A Curious Thought About Duiker
This is a letter I wrote to my Professor Herman Wittenberg after I had a burst of inspiration about K Sello Duiker my favourite South African novelist. I think its worth sharing.
Dear Hermann,
I hope that you are doing well. If you remember our discussion I was a bit torn about which course to take as I move forward with my academic career. I chose to do a creative prose essay with Meg Van Der Merwe this year. However, whilst participating in the research essay workshop I found an article on a Journal called ‘DREAMS, SEXUALITY AND FANTASY: A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF K. SELLO DUIKER’S NOVELS.’
K. Sello Duiker is my favourite South African writer and whilst reading this I read a passage citing his influences as Bessie Head and Dambudzo Marechera.
‘“At university I discovered the fiery works of enfant terrible Dambudzo Marechera and fellow soul Bessie Head. I was never the same again. They both inspired me to start writing fiction.” — K Sello Duiker
This idea of influence made me think about the task Meg set for me in our process of writing a short ghost story based on someone’s actual experience. Meg made a comment about important it is for our stories to be based on our root environment as opposed to us looking to the West. This made me think about the fantasy element in Duiker’s novels and perhaps his literary influences other books that use magic realism like Ben Okri`s The Famished Road.
I am interested in how these writers have all used the idea of mental illness plus African spirituality in the process of world-building the fantasy element in their works. I think research in this would help me with my own writing for my creative research essay and also for my Masters because I intend to produce a work of fiction making use of these literary influences.
My request is that perhaps you could supervise me in writing a research essay that would be all required standards for publication or the Honours criteria but would an audit. I understand that you do have other students so time might be a factor, but I also belief this process would be an important component for my writing career. Please let me know your thoughts.
Best regards,
Lukho Witbooi
