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Archive for the ‘Afrikaans’ Category

Johann Rossouw vra: Wat staan voorstanders van Afrikaans as akademiese taal te doen?

by Amanda on Dec 7th, 2015

VerwoerdburgJohann Rossouw het op Vrydag, 27 November die stigtingstoespraak gelewer tydens die amptelike bekendstelling van die Afrikaanse Alumni-vereniging.

Luidens ‘n verklaring op hul webtuiste is die doel van die Afrikaanse Alumni-vereniging “om as spreekbuis te dien vir diegene wat die voortsetting van uitnemende Afrikaanse hoër onderwys nastreef”. Die vereniging bestaan uit “lojale en besorgde alumni” wat bekommerd is oor onder meer “staatsinmenging, transformasie en die viktimisering en afskaling van Afrikaans by ons universiteite”.

In sy toespraak deel die Verwoerdburg-outeur sy waarnemings oor die toekoms van Afrikaans aan universiteite en vra wat voorstanders van Afrikaans as akademiese taal vandag te doen staan.

Rossouw kyk terug oor twee dekades se gesprekke oor Afrikaans en besin oor onder meer staatsinmenging en onvoldoende bevondsing, die FeesMustFall-beweging en die politieke wêreldkonteks waarbinne al die gebeure afgespeel het.

Lees die artikel:

Daar is een laaste punt om te maak oor die politieke wêreldkonteks waarbinne hierdie gebeure aan Suid-Afrikaanse universiteite vanjaar afgespeel het, veral met betrekking tot die FeesMustFall- en RhodesMustFall-bewegings wat Afrikaans en sogenaamde whiteness in die visier gekry het. Ek verwys na die feit dat op die dag nadat Maties se bestuurspan hulle omstrede dokument oor taal aan die US bekendgemaak het, ISIS se aanvalle op Parys plaasgevind het. Waarmee ons hier te doen het, is ’n nuwe geslag voorheen benadeeldes wat vir hul ouers se verraad teenoor hulle wraak wil neem op die nakomelinge van diegene wie se ouers hul ouers verdruk het. Die wyer politieke effek van die verdrywing van Afrikaans as akademiese taal uit die openbare universiteite is dat dit ’n verdoemende boodskap stuur oor hoe die huidige orde nie plek het vir minderheidstale nie, dat dit nie sy erns met diversiteit is nie, dat demokrasie bloot ’n vyeblaar vir sentralisme is en dat die 1994-akkoord van wedersydse erkenning tussen Afrikaner en Afrikaan toenemend misken word.

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“Stay Well with All Our Secrets” – Ingrid Jonker’s Last Letter to Andre Brink in Flame in the Snow

by Amanda on Dec 4th, 2015

Flame in the SnowVlam in die sneeuKarin Schimke recently wrote an article for Marie Claire about Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink and Ingrid Jonker.

Schimke en Leon de Kock were responsible for the translation of the collection of letters, which is also available in Afrikaans as Vlam in die sneeu: Die liefdesbriewe van André P Brink en Ingrid Jonker.

In the article, Schimke writes tenderly about Jonker’s suicide and how Brink responded to the public scrutiny and gossip. She also shares a line from the last letter Jonker ever wrote to Brink.

Schimke spoke to the people who were involved in helping these precious love letters see the light: Umuzi publisher Fourie Botha and Brink’s widow Karina Magdalena Szczurek, as well as to Willie Burger, professor of Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria, who said:

“The letters are a knock-out blow to the idea that she was a bubble-headed blonde with a few good verses. She displays clear political thinking, good literary discernment and sharp insight. She had a particularly difficult life. Towards the end of the correspondence it becomes clear that her loneliness has become more desperate, while he slowly withdraws. It’s the stuff good novels are made of.”

Read the article for more about Jonker’s last days and her final letter to Brink:

In the weeks before her suicide, friends noticed a change in Ingrid. Where once she had taken enormous pride in her looks, she had become sloppy. Her cheerfulness had receded into an almost constant bleakness. An extremely difficult childhood and adult life, and a possibly genetic predisposition towards depression and anxiety, had caught up with her. She was poor, had worked in soul-destroying bureaucratic jobs and could not find safety and succour from the maddening world with any of the men who loved her. It is clear, from all the literature available – and now these letters – that the talented poet Ingrid Jonker had run out of the emotional resources required to go on with life.

Her last letter to André ends: ‘Stay well with all our secrets…’

For extracts in English and Afrikaans, quotes from the contributors, articles and more news about Flame in the Snow, visit the website www.flameinthesnow.co.za:

 

 

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“Boeke kan jou verlei as jy hulle die kans gee” – Fourie Botha

by Amanda on Nov 27th, 2015

“Om Afrikaanse boeke by Penguin Random House uit te gee is maklik. Ek is Afrikaans, ons bemarkingsmense is Afrikaans, en hoewel die Engelse grootkoppe min Afrikaans verstaan, verstaan hulle die Suid-Afrikaanse boekemark: ’n Afrikaanse roman het ’n baie beter kans om suksesvol te wees as ’n Engelse roman deur ’n plaaslike skrywer.”

ValsrivierDie Alibi Klub’n Huis vir EsterHuisies van papierWoudfonteinDie dag van die Lord

 
Só het Fourie Botha, fiksie-uitgewer by Penguin Random House, onlangs in ‘n onderhoud aan die gesoute boekjoernalis Elmari Rautenbach gesê. Sy het by hom gaan aanklop om uit te vind hoe hy dit regkry om Afrikaans steeds ‘n prioriteit te hou by dié enorme internasionale uitgewershuis.

Hy vertel ook meer oor sy werkswyse, betrokkenheid by die boeke, die dinge wat bepaal of ‘n boek in Afrikaans én Engels uitgegee word en wat hom as uitgewer gryshare gee.

Lees die artikel om te sien “wat maak al daardie bloed, sweet en trane die moeite werd”:

Wat maak ’n uitgewer grys?

Soveel boeke wat goeie verkope verdien, verkoop nie. Dit is ook swaar om te sien daar is so min mense wat werklik geesdriftig oor skrywers en boeke raak. Dit alles laat die bedryf krimp en affekteer die ondersteuning wat ’n mens vir skrywers kan gee.

En wat maak al daardie bloed, sweet en trane die moeite werd?

’n Boek in sy fisieke vorm met ’n mooi omslag, ’n mooi lettertipe en boekontwerp kan baie naby aan perfek wees. Boeke kan jou verlei as jy hulle die kans gee.

Boeke is waardevol. Boeke leer jou om lank te luister. Daar is baie dinge – ingewikkelde moeilikhede – wat lank neem om te begryp en op te los. Twiets is slegte oefening hiervoor.

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Londoners: Join SJ Naude, John Boyne and Kirsty Logan for a Short Story Salon at The Word Factory

by Amanda on Nov 20th, 2015
SJ Naude

 
The Alphabet of BirdsAlfabet van die voëlsSJ Naudé, author of the award-winning collection of short stories The Alphabet of Birds, will be joining Ireland’s John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Kirsty Logan, author of The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales, for an intimate short story salon in London next weekend.

The event, organised by The Word Factory, will see these three esteemed authors discuss and read their short stories on Saturday, 28 November. Tickets cost £12, or £8 if you are a student, senior citizen, unwaged or disabled.

The Word Factory will also be hosting a masterclass titled “Be Seen and Be Heard – and beat digital depression” on the same day. Host Kristen Harrison, a “publisher and digital agony aunt”, will teach participants how to build and maintain a web presence for their writing and showcase writers who have done so successfully. Tickets to this masterclass cost £38 and includes free entrance to the evening’s event with Naudé and co. Find out more.

Don’t miss this!

Event Details

  • Date: Saturday, 28 November 2015
  • Time: 1 to 4 PM – masterclass, 6 to 8 PM – salon
  • Venue: Waterstones
    203-206 Piccadilly
    W1J 9HD London
    United Kingdom
  • Speakers: SJ Naudé, John Boyne, Kirsty Logan, Kristen Harrison and the Visual Verse team
  • Cost: £38 for the masterclass; £12, or £8 if you are a student, senior citizen, unwaged or disabled for the salon
  • Buy tickets: Eventbrite

 

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“Being Included Felt Like a Form of Exorcism” – Karina M Szczurek on The Love Letters of André Brink and Ingrid Jonker

by Amanda on Nov 20th, 2015

Flame in the SnowVlam in die sneeuKarina M Szczurek has written a moving essay in which she reflects on the experience of having her late husband André Brink‘s love letters to Ingrid Jonker published and scrutinised by the entire world.

These intimate writings have now been published in Afrikaans (Vlam in die sneeu: Die liefdesbriewe van André P Brink en Ingrid Jonker) and English (Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink and Ingrid Jonker), translated by Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke, and edited by Francis Galloway.

In the piece, titled “The heart has spaces”, Szczurek shares more about her marriage to Brink and her knowing, from the start, of the “life-defining relationship of his youth with Ingrid Jonker”.

“Coming to live with André in the South African spring of 2005, I very quickly realised that in order to know him – truly know him – I had to understand what had happened between him and Ingrid 40 years earlier. We both had to. No other woman in André’s life had left as indelible a mark on him as Ingrid. No other haunted me as much in the beginning of our relationship,” the Invisible Others author writes.

Remembering the time she first read the love letters – which happened during their engagement, two years after she met Brink while he was working on the translation of Jonker’s poems for Black Butterflies – Szczurek writes: “The title for the collection followed from a suggestion I’d made. Being included felt like a form of exorcism.”

Read the article for more about the enormous literary project that is Flame in the Snow and how Szczurek, the last woman to love Brink, was involved in his famous love affair with Jonker:

In the beginning there were the women of his past, a ghost among them. André Brink had never been afraid to love. After the life-defining relationship of his youth with Ingrid Jonker, her suicide, and four divorces, at the age of 69 he had the guts to say yes to a delicate possibility.

When we met in Austria towards the end of 2004 I was terribly young, on the verge of a divorce, broken by betrayals, and almost paralysed by mistrust. Continents and cultures apart, 42 years between us, the odds staked against us could not have been higher. Yet we somehow mustered enough courage to dare the impossible and turn it into reality. For ten years, the first thing we did every morning after waking up next to each other was to smile. No matter what. Of course it hadn’t been easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. And coming to terms with our respective pasts was our greatest challenge.

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Karin Schimke Talks About Translating Ingrid Jonker’s Love Letters for Flame in the Snow

by Amanda on Nov 18th, 2015

Flame in the SnowVlam in die sneeuNovember sees the publication of what is said to be one of the most important pieces of South African literary history to see the light in recent years.

Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink and Ingrid Jonker is translated by Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke, and edited by Francis Galloway. Naturally it will also be available in Afrikaans, the language the letters were originally written in, as Vlam in die sneeu: Die liefdesbriewe van André P Brink en Ingrid Jonker.

Schimke met up with LitNet’s Naomi Meyer to talk about the massive project that was the translation of Jonker’s words to English. De Kock took care of Brink’s words to ensure that the English document had two distinctly different voices. She shares more about the project as a whole, how she approached the intimate love letters and the decisions she made during the translation process.

“Translation is an imperfect art. If perfection is the aim, you have failed before you have begun,” Schimke says. She goes on: “There are two things that were important to me: I wanted the English text to read as smoothly as possible, but without making Ingrid sound as though she had written in English. I wanted to retain some of the texture of Afrikaans.”

Schimke also reveals what she learnt about Jonker through this close reading of her letters and says that the infamous poet “was, first and foremost, a struggling single mother working in soul-destroying jobs”. On her writing, and the difference between Jonker and Brink’s writing, Schimke says: “Ingrid’s poetry was deeply and unashamedly personal. She didn’t, like André, try to grapple great ideas into long novels. Her work feels grounded and embodied. There is a presence and immediacy in both her poetry and her letters and they seem, to me at least, inseparably, undividedly hers.”

Read the article for insight to what is sure to be a fascinating book:

You translated the love letters of arguably the most well-known Afrikaans Romeo and Juliet of the Afrikaans literary world. Did you ever think about this while translating Ingrid’s letters?

Oh, I thought about it all the time!

Because of the time constraints on the project we had no time to read the full manuscript before starting the work. The longer I translated, the less sense I had of what was going to happen next and each day’s work was like watching a new petal unfold on a closed bud. It was – and I apologise for the cliché – gripping. When I closed my computer at night, I would wonder what happens next and I’d approach my computer with a sense of anticipation every morning. No, it was not drone work. It held me entirely. It wasn’t mere engagement with words.

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Ingrid Jonker – die mite, die mens: Elkarien Fourie besin oor die bekende digter

by Amanda on Nov 10th, 2015

Vlam in die sneeuFlame in the Snow“Ingrid Jonker se lewe, en veral haar dood, oorskadu soms haar werk en kom telkens in die kollig in Suid-Afrika en in Nederland. As die belangrikheid van ’n digter aan die hand van haar invloed gepeil word, neem sy dalk ’n meer prominente plek in die Afrikaanse poësie in as wat haar oeuvre regverdig.”

Só voer Elkarien Fourie aan in ‘n akademiese artikel vir LitNet waarin sy besin oor die aansien wat Ingrid Jonker, een van die bekendste Suid-Afrikaanse digters, in die literêre samelewing beklee.

Fourie, wat oor ‘n meestersgraad beskik in Afrikaans oor die literêre feministiese biografie soos toegepas op Ingrid Jonker, stel in haar artikel ondersoek in na die problematiese aard van die biografie en kyk dan na die subtekste wat Jonker se lewensgeskiedenis kan belig, met spesifieke verwysing na Hans Christian Andersen se aangrypende sprokie van die rooi skoene.

Lees die insiggewende artikel wat poog om die mite en mens van Ingrid Jonker uit te pak:

’n Moontlike verklaring vir die feit dat verhale soos Jonker s’n lesers en toehoorders eindeloos fassineer, kan te vinde wees in verklarings soos dié van Van der Merwe en Viljoen (1998:177) dat die leser sy persoonlike begeertes deur fantasieë op die werk projekteer en deur transformasie word die individuele lesing tot algemeen aanvaarde temas omvorm. Alcorn en Bracher (1985:345) meen dat deurdat lesers traumatiese en ontstellende situasies in ’n onbedreigende konteks beleef, hulle gedesensiteer word en sodoende sterker teen die vrees uit die leeservaring kom. Hulle noem as voorbeeld Wordsworth se waarneming dat lees hom op ’n romantiese wyse vertroud gemaak het met die dood en daarom was dit vir hom nie so vreesaanjaend om as seun te sien hoe ’n lyk uit ’n rivier gehaal word nie. Hulle sê: “As Wordsworth’s experience indicates, a treacherous terrain is much less difficult to negotiate if one’s cognitive map has prepared one for the region’s existence and topography.”

As dit so is, kan die eie dood vir lesers minder bedreigend word wanneer hulle Ingrid Jonker se skynbaar vreeslose obsessie met die dood vanuit die veiligheid van ’n leunstoel beleef.

Die persona van Ingrid Jonker word verder onthul in die pasgepubliseerde Vlam in die sneeu: Die liefdesbriewe van André P Brink & Ingrid Jonker, saamgestel deur Francis Galloway, ook beskikbaar in Engels as Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink & Ingrid Jonker vertaal deur Leon de Kock en Karin Schimke.

Lees ook:

 

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’n Skatryk Duitste swendelaar kruip weg op ’n Afrika-plaas in Piet van Rooyen se nuwe roman, Voëlvry

by Amanda on Nov 4th, 2015

VoëlvryVoëlvry deur Piet van Rooyen is nou beskikbaar by Umuzi:

Wanneer dinge te warm raak vir die skatryk Duitse swendelaar Hans-Joachim Kramer, vestig hy hom en sy jong gesin op ‘n plaas in Namibië. Hy stel vir Daantjie Weerlig as voorman aan om hom met sy boerdery te help. Kramer pas gou aan by die nuwe land en sy mense, maar vir sy blondekopvrou en hul tweeling raak die ongenaakbaarheid van die nuwe tuiste gou te veel en hulle keer terug Duitsland toe.

Wanneer Kramer vir Vaalperd Ses in diens neem, neem sake ‘n dramatiese wending. Dié nuweling kruis swaarde met Daantjie Weerlig en hy sweer wraak wanneer hy uiteindelik gevra word om die plaas te verlaat.

Intussen is ‘n lasbrief vir die inhegtenisname van Kramer in Duitsland uitgereik. Die agent wie se taak dit is om Hans-Joachim uitgelewer te kry, betrek die meedoënlose Vaalperd Ses om die Duitser die skrik op die lyf te jaag – met bloedige gevolge.

Gou word alles wat vir Kramer kosbaar was hom ontneem, maar dan ontmoet hy n jong vrou, Rachel da Silva, wie se wortels stewig geanker is in Afrika-grond.

Oor die outeur

Piet van Rooyen is die skrywer van sewe romans en vier poësiebundels. Sy eerste roman, Die spoorsnyer, wen die Tafelberg/Sanlam/De Kat-romankompetisiein 1993. Hy ontvang hiervoor ook die CNA-prys vir ’n debuutroman. Die olifantjagters verskyn in 1997 en dié roman ontvang in 1998 die M-Net-prys. Ander romans sluit in Gif (2001), Die brandende man (2002), Akwarius (2005), Etosha (2010) en Rodriguez (2012). Hy is tans professor in politieke wetenskap aan die Universiteit van Namibië.

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Watch a Moving Interview with Andre Brink and Ingrid Jonker’s Loved Ones, Talking About Flame in the Snow

by Amanda on Nov 2nd, 2015

 
Flame in the SnowVlam in die sneeuThe love letters of André Brink and Ingrid Jonker, two of the most treasured figures in South African literary history, will soon be available to readers all over the world, published in the new book Flame in the Snow.

Karina M Szczurek, Brink’s widow, and Simone Garcia Marques, Jonker’s daughter, chatted to Therese Benade on kykNET’s lifestyle programme Kwêla, sharing more about their respectful loved ones and the process behind this highly anticipated book.

Szczurek, a Polish writer and literary critic who was married to Brink for nine years, explained why these letters are being published now, 50 years after Jonker’s death and in the same year as Brink’s passing. She says he always knew, albeit it subconsciously at first, that these letters would be of interest to the public:

“The fact that he kept the letters, and the fact that he also made copies of his own letters to her, I think, indicated that the awareness was there. Then, shortly before his death he approached the publisher and said that he was ready”.

Managing the Flame in the Snow project has brought Szczurek a lot of joy and comfort as she felt as if she was still working with her late husband. She first saw the letters when Brink was working on his memoir and says she always knew and accepted that they, and who they are linked to, were an important part of who he was.

During the interview, conducted in Brink’s study, Szczurek also shares more about the haunting painting of him and Jonker which can be seen on the cover of the limited special edition of Flame in the Snow and shows viewers the actual letters and other artefacts Brink kept for all these years.

Flame in the Snow was translated from Afrikaans by Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke, with the original words available in Afrikaans as Vlam in die sneeu: Die liefdesbriewe van André P Brink en Ingrid Jonker.

The second part of the interview takes place in Afrikaans, with Simone remembering her mother. She walks with Benade from her mother’s flat to the place where she died in Three Anchor Bay. She says she still misses her deeply, but finds solace in knowing that she is celebrated all over the world. Sitting on the spot where Jonker most likely walked into the ocean, Simone says:

“Mens kan verstaan, sy was nie gesond gewees op daardie tyd nie. Soos ek hier sit, jy weet, dan dink ek ja … my ma het in God se trane verdrink hier by die see.”

Go to the kykNET website to Watch the moving feature of Flame in the Snow – The Love Letters of André Brink & Ingrid Jonker:

 

 
Book details

  • Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink & Ingrid Jonker translated by Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke
    EAN: 9781415208786
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Die Alibi Klub deur Jaco van Schalkwyk benoem vir die 2015 Jan Rabie Rapport-prys

by Amanda on Oct 29th, 2015
Open Book 2014: Afrikaanse voorlesing

 
Die Alibi KlubThe Alibi ClubJaco van Schalkwyk se debuutroman is vir die gesogte Jan Rabie Rapport-prys benoem.

Die Alibi Klub kom teen Francois Smith se Kamphoer en Stephanus Muller se Nagmusiek te staan vir die 2015 prys met ‘n kontantwaarde van R35 000. Die wenner sal op 19 November in Kaapstad aangekondig word.

Die Engelse weergawe van Van Schalkwyk se roman, The Alibi Club, is vroeër vanjaar vir die UJ Debuutprys benoem en het ook die langlys vir die 2015 Sunday Times Barry Ronge-fiksieprys gehaal.

Die Alibi Klub het in September verlede jaar by Umuzi verskyn en vertel die verhaal van ‘n jong Suid-Afrikaner wat homself in 1998 in New York vestig. Hy werk as ‘n kroegman in ‘n nagklub, The Alibi, waar hy verskeie karakters ontmoet.

Lees ‘n uittreksel:

The Alibi is ’n dive bar-hool. Die plek het geen sign nie. Al wat wys dat dit ’n bar is, is ’n neon Budweiser-sign wat in die venster hang. ’n Krom Guinness-sign hang langsaan. Die venster is ’n los stuk Plexiglas, twaalf voet breed en ’n halfduim dik, aan die raam vasgeplak met duct tape. Dit is meer ’n lens as ’n venster – verbuig van die sigaretrook, dof gekrap en vuil. Langs die venster lei drie steil sementtrappies af na ’n glasdeur met ’n dik houtraam. Almal val by The Alibi in. ’n Mens moet die deur met jou momentum teen ’n veer aan die binnekant oopwerk.

Wanneer die son skyn staan die deur oop, met ’n stuk tou aan ’n haak teen die muur vasgebind. Wanneer die tou breek, word ’n boks leë bierbottels gebruik om te keer dat die deur toeswaai. Drie gebreekte toue lel teen die muur. Dit is ’n sterk veer. Budweiser-bokse dissiplineer hom die beste. Budweiser se bokse is van kommersiële karton gemaak. Elke boks kom met vriendelike dragate aan die kante. Ander bierbokse gee binne ’n middag in. Leë bierbottels, party in bokse, staan teen die linkermuur tussen die deur en die counter gepak. Bo hulle draai ’n paar vrugtevlieë.

Die meeste van die bokse is oopgeskeur en struktureel mank. Dit is net die Budweiser-bokse wat oorleef.

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