apartheid years b
echoing the theme of developing equity:
Black women's autobiographies, oral literature, and ritual narrative come
under djscnssion here, not just as rich textual performances but as conlplex
nlediations between black and white women, between State power and
traditional patriarchy (Bowen 1996:xi).
Texts are conceived as 'complex mediation
discours, is the enabling site where these e
between State power and traditional pat
foml of these positions inside and outs
conception of the institution as an open netwo
" Isahel Hofineyr (1992) has cautioned against the 'vague and ailistorical' approach of m
feminist literary studies. Nadine Gordimer (1983
~ljstoricisatioll of categories within humanis
'swallow this (old) view ofgenius as aclass-d
lecturer at annetlrnic" university for South African In
~ofIlieyr's work on oral tradition without
norl^ilalivc and allistorical South African English lit
licid of African studies.
'" Sol,t/lt?fujcall I;emi,2ismLy was enthusiastically
s,+,,dirs 1997~23.4 (677-679) by Anthony O'Rrien
York. Interestingly O'Brien is thc partner ofBowen.
" I ; wilcn ~ rciationships ~ ~ of power within pedagogy are ackno~\iledgc(j literature rcma'
facilitator rccipl.ocity: 'vrl~rouglr exposure to alternative views illld by tlcveloping the s
sci,u,,.cd to &i:ni[ a vielvpoirlt allti Lo ~.ccognisc good reasons 10 cil:ingc one's mind \V
,,ccessalT. stucients arc intiucted -as SLIII participaitts---iii(o t11~ ilrcna oi'col~~~~e~ing ideas a
;,l,lc.;. ~(-T;,rLlsi I c)").:';?). -l.llc conticluit): ol'this hegcmociic. moi-alistic virlv ofiilcl-atl~l-e
ti,i. l,ced lo luoi!ib 1lor-). Rynn.5 (1')98:22) claim tliat. \.viilrii~ literal-) studies. ti1cl.c is
cl,llsi:nsLls. . i\ccp-sti.~lcturc ass~i~nptioii hinciit-tgall praclitio~lcl-s'.
A vision of the university as the facilitator of mutual recognition between
ose within and beyond the institution, a means or instrument to mediate the transition
a new sense of citizenship, is shared by literary academics at the metropole and in