In remembrance of Michael Wessels

This article avers that just as Bleek and Lloyd's research on ‘Bushman voices’ has the potential to enrich South African literature so does Wessels's study, Bushman Letters: Interpreting |Xam Narrative. A meta-critical account of ‘Bushman Studies’, Wessels provokes discussion on what might constitute Bushman expression, where and when it arose, how it has travelled to us, and what it might mean. Is it ‘usable’? The question, in turn, raises contention about the translation of the oral voice, appropriation, and the reworking of texts. Is Bushman expression confined to a locality or has it a wider purchase? Wessels invokes a range of response from Propp's morphology of folktale to Derrida's metaphysics of presence.

My literary history, Southern African Literatures, begins with “Bushman (San) Songs and Stories”. In the light of this, I acknowledge Michael Wessels's contribution to literary studies.

纪念迈克尔·韦塞尔斯

本文认为，正如 Bleek 和 Lloyd 对“布什曼之声”的研究具有丰富南非文学的潜力，Wessels 的研究《布什曼来信：解释 | Xam Narrative》也是如此。作为对“布须曼人研究”的元批判性描述，韦塞尔斯引发了关于什么可能构成布须曼人的表达、它出现的地点和时间、它如何传播给我们以及它可能意味着什么的讨论。它“可用”吗？反过来，这个问题引发了关于口语翻译、挪用和文本改写的争论。布须曼人的表达仅限于一个地方还是有更广泛的购买？韦塞尔斯援引了从普罗普的民间故事形态到德里达的在场形而上学的一系列回应。

我的文学史，南部非洲文学，始于“丛林人（桑）歌曲和故事”。有鉴于此，我感谢迈克尔·韦塞尔斯对文学研究的贡献。