Abstract
M.A. (Afrikaans)
The literary expertise of the laureate novelist Louis Kruger is implicated when
most reviews of his penultimate novel- Gevaarlike land (1990) - are extremely
negative, though at the same time relativised by the single positive reviews.
Kruger's stature as an important Afrikaans novelist- three of his works were
awarded and four were translated into Dutch - justifies an inquiry into these
evaluating differences. I start my inquiry by giving a comprehensive conception
of the historical reception profile of Gevaarlike land. From this it is evident that
the negative verdicts are characterised by a lack of text based motivation. The
strong influence of the first review on the subsequent ones is evident. The
positive reviews emphasise the misleading character of the novel's structure by
its ironic narration.
On these grounds I put the following hypothesis forward: the difference in
evaluation can be traced back to the tone of narration. The attitude and tone in
which the narrative text needs to be read, is in a non-literal sense because of the
strong ironic element.
I make use of the speech act theory to decode the tone of narration in Gevaarlike
land. The functionality of the composition of the novel that consists of a preface,
a frame narrative and an inside account will be discussed. The tone of narration
is analysed by way of a detailed analysis of the narrative situation.