A polysystemic approach to the analysis of B.M. Khaketla's dramas Tholoana tsa sethepu and Bulane

Abstract

In recent times scholars like Even-Zohar (1980), José Lambert (1985), Albert Gérard (1971) and others have found that text analysis alone cannot give the full picture and is, in fact, very inadequate, the main objection being that it tends to narrow the critic's perspective. In this article an attempt is made to show, in accordance with the broader perspectives of the poly system theory, the interaction between the Sesotho literary system, as exemplified by two of Khaketla's dramas, and Shakespeare's works; as well as between the literature and the socio-political circumstances of the times. Attention will be focussed considerably on Shakespeare's works as a model, thereby pointing to clear English-Sesotho intersystemic exchanges.