Antjie Krog, Stephen Watson and the Metaphysics of Presence

Abstract

In this paper I explore some of the questions that follow from Stephen Watson's assertions that Antjie Krog's the stars say ‘tsau' exhibits elements of plagiarism. In particular, I examine different conceptions of originality that can be identified in Watson and Krog's statements concerning the reworking of the /Xam materials into poetry. I investigate the degree to which both Krog and Watson's writing on the /Xam displays an underlying
assumption about origins and authenticity that accords with the “metaphysics of presence”, delineated and analysed by Jacques Derrida in Of Grammatology (1976).

Current Writing Vol. 19 (2) 2007: pp. 24-28