“Taal moet weerstand bied”: ’n Verkenning van Niggie

Résumé

A literary analysis is done of Ingrid Winterbach’s novel Niggie [“Cousin”], with specific focus on the nature and function of Anglo-Boer War material in Winterbach’s text. This novel has a profound effect on the reader a century after the war, because it addresses postcolonial issues and predicaments such as a defragmenting identity, as well as the possible demise of the Afrikaans language and culture, faced by the descendants of those involved in the war a century ago. This article focuses on the use of language, the plot, characters and their well-chosen names, motifs and themes, crossing of taboo borders and the juxtaposition of the past and the present.