'n Verwaarloosde faset van D.F. Malherbe se nalatenskap: Kuns - selfstandig en afhankiik Translated title: A neglected facet of the legacy of D.F. Malherbe: Art - independent and dependent

Abstract

Gedurende sy studie in Freiburg, Duitsland, moes Malherbe ook filosofie studeer. Sedert die laat sewentigerjare organiseer die Universiteit van die Vrystaat jaarliks 'n D.F. Malherbegedenklesing oor een of ander aspek van die nalatenskap van Malherbe - meestal gefokus op sy literêre werk, maar soms ook oor sy kompetensie as taalkundige. Aanvanklik het hy, in sy siening van kuns en die estetiese, die opvatting verdedig dat die kunstenaar "vry" is in die sin van nie-gebonde-wees aan estetiese norme en beginsels nie. Nogtans het gesprekke met sy skoonseun, Herman Strauss, ná sy aftrede hom in kontak gebring met die nuwe reformatoriese wysbegeerte aan die Vrye Universiteit van Amsterdam (Dooyeweerd en Vollenhoven). Dit het tot 'n radikale paradigmaskuif in sy teoretiese verstaan van die werklikheid en van kuns en die estetiese aanleiding gegee. In hierdie artikel word sy siening van die (on)afhanklikheid van kuns en die estetiese na vore gebring teen die agtergrond van beskouings waarin die sin van die estetiese versteur word, deur dit diensbaar te maak aan iets wat nie-esteties is en van 'n siening wat die estetiese tot 'n selfgenoegsame vesting verhef waar die "siel" rus en geluksaligheid kan beleef. Malherbe ontwikkel n analise van basiese estetiese beginsels soos dit gereflekteer word in die samehang tussen die estetiese en nie-estetiese aspekte van die werklikheid. Die breër konteks van sy denke is ingebed in die ideaal van Christelike wetenskap in alle dissiplines.

Translated abstract

During his studies in Freiburg, Germany Malherbe also had to study philosophy and its history. Since the late seventies the University of the Free State organises an annual commemorative lecture on some or other aspect of the legacy of Malherbe - mostly focused on his literary work and sometimes also on his competence as a linguistic scholar. Initially he adhered, in his view of art and the aesthetic, to the idea that the artist is "free" in the sense of not being bound to aesthetic norms or principles. However, after his retirement discussions with his son-in-law, Herman Strauss, brought him into contact with the new reformational philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam (Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven). This caused a radical paradigm-shift in his theoretical understanding of reality and in his view of art and the aesthetic. In this article his view of the (in)dependence of art and the aesthetic is presented against the background of views in which the meaning of the aesthetic is distorted by making it serviceable to something non-aesthetic and of a view which elevated the aesthetic into a self-contained haven where the "soul" can experience "rest and bliss". Malherbe provided an analysis of basic aesthetic principles as they reflect the coherence between the aesthetic and non-aesthetic aspects of reality. His broader orientation is embedded in the ideal of Christian scholarship within all the disciplines.