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Centrifugal Force: Some Remarks on Vagrants in Three Texts by Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach

Summary In her various novels, Afrikaans author Lettie Viljoen (pseudonym of Ingrid Winterbach) uses a large array of characters that could be described as marginal. These characters contrast strongly with the focaliser(s) in each text and in this way help to highlight the social differences caused by apartheid and the toll it took on both the haves and the have-nots. The struggle between the centre and those living at the margins – and particularly the manner in which the centre tries to co-opt or erase the margin – therefore becomes important. Viljoen/Winterbach also puts fewer and fewer words in the vagrant characters’ mouths, paradoxically silencing them to prevent herself from becoming a spokesperson for the marginalised. All of the above will be demonstrated in an analysis of three texts by Viljoen/Winterbach: Klaaglied vir Koos ([1984]1987), Erf (1986) and Buller se plan (1999).