‘n Psigoanalitiese perspektief op geselekteerde Afrikaanse dramatekste van Reza de Wet.

Abstract

The focus of Reza de Wet‟s dramas is the dream: the dream as nightmare and constraint, but also the dream as lyrical wish. The metaphysical worlds of the characters in her dramas are far richer and less restricted than those of other playwrights of the twentieth century. De Wet posesses the talent to take the extraordinary and make it a reality for her audience – she is able to portray the things that are viewed as being taboo by society and in this way forces her audience to accept “reality”. The actions in the dramas sometimes come accross as being so grotesque and surrealistic that the audience has no other choice but to view it as a bad dream – reality possesses nightmare qualities. Dreams as one of the main themes in Reza de Wet‟s works are important, because it represents liberation. In the case of De Wet‟s dramas this liberations is personified by the „tall, dark stranger‟ that continuously swoops in to save the young girl from her straitened circumstances. Dreams, and the ways in which they express hidden feelings and wishes of the unconscious, are also one of the main themes in De Wet‟s Afrikaans dramas. In this psychoanalytic reserach, the dream remains central. Psychoanalysis is used to interpret the literature. Psychoanalytical literature critique is the application of a specific psychologic principle on the study of literature, in particular the works of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Jacques Lacan. It has been determined that psychoanalytical literature critique focuses on the psyche of the writer, the study of the creative process, the presence of psychologic principle within the literature as well as the effect of the literature on the reader. The question that is now posed is whether psychoanalysis is a central theme of Reza de Wet‟s Afrikaans dramas and in which way the dramas can be read in a psychoanalytical way.