IntroductionAfrikaans is spoken across all ethnic, class, and social sectors of South African soc... more IntroductionAfrikaans is spoken across all ethnic, class, and social sectors of South African society with presently more than sixty percent of its first-language speakers classified broadly as black.* 1 However, sincethe beginning of the twentieth century, white writers, aided by accommodative political, economic, educational, and media systems, have dominated its literary processes. By the 1950s, only a handful of non-white writers, mainly young university-educated teachers, had published in Afrikaans. One of them is Adam Small (b. 1936), a brilliant student who published his first collection, Verse van die liefde (Love poems), in 1957, while completing a Master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. Small was born in Wellington, a small town in a wine-producing region, colloquially known as the Boland, about seventy kilometres northeast of Cape Town. He is the firstborn of a teacher, a Dutch Reformed Protestant, and a Muslim woman of partIndian extraction. He spent his early youth on a farm hamlet, Goree, about 160 kilometres east of Cape Town and completed his schooling at a Catholic high school in the city. Although Small grew up in an Afrikaans environment, he completed most of his education in English. Following the completion of his Master's studies, he taught philosophy at the Universities of Fort Hare and the Western Cape.Even though he has written essays and longer fiction, Small is best known for his poetry and plays. He has gained wide recognition in Afrikaans literary circles with his third and fourth collections of poetry, Kitaar my kruis (Guitar my cross, 1962) and Se Sjibbo/et (Say Shibbolleth, 1963). His first play, Kanna, by ko hystoe (Kanna, he is coming home, 1965), created the memorable figure of Makiet, a long-suffering, resilient woman of modest means trying to keep her family together amidst an increasingly predatory environment. Small also introduced several imaginative dramatic techniques resulting in Kanna, hy ko hystoe's being considered one of the foremost Afrikaans and South African plays. Although he was educated in English, Small's primary linguistic identification is with Afrikaans and an encompassing Afrikaans culture, a relationship that has been fraught with contradictions and deeply felt emotion.* 2 His initial works were produced in the standard Afrikaans variety, but he found his niche when he wrote his poetry and plays in the language's Cape vernacular, the Cape Peninsula urban-working-class variety, colloquially known as Kaaps. His subject-matter subsequently changed from its contem plative, philosophical, and youthful orientation to gritty, socio-politically committed writing foregrounding the plight of the urban poor - particularly the Coloured poor - and the dispossessed and marginalized.The Orange Earth is discussed here as a fictionalized autobiographical account in which Small reflects on the impact of apartheid, creating a counternarrative of a marginalized life during that political system. The concepts of autobiography and counter-memory are briefly introduced in the next section, followed by a section on the Afrikaansness of the main character, Johnny Adams, the fictionalized alter ego of the author, and the cultural and linguistic relationship between Coloured and white Afrikaans-speaking people. Thereafter, the intersection between language, religion, memory, and violence is explored. It is argued inter alia that Small's choice of English as a language of literary expression could be interpreted as a counter-discourse on cultural disaffection and political disillusionment, just as his option of urban violence as a solution to apartheid, his "cry for citizenship," amounts to a desperate act rather than one of revolutionary violence. Actions and activities that may have been regarded as trivial and personal become political in the play. In the context of the autobiography as genre, The Orange Earth becomes an act of writing against forgetfulness. …
D avid's Story tells the story of the former guerilla fighter David Dirkse; Sally, his wife; the ... more D avid's Story tells the story of the former guerilla fighter David Dirkse; Sally, his wife; the enigmatic and physically powerful Dulcie, David's comrade and suspected lover. All along, the struggle was his life and now, after the release of Nelson Mandela and the dawn of the freedom Dirkse fought for, the main character finds himself in a difficult situation. His name is circulated on a hit list of uncertain origin. With this imminent threat and in fulfilment of his need for historical representation he tells his story to an unnamed woman writer. Dirkse and his narrator explore his identity as a coloured person (a person of mixed heritage) and his roots in the Griqua community. The peculiar ideas of Andrew Le Fleur, the founder-culture broker of Griqua identity, resonate in Dirkse's search for his place in the new, postapartheid South Africa. The novel has a fragmentary, postmodernist structure with a complexity of historical tales, imaginary relationships, and a mixture of historical and fictional characters who represent the ambiguities of racial identities and political and social life in South Africa. I've found David's Story a most complex and multi-faceted book. I had to keep my wits about me to tie all your story lines together. I thought it was marvelous. .. . Other people said to me that the book was complex and that worries me a bit. .. . You probably remember the tradition of the Black Aesthetic-writing black-in America? I wondered whether this was a new attempt at "writing black" in South Africa? Not consciously. I certainly didn't set out with a project like that in mindno, not consciously at all. I tell you it was all I could do. People ask me, "Why did you choose this structure?" I didn't choose it. It was all I could do, because the problem came once I decided to have a dual time frame. That's how I've negotiated it. The fact that this novel has a complicated structure undermines the notion of an uncomplicated, straightforward chronological tale often employed by black South African novelists. No, I don't think that is what I set out to do. I didn't set out to do it. In fact, I have to say that I do now wonder if I'm capable of writing a linear, chronological novel and perhaps it's because I'm not capable of doing it. Perhaps that was easier. Because the story is by nature an incomplete story, it can't be told.
... Kryglustig, kuis en skoon soos Artemis, knak ek my voor geen swakkeling-tiran: die hoefslag v... more ... Kryglustig, kuis en skoon soos Artemis, knak ek my voor geen swakkeling-tiran: die hoefslag van my hart word nooit gesus deur flou en slinkse luste van 'n man. ("Amasone" [Amazon] in Die helder halfiaar [The Clear Half Year] 26) ...
David Kramer and Taliep Petersen's Ghoema (2005) tells the story of slavery at the Cape of Go... more David Kramer and Taliep Petersen's Ghoema (2005) tells the story of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope. The musical "writes back" with respect to early Afrikaans music and regards Cape culture as "a history of the ghoema". The drum - the ghoema - becomes the symbol of persistence and creativity of those held in bondage at the Cape. The article is structured around a short introduction on South African identities, followed by theoretical insights with respect to creolisation as formulated by the identity theoretician Edouard Glissant and concluded with an illustrative discussion of the musical.
in die Klein-Karoo, in Ladismith, Kaap gebore. Hy ontvang sy laerskool en sekondere skoolopleidin... more in die Klein-Karoo, in Ladismith, Kaap gebore. Hy ontvang sy laerskool en sekondere skoolopleiding op Mosselbaai en Worcester. Hy voltooi daarna voorgraadse regstudies aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland. Aan dieselfde inrigting verwerf hy met lof sy nagraadse kwalifikasies in die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Sy doktorale proefskrif is getiteld "Dialogie in die Afrikaanse Letterkunde met toespitsing op geselekteerde swart Afrikaanse skrywers". Sedertdien het hy 'n bestuurskwalifikasie aan die Skiereilandse Technikon en 'n meestersgraad in Bestuursleiding aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika verwerf.
Hierdie artikel is 'n hersiene weergawe van 'n voordrag gelewer op uitnodiging tydens die S. V. P... more Hierdie artikel is 'n hersiene weergawe van 'n voordrag gelewer op uitnodiging tydens die S. V. Petersen-simposium aangebied deur die Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands. Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland, Bellville op 5 November 2010. My dank aan die organiseerders vir hul gul ontvangs en puik reëlings.
Wanneer die naam Robert McBride genoem word, kan 'n mens seker wees die onderliggende verdeli... more Wanneer die naam Robert McBride genoem word, kan 'n mens seker wees die onderliggende verdelings in die Suid-Afrika blootgele sal word.
Ek was jonk toe ek die eerste keer in ons dorpsbiblioteek op Boesmanstories versamel deur G.R. vo... more Ek was jonk toe ek die eerste keer in ons dorpsbiblioteek op Boesmanstories versamel deur G.R. von Wielligh, afgekom het. Die vier gehawende boekies was met kleeflint reggemaak en blaaie het makeer. Die vreemde stories het my bekoor en 'n durende fassinasie met oerverskynsels, -gebruike en -gewoontes gevestig: die vreemde naam vir 'n Hottentotsgot, die boeiende verklarings vir reen en wolke, of die waterslang met die blink steen op die voorkop. Dit is eers jare later dat ek agtergekom het dat die verslete storieboeke op die kinderboekrakke eintlik onder religie, skeppingsverhale of inheemse literatuur tuishoort. Hierdie stories was meer as net vreemde verklarings vir bekende dinge; totale geesteswerelde en lokale kosmologiee is daarin opgesluit.
Voor ek vergeet, Andre P. Brink se jongste roman, word ingeklee as 'n bieg- en herrinneringsg... more Voor ek vergeet, Andre P. Brink se jongste roman, word ingeklee as 'n bieg- en herrinneringsgeskrif.
Adam Small het op 21 Desember 2011 sy vyf-en-sewentigste verjaardag gevier. Ter afwagting van hie... more Adam Small het op 21 Desember 2011 sy vyf-en-sewentigste verjaardag gevier. Ter afwagting van hierdie geleentheid het die Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland (UWK) in samewerking met Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 'n simposium met die titel "Adam Small: sy lewe en werk" op Vrydag, 7 Oktober 2011 aangebied. In die loop van sy lewe as 'n skrywer en akademikus was Small aan beide die UWK en Tydskrif vir Letterkunde verbonde. Die universiteit is in 1960 te midde van groot politieke omstredenheid opgerig en Small was aanvanklik die enigste swart lektor. In 1973 bedank hy sy pos as senior lektor in Wysbegeerte in simpatie met studente-eise vir 'n aanneemliker onderrigbedeling op die UWK-kampus. In 1984 keer hy terug as professor en hoof van die Departement Maatskaplike Werk. Twaalf jaar later tree hy uit die diens. Sy verbondenheid aan Tydskrif vir Letterkunde in die vroee 1960s was van korte duur. Saam met 'n aantal jonger Afrikaanse skrywers wat later as die Sestigers bekend sou staan, was hy deel van 'n nuwe redaksie wat 'n vars benadering in die oudste Afrikaanse literere tydskrif wou blaas. Persoonlikheidsgeskille met die ouer garde van Tydskrif het egter daarvoor gesorg dat die voorgenome samewerking slegs een uitgawe sou duur. Met hierdie historiese verbintenisse is dit gepas dat die Small-simposium op die kampus van die UWK plaasgevind het en dat die voordragte in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde gepubliseer word.
IntroductionAfrikaans is spoken across all ethnic, class, and social sectors of South African soc... more IntroductionAfrikaans is spoken across all ethnic, class, and social sectors of South African society with presently more than sixty percent of its first-language speakers classified broadly as black.* 1 However, sincethe beginning of the twentieth century, white writers, aided by accommodative political, economic, educational, and media systems, have dominated its literary processes. By the 1950s, only a handful of non-white writers, mainly young university-educated teachers, had published in Afrikaans. One of them is Adam Small (b. 1936), a brilliant student who published his first collection, Verse van die liefde (Love poems), in 1957, while completing a Master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. Small was born in Wellington, a small town in a wine-producing region, colloquially known as the Boland, about seventy kilometres northeast of Cape Town. He is the firstborn of a teacher, a Dutch Reformed Protestant, and a Muslim woman of partIndian extraction. He spent his early youth on a farm hamlet, Goree, about 160 kilometres east of Cape Town and completed his schooling at a Catholic high school in the city. Although Small grew up in an Afrikaans environment, he completed most of his education in English. Following the completion of his Master's studies, he taught philosophy at the Universities of Fort Hare and the Western Cape.Even though he has written essays and longer fiction, Small is best known for his poetry and plays. He has gained wide recognition in Afrikaans literary circles with his third and fourth collections of poetry, Kitaar my kruis (Guitar my cross, 1962) and Se Sjibbo/et (Say Shibbolleth, 1963). His first play, Kanna, by ko hystoe (Kanna, he is coming home, 1965), created the memorable figure of Makiet, a long-suffering, resilient woman of modest means trying to keep her family together amidst an increasingly predatory environment. Small also introduced several imaginative dramatic techniques resulting in Kanna, hy ko hystoe's being considered one of the foremost Afrikaans and South African plays. Although he was educated in English, Small's primary linguistic identification is with Afrikaans and an encompassing Afrikaans culture, a relationship that has been fraught with contradictions and deeply felt emotion.* 2 His initial works were produced in the standard Afrikaans variety, but he found his niche when he wrote his poetry and plays in the language's Cape vernacular, the Cape Peninsula urban-working-class variety, colloquially known as Kaaps. His subject-matter subsequently changed from its contem plative, philosophical, and youthful orientation to gritty, socio-politically committed writing foregrounding the plight of the urban poor - particularly the Coloured poor - and the dispossessed and marginalized.The Orange Earth is discussed here as a fictionalized autobiographical account in which Small reflects on the impact of apartheid, creating a counternarrative of a marginalized life during that political system. The concepts of autobiography and counter-memory are briefly introduced in the next section, followed by a section on the Afrikaansness of the main character, Johnny Adams, the fictionalized alter ego of the author, and the cultural and linguistic relationship between Coloured and white Afrikaans-speaking people. Thereafter, the intersection between language, religion, memory, and violence is explored. It is argued inter alia that Small's choice of English as a language of literary expression could be interpreted as a counter-discourse on cultural disaffection and political disillusionment, just as his option of urban violence as a solution to apartheid, his "cry for citizenship," amounts to a desperate act rather than one of revolutionary violence. Actions and activities that may have been regarded as trivial and personal become political in the play. In the context of the autobiography as genre, The Orange Earth becomes an act of writing against forgetfulness. …
D avid's Story tells the story of the former guerilla fighter David Dirkse; Sally, his wife; the ... more D avid's Story tells the story of the former guerilla fighter David Dirkse; Sally, his wife; the enigmatic and physically powerful Dulcie, David's comrade and suspected lover. All along, the struggle was his life and now, after the release of Nelson Mandela and the dawn of the freedom Dirkse fought for, the main character finds himself in a difficult situation. His name is circulated on a hit list of uncertain origin. With this imminent threat and in fulfilment of his need for historical representation he tells his story to an unnamed woman writer. Dirkse and his narrator explore his identity as a coloured person (a person of mixed heritage) and his roots in the Griqua community. The peculiar ideas of Andrew Le Fleur, the founder-culture broker of Griqua identity, resonate in Dirkse's search for his place in the new, postapartheid South Africa. The novel has a fragmentary, postmodernist structure with a complexity of historical tales, imaginary relationships, and a mixture of historical and fictional characters who represent the ambiguities of racial identities and political and social life in South Africa. I've found David's Story a most complex and multi-faceted book. I had to keep my wits about me to tie all your story lines together. I thought it was marvelous. .. . Other people said to me that the book was complex and that worries me a bit. .. . You probably remember the tradition of the Black Aesthetic-writing black-in America? I wondered whether this was a new attempt at "writing black" in South Africa? Not consciously. I certainly didn't set out with a project like that in mindno, not consciously at all. I tell you it was all I could do. People ask me, "Why did you choose this structure?" I didn't choose it. It was all I could do, because the problem came once I decided to have a dual time frame. That's how I've negotiated it. The fact that this novel has a complicated structure undermines the notion of an uncomplicated, straightforward chronological tale often employed by black South African novelists. No, I don't think that is what I set out to do. I didn't set out to do it. In fact, I have to say that I do now wonder if I'm capable of writing a linear, chronological novel and perhaps it's because I'm not capable of doing it. Perhaps that was easier. Because the story is by nature an incomplete story, it can't be told.
... Kryglustig, kuis en skoon soos Artemis, knak ek my voor geen swakkeling-tiran: die hoefslag v... more ... Kryglustig, kuis en skoon soos Artemis, knak ek my voor geen swakkeling-tiran: die hoefslag van my hart word nooit gesus deur flou en slinkse luste van 'n man. ("Amasone" [Amazon] in Die helder halfiaar [The Clear Half Year] 26) ...
David Kramer and Taliep Petersen's Ghoema (2005) tells the story of slavery at the Cape of Go... more David Kramer and Taliep Petersen's Ghoema (2005) tells the story of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope. The musical "writes back" with respect to early Afrikaans music and regards Cape culture as "a history of the ghoema". The drum - the ghoema - becomes the symbol of persistence and creativity of those held in bondage at the Cape. The article is structured around a short introduction on South African identities, followed by theoretical insights with respect to creolisation as formulated by the identity theoretician Edouard Glissant and concluded with an illustrative discussion of the musical.
in die Klein-Karoo, in Ladismith, Kaap gebore. Hy ontvang sy laerskool en sekondere skoolopleidin... more in die Klein-Karoo, in Ladismith, Kaap gebore. Hy ontvang sy laerskool en sekondere skoolopleiding op Mosselbaai en Worcester. Hy voltooi daarna voorgraadse regstudies aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland. Aan dieselfde inrigting verwerf hy met lof sy nagraadse kwalifikasies in die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Sy doktorale proefskrif is getiteld "Dialogie in die Afrikaanse Letterkunde met toespitsing op geselekteerde swart Afrikaanse skrywers". Sedertdien het hy 'n bestuurskwalifikasie aan die Skiereilandse Technikon en 'n meestersgraad in Bestuursleiding aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika verwerf.
Hierdie artikel is 'n hersiene weergawe van 'n voordrag gelewer op uitnodiging tydens die S. V. P... more Hierdie artikel is 'n hersiene weergawe van 'n voordrag gelewer op uitnodiging tydens die S. V. Petersen-simposium aangebied deur die Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands. Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland, Bellville op 5 November 2010. My dank aan die organiseerders vir hul gul ontvangs en puik reëlings.
Wanneer die naam Robert McBride genoem word, kan 'n mens seker wees die onderliggende verdeli... more Wanneer die naam Robert McBride genoem word, kan 'n mens seker wees die onderliggende verdelings in die Suid-Afrika blootgele sal word.
Ek was jonk toe ek die eerste keer in ons dorpsbiblioteek op Boesmanstories versamel deur G.R. vo... more Ek was jonk toe ek die eerste keer in ons dorpsbiblioteek op Boesmanstories versamel deur G.R. von Wielligh, afgekom het. Die vier gehawende boekies was met kleeflint reggemaak en blaaie het makeer. Die vreemde stories het my bekoor en 'n durende fassinasie met oerverskynsels, -gebruike en -gewoontes gevestig: die vreemde naam vir 'n Hottentotsgot, die boeiende verklarings vir reen en wolke, of die waterslang met die blink steen op die voorkop. Dit is eers jare later dat ek agtergekom het dat die verslete storieboeke op die kinderboekrakke eintlik onder religie, skeppingsverhale of inheemse literatuur tuishoort. Hierdie stories was meer as net vreemde verklarings vir bekende dinge; totale geesteswerelde en lokale kosmologiee is daarin opgesluit.
Voor ek vergeet, Andre P. Brink se jongste roman, word ingeklee as 'n bieg- en herrinneringsg... more Voor ek vergeet, Andre P. Brink se jongste roman, word ingeklee as 'n bieg- en herrinneringsgeskrif.
Adam Small het op 21 Desember 2011 sy vyf-en-sewentigste verjaardag gevier. Ter afwagting van hie... more Adam Small het op 21 Desember 2011 sy vyf-en-sewentigste verjaardag gevier. Ter afwagting van hierdie geleentheid het die Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland (UWK) in samewerking met Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 'n simposium met die titel "Adam Small: sy lewe en werk" op Vrydag, 7 Oktober 2011 aangebied. In die loop van sy lewe as 'n skrywer en akademikus was Small aan beide die UWK en Tydskrif vir Letterkunde verbonde. Die universiteit is in 1960 te midde van groot politieke omstredenheid opgerig en Small was aanvanklik die enigste swart lektor. In 1973 bedank hy sy pos as senior lektor in Wysbegeerte in simpatie met studente-eise vir 'n aanneemliker onderrigbedeling op die UWK-kampus. In 1984 keer hy terug as professor en hoof van die Departement Maatskaplike Werk. Twaalf jaar later tree hy uit die diens. Sy verbondenheid aan Tydskrif vir Letterkunde in die vroee 1960s was van korte duur. Saam met 'n aantal jonger Afrikaanse skrywers wat later as die Sestigers bekend sou staan, was hy deel van 'n nuwe redaksie wat 'n vars benadering in die oudste Afrikaanse literere tydskrif wou blaas. Persoonlikheidsgeskille met die ouer garde van Tydskrif het egter daarvoor gesorg dat die voorgenome samewerking slegs een uitgawe sou duur. Met hierdie historiese verbintenisse is dit gepas dat die Small-simposium op die kampus van die UWK plaasgevind het en dat die voordragte in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde gepubliseer word.
Uploads
Papers by Hein Willemse