Abstract
La Superba, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s fourth novel, appeared in 2013 and has since been translated into several languages. The novel focuses on the migrant issue and outlines the unenviable position in which migrants find themselves in host countries. A different cultural framework, a different way of life and the refusal of host countries to make room for strangers and newcomers leave migrants distraught, lonely and without human dignity in host countries.
The aim of this article is to establish how Pfeijffer uses mise-en-abyme in Die mooiste meisie van Genua, the Afrikaans translation of La Superba in 2019) to confront the modern man anew, not only with the social value system of the community in which he finds himself, but also with his own existential and identity crisis.
The nouveau roman, a movement that developed in France during the 1950s, serves as the theoretical framework for this investigation. The proponents of the nouveau roman wanted to challenge the traditional representation in literary texts by striving to do away with pre-internalised ideals and/or ideologies such as political, religious, and/or aesthetic, among others. They specifically held it against a model that saw the text as a contained, autonomous entity, presented according to a predictable style and form that lead to an inflexible, spelled-out meaning. Stylistically different approaches were followed, but as a common denominator the traditional use of chronology, time and space, cause and effect, plot and character, as well as the omniscient narrator was rejected. The nouveau roman therefore wants to move away from a realistic depiction of reality in literary texts and rather concentrate on one’s own private consciousness and personal observation through conscious participation and self-reflexivity or introspection. Therefore, the narration in the nouveau roman is always in the first person.
The process, the writing action through which the text comes into being, is emphasised above the text as a work of art (Smyth 1991:67; Lawlor 1985:828). The form of the literary text has to reflect the changing perception of reality as fragmentary and interruptive. The narrative perspective constantly changes and what remains of the plot is subject to constant fragmentation, instability, multiplicity, evasion, indeterminacy and ineffability. In other words, the text itself must reflect the dehumanisation and alienation of man in modern society (Smyth 1991:59). That Pheiffer finds connection with this premise is reflected by his references to the texts of James Joyce (132) and Kafka (169, 205) in the text.
Mise-en-abyme, one of the most important characteristics of the nouveau roman, was coined by André Gide in 1893 following the heraldic technique in which a smaller scale of a coat of arms’ emblem and contours are repeated successively within one another; a reflection of a reflection; images within images (Bokody 2015:14). In Western art history, mise-en-abyme has been used in paintings, where an image in the painting contains a smaller identical version of the depicted scene, or when a scene that is not visible to the viewer of the painting due to a limiting line of sight may be part of the scene in the painting.
In literary texts, mise-en-abyme functions as an independent insertion (a story within the main narrative) through different narrative agencies and from different perspectives than those in the main text. It reflects part or all of the main narrative either implicitly or explicitly as a reflexive element. Not only must there be a similarity between the content of the main narrative and the mise-en-abyme, but also a relationship (analogy) between the experience(s) of the character(s) and those of the narrator in the mise-en-abyme. Mise-en-abyme can also be duplications of each other. These duplication(s) can occur alternately or consecutively in the main text, as long as each mise-en-abyme forms an independent unit within the main text (Dällenbach 1989:36).
As a duplication of a part(s) of the main narrative, mise-en-abyme figures only at the level of the characters and in no way represents a personal intervention or comment by the author. The duplication process allows the author to confront his characters with their own situation, but within the text where they react on their own level, thus strengthening the theme through multiple perspectives. The main objective is that the reader should be confronted with different perspectives on the events and/or experiences in the main text.
Another characteristic of the nouveau roman is the structuring of the storyline/intrigue/plot through the use of a myth, usually from classical literature (Morrissette 1970:157). This myth can either be implicitly hidden in the text or openly mentioned through references to and/or statements of characters in the novel. Because mythical stories carry with them a rich field of connotation, are not time-bound, and find application in different moments and in a variety of cultures, they are often used in literary texts as a mirror against which modern man’s existence is reflected (Van Coller 2022:7). Myths also suggest a similar, perhaps less conspicuous tool, namely inner duplication (Dällenbach 1989:7). These duplication models, as well as mythical parallels, complement the reader’s interpretation of the characters on a level that would not otherwise be possible. It offers a new way to navigate through different life experiences and reflect on one’s place in the world. The meaning varies depending on time and place and is always reinterpreted in changed social circumstances. The interpretation of mythological references in literary texts has never been finalised, a factor that is closely linked to the nouveau roman’s call that literary texts must be reread and interpreted anew in changing circumstances.
Pfeijffer uses mise-en-abyme as a technique in his novel to focus anew on the ever-increasing problems surrounding the migrant issue worldwide. By means of this technique, a backdrop is created against which self-reflection can and should take place. The psychological state and personal disillusionment of migrants are highlighted with concrete examples. By means of similarities between the experiences as expressed in the novel under discussion, a relationship is created on a deep psychological level between the narrator-writer and his story in the main narrative and that of the character(s) as independent narrative entities of their respective stories in the mise-en-abyme.
The interpretation of texts in which mise-en abyme is used is challenging, because the text on offer is an amalgamation of different stories from the perspective of different focalisers. In addition, the text is also a fragmented version of the narrator’s personal consciousness. This fragmentation and interruption of the discourse give rise to open spaces, contradictions, improbabilities, fabrications, fantasies, flights of imagination and ambiguities. Instead of an author who checks the reality of the world against which his story takes place through a particular assigned meaning, readers must place what is presented in the text against a self-experienced reality (Robbe-Grillet 1965:23). The responsibility for the abstraction of concrete events, experiences and experiences of the characters is transferred to the reader of the novel as an active cocreator of the text. Readers are forced to interpret the text on their own terms and with reference to their own value system, cultural orientation and field of experience. Armed with increasing life experience and new insights, the intention is that established customs and views as embedded in a particular value system will be reconsidered, confirmed or changed (Robbe-Grillet 1965:22). This approach is in line with the objective of the founders of the nouveau roman that readers’ expectations about the nature and function of literature must be challenged and changed.
It appears that modern individuals are so caught up in their own personal realities and an excess of social media interaction that they no longer find the time to read. The socio-social message of literary texts therefore does not reach the target audience. Consequently, members of the community are no longer exposed to changing circumstances against which internalised rituals, customs and ways of life must be weighed and changes made to one’s own value system in a changing world. This approach leads to destructive consequences for the individual and the wider social community in which he/she finds himself/herself.
Keywords: interpretation; migrants; migrant literature (novel); mise-en-abyme; nouveau roman; reader’s role; reflexivity; renewal; the function of literature; value system