Manifestasies van die liefde in Langsaan die vuur (A. H. M. Scholtz)

Résumé

This article focuses on the manifestations of love in A. H. M. Scholtz’s volume of short stories Langsaan die vuur (“Next to the fire”,1996). The symbolical implications of the title in this regard are being investigated. A close look is then taken at love and / or the lack of it as a trait of as well as a driving force behind the behaviour of each character in the five short stories. Motives in this respect are inter alia: racism as a cause of lovelessness, love across ethnic barriers, jealousy as a generator of hatred, the human being as mere possession, motherly love, love within marriage, hatred as a result of projected frustration, erotic love, God as the source of true love, lack of love within the church and Christian community, the relationship between being treated with love and self esteem, emotional pain as a result of being treated in a loveless way, the willingness and/ or the ability to forgive, characters as pure manifestations of love or hatred as well as on occasion paradoxical combinations of both, spaces of love and of uncharitableness.