A Narrative Discourse Analysis of Herman Charles Bosmans' Short Story 'Mafeking Road' (1932)

By Hildegard Schnell

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.0, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: South African Cultural Studies, language: English, abstract: In his current popularity, Herman Charles Bosman has come to be viewed as something of an "eternal artist" figure, conveying "marvellous home-truths for all men" (Gray 1977:79). But the truth about the later Bosman is that he became a writer who had a scrupulous, instant understanding with each passing day and each yard of newspaper that underwent his professional scrutiny. Stephen Gray suggests "that he Bosman] meant himself to be taken as ...] a commentator, a newspaper columnist, whose medium happened to be fiction" thus drawing attention to the underlying truths of South Africa (ibid.). By debunking the myth of Boer bravery during the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) in his short story "Mafeking Road", Bosman touches upon a subtle theme extant amongst the Boer community, namely extreme Afrikaner patriotism (Wenzel 1999:109-110).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3640506219
• ISBN13: 9783640506217
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Grin Verlag
• Length: 28 Pages
• Weight: 0.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 5.8" x 8.3"