Antjie Krog, Stephen Watson and the metaphysics of presence

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Periodical article

Title:	Antjie Krog, Stephen Watson and the metaphysics of presence
Author:	Wessels, Michael
Year:	2007
Periodical:	Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa
Volume:	19
Issue:	2
Pages:	24-48
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	poetry San literary criticism
About persons:	Anna Elizabeth Krog (1952-) Stephen Watson
Abstract:	In this paper the author explores some of the questions that follow from Stephen Watson's assertions that Antjie Krog's 'The stars say 'tsau'' (2004) exhibits elements of plagiarism. In particular, the author examines different conceptions of originality that can be identified in Watson and Krog's statements concerning the reworking of the /Xam materials into poetry. In Watson's opinion, Krog's adaptations in poetry of the /Xam materials are so close to W. Bleek and L. Lloyd's prose originals, mostly published in 'Specimens of Bushman Folkore' (1911), that they represent an illegitimate instance of borrowing. This charge implies that he sees his own volume of /Xam verse (1991) as original in its conception, which Krog disputes. The present author investigates the degree to which both Krog and Watson's writing on the /Xam displays an underlying assumption about origins and authenticity that accords with the 'metaphysics of presence' that Jacques Derrida (1976) claims underlies Western thought. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]