André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town. In the 1960s Brink,

Ingrid Jonker Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name) * Ingrid (record label), and artist collective * Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones * 1026 Ingrid, an asteroid * InGrid, the grid computing pr ...

Etienne Leroux Etienne Leroux (13 June 1922 – 30 December 1989) was an Afrikaans writer and a member of the South African Sestigers literary movement. Early life and career Etienne Leroux was born in Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape on 13 June 1922 as Stepha ...

and Breyten Breytenbach were key figures in the significant Afrikaans literary movement known as ''Die Sestigers'' ("The Sixty-ers"). These writers sought to use Afrikaans as a language to speak against the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government, and also to bring into Afrikaans literature the influence of contemporary English and French trends. While Brink's early novels were especially concerned with apartheid, his later work engaged the new range of issues posed by life in a democratic South Africa.

Biography

Brink was born in

Vrede Vrede is a town in the Free State province of South Africa that is the agricultural hub of a 100 km² region. Maize, wheat, mutton, wool, beef, dairy products and poultry are farmed in the region. History In 1863 one J. H. Krynauw bought ...

, in the Free State. Brink moved to Lydenburg, where he matriculated at Hoërskool Lydenburg in 1952 with seven distinctions, the second student from the then Transvaal to achieve this feat and studied

literature in the

Potchefstroom University The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (abbreviated as PU for CHE) was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to cr ...

of South Africa. His immense attachment with

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

carried him to France from 1959 to 1961, where he got his degree from Sorbonne University at Paris in comparative literature. During his stay, he came across an undeniable fact that changed his mind forever: black students were treated on an equal social basis with other students. Back in South Africa, he became one of the most prominent of young Afrikaans writers, along with the novelist

and the poet Breyten Breytenbach, to challenge the apartheid policy of the National party through his writings. During a second sojourn in France between 1967 and 1968, he hardened his political position against Apartheid, and began writing both in Afrikaans and English to enlarge his audience and outplay the censure he was facing in his native country at the time. Indeed, his novel ''Kennis van die aand'' (1973) was the first Afrikaans book to be banned by the South African government. André Brink translated ''Kennis van die aand'' into English and published it abroad as ''Looking on Darkness''. This was his first

self-translation Self-translation is a translation of a source text into a target text by the writer of the source text. Self-translation occurs in various writing situations. Since research on self-translation largely focuses on ''literary'' self-translation, thi ...

. After that, André Brink wrote his works simultaneously in English and Afrikaans. In 1975, he obtained his PhD in Literature at Rhodes University. In 2008, in an echo of a scene from his novel ''A Chain of Voices'', his family was beset by tragedy, when his nephew Adri Brink was murdered in front of his wife and children in their

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

home. He died on a flight from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

to South Africa from Belgium, where he had received an honorary doctorate from the Belgian Francophone Université Catholique de Louvain. He was married five times. Brink's son, Anton Brink, is an artist.

Works

Novels

*''The Ambassador'' *'' Looking on Darkness'' (1973) *'' An Instant in the Wind'' (1975) shortlisted for the Booker Prize. *'' Rumours of Rain'' (1978) – shortlisted for the Booker Prize *'' A Dry White Season'' (1979) –

Martin Luther King Memorial Prize The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize was instituted by novelist John Brunner and his wife and was awarded annually to a literary work published in the US or Britain that was deemed to improve interracial understanding,Derek Humphry''Good Life, Go ...

Carolyn Turgeon
"A Dry White Season"
at encyclopedia.com. *''

A Chain of Voices ''A Chain of Voices'' is a 1982 novel by Afrikaans writer André Brink. The novel is a historical novel which recounts the roots of the apartheid system during the early part of the 19th century. The novel focuses on a slave revolt center in th ...

'' (1982) *''The Wall of the Plague'' *''States of Emergency'' (1989) *'' An Act of Terror'' (1992) *''The First Life of

Adamastor Adamastor is a mythological character created by the Portuguese poet Luís de Camões in his epic poem ''Os Lusíadas'' (first printed in 1572), as a personification of the Cape of Good Hope, symbolizing the dangers of the sea and the formidable ...

'' (1993) *''On the Contrary'' (1994) *'' Imaginings of Sand'' (1996) *''Devil's Valley'' (1998) *''The Rights of Desire'' (2000) *''The Other Side of Silence (Anderkant die Stilte)'' (2002) *''Before I Forget'' (2004) *''The Other Side of Silence'' (2004) *''Praying Mantis'' (2005) *''The Blue Door'' (2006) *''Other Lives'' (2008) *''Philida'' (2012)

Memoirs

*''A Fork in the Road'' (2009)

Essays

* Languages of the Novel: A Lover's Reflections (1998)

Notes

External links

* *
André Brink
on Books LIVE * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brink, Andre 1935 births 2015 deaths Afrikaans-language poets Exophonic writers People from Phumelela Local Municipality Afrikaner people Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists South African people of Dutch descent White South African anti-apartheid activists Afrikaans-language writers Sestigers South African male novelists South African translators Translators from Spanish Translators from French Translators from English Translators to Afrikaans Prix Médicis étranger winners Hertzog Prize winners for drama Hertzog Prize winners for prose North-West University alumni University of Cape Town academics Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga 20th-century South African novelists 21st-century South African novelists 20th-century South African male writers 21st-century South African male writers 20th-century translators