Breyten Breytenbach (; born 16 September 1939) is a South African writer, poet and painter known for his opposition to
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 ...
, and consequent imprisonment by the South African government. He is informally considered as the national
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
by
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 gra ...
-speaking South Africans. He also holds French
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
.
Biography
Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, approximately 180 km from
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at
Cape Agulhas
Cape Agulhas (; pt, Cabo das Agulhas , "Cape of the Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa.
It is the geographic southern tip of the African continent and the beginning of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian ...
. His early education was at Hoërskool Hugenote and he later studied
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
s at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
.
He is the brother of
Jan Breytenbach
Jan Dirk Breytenbach (born 14 July 1932) is a retired career South African Special Forces military officer and author of military books. He is best known as the first commander of 1 Reconnaissance Commando, South Africa's first special-forces ...
, co-founder of the 1st Reconnaissance Commando of the
South African Special Forces
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado, The South African Special Forces Brigade, colloquially known as the Recces, is South Africa's principal Special forces, special operations unit, specialising in various types of operations including; counter-insurge ...
against whom he holds strongly opposing political views, and the late Cloete Breytenbach, a widely published war correspondent.
His committed
political dissent
Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. Expressions of dissent may take forms from vocal disagreement to civil disobedience to the use of violence.National Party and its
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
policy of
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 ...
compelled him to leave South Africa for
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in the early 1960s, where he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, Yolande, due to which he was not allowed to return. The then applicable
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an apartheid law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the Nation ...
of 1949 and
Immorality Act
Immorality Act was the title of two acts of the Parliament of South Africa which prohibited, amongst other things, sexual relations between white people and people of other races. The first Immorality Act, of 1927, prohibited sex between whites an ...
(1950) made it a criminal offence for a person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
On an illegal trip to South Africa in 1975, he was arrested and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
Robben Island
Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...
through the conspiratorial " Okhela Organisation." In the end, the judge found him guilty only of having smuggled letters and poems out of jail for which he was fined $50.
During his imprisonment, Breytenbach wrote the poem, ''Ballade van ontroue bemindes'' ("
Ballade
Ballad is a form of narrative poetry, often put to music, or a type of sentimental love song in modern popular music.
Ballad or Ballade may also refer to:
Music Genres and forms
* Ballade (classical music), a musical setting of a literary ballad ...
of Unfaithful Lovers"). Inspired by
François Villon
François Villon (Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ex ...
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 project ...
, and himself to unfaithful lovers, who had betrayed
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 gra ...
poetry by taking leave of it.
Released in 1982 as a result of international protests, he returned to Paris and obtained French citizenship.
After
free elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...
toppled the ruling National Party and ended apartheid in 1994, Breytenbach became a visiting professor at the
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
in the Graduate School of Humanities in January 2000 and is also involved with the
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, where he teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program.
Works
Breytenbach's work includes numerous volumes of novels, poetry and essays, many of which are in
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 gra ...
. Many have been translated from Afrikaans to English, and many were originally published in English. He is also known for his works of pictorial arts. Exhibitions of his paintings and prints have been shown in cities around the world, including
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, Cape Town, Hong Kong,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award
The Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award (Polish: ''Międzynarodowa Nagroda Literacka im. Zbigniewa Herberta'') is a Polish international literature prize established in 2013 in Warsaw and named after a Polish poet, essayist, and morali ...
2017
* Ansfield-Wolf Book Award
* Allen Paton Award for Literature
* Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity
Bibliography
Poetry in Afrikaans
* ''The Iron Cow Must Sweat'' (Die ysterkoei moet sweet), Johannesburg, 1964
* ''The House of the Deaf'' (Die huis van die dowe), Cape Town, 1967
* ''Gangrene'' (Kouevuur), Cape Town, 1969
* ''Lotus'', Cape Town, 1970
* ''The Remains'' (Oorblyfsels), Cape Town, 1970
* ''Scrit. Painting Blue a sinking Ship.'' (Skryt. Om 'n sinkende skip blou te verf), Amsterdam, 1972
* ''In Other Words'' (Met ander woorde), Cape Town, 1973
* ''Footnote'' (Voetskrif), Johannesburg, 1976
* ''Sinking Ship Blues'', Oasis Editions,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
1977
* ''And Death White as Words. An Anthology'', London, 1978
* ''In Africa even the flies are happy'', London, 1978
* ''Flower Writing'' (Blomskryf), Emmarentia, 1979 (Selected poems)
* ''Eclipse'' (Eklips), Emmarentia, 1983
* ''YK'', Emmarentia, 1983
* ''Buffalo Bill'', Emmarentia, 1984
* ''Living Death'' (Lewendood), Emmarentia, 1985
* ''Judas Eye'', London – New York, 1988
* ''As Like'' (Soos die so), Emmarentia, 1990
* ''Nine Landscapes of our Times Bequeathed to a Beloved'' (Nege landskappe van ons tye bemaak aan 'n beminde),
Groenkloof
Groenkloof (Afrikaans for 'Green ravine') is a residential suburb of Pretoria, South Africa.
This wealthy suburb in Pretoria is famous for its white Jacaranda trees. It is close to the city centre, and to the well-known Brooklyn Square and Me ...
, 1993
* ''The Handful of Feathers'' (Die hand vol vere), Cape Town, 1995 (Selected poems)
* ''The Remains. An Elegy'' (Oorblyfsels. 'n Roudig), Cape Town, 1997
* ''Paper Flower'' (Papierblom), Cape Town, 1998
* ''Lady One'', Cape Town, 2000 (Selected love poems)
* ''Iron Cow Blues'' (Ysterkoei-blues), Cape Town, 2001 (Collected poems 1964–1975)
* ''Lady One: Of Love and other Poems'', New York, 2002
* ''The undanced dance. Prison poetry 1975 – 1983'' (Die ongedanste dans. Gevangenisgedigte 1975 – 1983), Cape Town, 2005
* ''the windcatcher'' (Die windvanger), Cape Town, 2007
* ''Voice Over: A Nomadic Conversation with Mahmoud Darwish'', Archipelago Books, 2009
* ''Catalects (Artefacts for the slow uses of dying)'' (''Katalekte (artefakte vir die stadige gebruike van doodgaan'')), Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2012
Prose in English
* ''Catastrophes'' (Katastrofes), Johannesburg, 1964 (stories)
* ''To Fly'' (Om te vlieg), Cape Town, 1971 (novel)
* ''The Tree Behind the Moon'' (De boom achter de maan), Amsterdam, 1974 (stories)
* ''The Anthill Bloats …'' (Die miernes swell op ...), Emmarentia, 1980 (stories)
* ''A Season in Paradise'' (Een seizoen in het paradijs), Amsterdam – New York – London, 1980 (novel, uncensored edition)
* ''Mouroir: Mirror Notes of a Novel'', London – New York, 1983
* ''Mirror Death'' (Spiegeldood), Amsterdam, 1984 (stories)
* ''End Papers'', London, 1985 (essays)
* ''The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist'', London – New York, 1985
* ''Memory of Snow and of Dust'', London – New York, 1987 (novel)
* ''Book. Part One'' (Boek. Deel een), Emmarentia, 1987 (essays)
* ''All One Horse. Fiction and Images'', London, 1989
* ''Sweet Heart'' (Hart-Lam), Emmarentia, 1991 (essays)
* ''Return to Paradise. An African journal'', London – New York, 1992 (which won the
Alan Paton Award
The ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Awards are awarded annually to South African writers by the South African weekly newspaper the '' Sunday Times''. They comprise the ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Award for Non-fiction and the ''Sunday Times'' ...
)
* ''The Memory of Birds in Times of Revolution'', London – New York, 1996 (essays)
* ''Dog Heart. A travel memoir'', Cape Town, 1998
* ''Word Work'' (Woordwerk), Cape Town, 1999
* ''A veil of footsteps'', Cape Town, 2008
* ''All One Horse'', Archipelago Books, 2008
* ''Mouroir: Mirror Notes of a Novel'', Archiepalago Books, 2008
* ''Intimate Stranger'', Archipelago Books, 2009
* ''Notes From The Middle World: Essays'', Haymarket Books, 2009
Articles
*
In popular culture
Breytenbach is the only exception mentioned by name in the satirical Apartheid-era ''
Spitting Image
''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...
'' song "
I've Never Met a Nice South African
"I've Never Met a Nice South African" is a satirical song originating in a sketch on the British television series ''Spitting Image'' (series 2, episode 5). It was written by John Lloyd and Peter Brewis and was sung by Andy Roberts. In 1986 i ...
Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award
The Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award (Polish: ''Międzynarodowa Nagroda Literacka im. Zbigniewa Herberta'') is a Polish international literature prize established in 2013 in Warsaw and named after a Polish poet, essayist, and morali ...