Eugène Nielen Marais (; 9 January 1871 – 29 March 1936) was a South African lawyer,
naturalist, poet and writer. He has been hailed as an intellectual genius and an Afrikaner hero.
His early years, before and during the Boer War
Marais was born in
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
, the thirteenth and last child of Jan Christiaan Nielen Marais and Catharina Helena Cornelia van Niekerk. He attended school in Pretoria,
Boshof and
Paarl
Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...
, and much of his early education was in English, as were his earliest poems. He matriculated at the age of sixteen.
His family fluently spoke
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 ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. In Marais' early teens, he started writing
English poetry
This article focuses on poetry from the United Kingdom written in the English language. The article does not cover poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, including Republican Ireland after December 1922.
The earliest ...
and greedily devoured the verse of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politi ...
,
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best kn ...
, the
Lake poets
The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, United Kingdom, in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known. They ...
, and the
English Romantics.
After leaving school, he worked in Pretoria as a legal clerk and then as a journalist before becoming owner (at the age of twenty) of a newspaper called ''
Land en Volk'' (''Country and (the Afrikaner) People''). He involved himself deeply in local politics. In his role as a journalist and newspaper editor, Marais became a vocal critic of
Paul Kruger
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic (o ...
, the widely revered President of the
Republic of Transvaal, which made Marais a very unpopular figure.
[Jack Cope (1982), ''The Adversary Within: Dissident Writers in Afrikaans'', pages 1-14.]
He began taking opiates at an early age and graduated to
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. The ...
(then considered to be non-habit forming and safe) very soon thereafter. He became addicted, and his
drug addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...
ruled his affairs and actions to a greater or lesser extent throughout his life. When asked why he took drugs, he variously pleaded ill health, insomnia and, later, the death of his young wife as a result of the birth of his only child. Much later, he blamed accidental addiction while ill with malaria in
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mal ...
. Some claim his use of drugs was experimental and influenced by the philosophy of
de Quincey
Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quinc ...
.
[Rousseau, L., 1974, Die Groot Verlange, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau]
Marais married Aletta Beyers, but she died from
puerperal fever
Postpartum infections, also known as childbed fever and puerperal fever, are any bacterial infections of the female reproductive tract following childbirth or miscarriage. Signs and symptoms usually include a fever greater than , chills, lowe ...
a year later, eight days after the birth of their son. Eugène Charles Gerard was Marais' only child.
In 1897 — still in his mid-twenties – Marais went to London to read medicine. However, under pressure from his friends, he entered the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...
to study law.
He qualified as an advocate. When the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
broke out in 1899, he was put on parole as an
enemy alien
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured an ...
in London. During the latter part of the war he joined a
German expedition that sought to ship ammunition and medicines to the
Boer Commando
The Boer Commandos or "Kommandos" were volunteer military units of guerilla militia organized by the Boer people of South Africa. From this came the term "commando" into the English language during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 as per Costica ...
s via
Portuguese East Africa
Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...
. However, he was struck down there by
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...
and, before the supplies could be delivered to the Boers, the war ended in 1902.
After the war
Marais
switched from composing poetry in English to composing in Afrikaans during the despondent era that followed the British defeat and conquest of the two
Boer Republics.
As the leader of the Second
Afrikaans Language Movement, Marais work was translated into various languages either late in his life or after his death.
From 1905 Marais studied nature in the
Waterberg ('Water Mountain'), a wilderness area north of Pretoria, and wrote in his native
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 ...
about the animals he observed. His studies of
termites
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattod ...
led him to conclude that the colony ought to be considered as a single organism, a prescient insight that predated the elaboration of the idea by
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ...
. In the Waterberg, Marais also studied the
black mamba,
spitting cobra
A spitting cobra is any of several species of cobras that can defensively spray a toxic secretion - functioning as both a venom (that can be injected via a wound) and a toxungen (that can be sprayed on the target surface) - from their fangs in ...
and
puff adder. Moreover, he observed a specific troop of
baboon
Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chac ...
s at length, and from these studies there sprang numerous magazine articles and the books ''My Friends the Baboons'' and ''The Soul of the Ape''. He is acknowledged as the father of the scientific study of the behaviour of animals, known as
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and object ...
.
His book ''Die Siel van die Mier'' (''The Soul of the Ant'', but usually given in English as the ''Soul of the White Ant'') was plagiarised by
Nobel laureate
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
, who published ''La Vie des Termites'' (translated into English as ''The Life of Termites'' or ''The Life of White Ants''), an
entomological
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
book, in what has been called "a classic example of academic plagiarism" by
University of London's professor of
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
, David Bignell.
Marais accused Maeterlinck of having used his concept of the "organic unity" of the termitary in his book.
Marais had published his ideas on the termitary in the South African Afrikaans-language press, both in ''
Die Burger
''Die Burger'' (English: The Citizen) is a daily Afrikaans-language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Along with '' Beeld'' and '' Volksblad'', it ...
'' in January 1923 and in ''
Huisgenoot
''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans for ''House Companion'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine ''YOU'', i ...
'', which featured a series of articles on termites under the title "Die Siel van die Mier" (The Soul of the (White) Ant) from 1925 to 1926. Maeterlinck's book, with almost identical content,
was published in 1926. It is alleged that Maeterlinck had come across Eugene Marais' series of articles, and that it would have been easy for Maeterlinck to translate from Afrikaans to French, since Maeterlinck knew Dutch and had already made several translations from Dutch into French before.
[d'Assonville VD, Eugene Marais and the Waterberg, Marnix 2008] It was common at the time for worthy articles published in Afrikaans to be reproduced in Flemish and Dutch magazines and journals.
Marais sent a letter to Dr. Winifred de Kock in London about Maeterlinck, in which he wrote that
The famous author had paid me the left-handed compliment of cribbing the most important part of my work... He clearly desired his readers to infer that he had arrived at certain of my theories (the result of ten years of hard labour in the veld) by his own unaided reason, although he admits that he never saw a termite in his life. You must understand that it was not merely plagiarism of the spirit of a thing, so to speak. He has copied page after page verbally.
Supported by a coterie of
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...
Nationalist friends, Marais sought justice through the South African press and attempted an international lawsuit. This was to prove financially impossible and the case was not pursued. However, Marais gained a measure of renown as the aggrieved party and as an Afrikaner researcher who had opened himself up to plagiarism because he published 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 ...
out of nationalistic loyalty. Marais brooded at the time of the scandal: "I wonder whether Maeterlinck blushes when he reads such things
ritical acclaim and whether he gives a thought to the injustice he does to the unknown
Boer
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...
worker?"
Maeterlinck's own words in ''The Life of Termites'' indicate that the possible discovery or accusation of plagiarism worried him:
It would have been easy, in regard to every statement, to allow the text to bristle with footnotes and references. In some chapters there is not a sentence but would have clamoured for these; and the letterpress would have been swallowed up by vast masses of comment, like one of those dreadful books we hated so much at school. There is a short bibliography at the end of the volume which will no doubt serve the same purpose.
Despite these misgivings, there is no reference to Eugène Marais in the bibliography. Maeterlinck's other works on entomology include ''The Life of the Ant'' (1930).
Professor VE d'Assonville wrote about Maeterlinck as "the Nobel Prize winner who had never seen a termite in his whole life and had never put a foot on the soil of Africa, least of all in the Waterberg.".
There is evidence that Marais' time and research in the Waterberg brought him great peace and joy and provided him with artistic inspiration. In the poem ''Waar Tebes in die stil woestyn'', he writes (as translated into English by J. W. Marchant) 'There would I know peace once more, where Tebes in the quiet desert lifts it mighty rockwork on high ...'. (Tebus is one of the principal peaks of the area). That said, Marais was a long-term
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. The ...
addict and suffered from melancholy, insomnia, depression and feelings of isolation.
Also while living in the
Waterberg District, Marais' literary output was heavily influenced by, "the pure poetry," he learned from local
San people
The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Za ...
,
Nama people
Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama Peo ...
,
Khoi people, and from
Herero refugees from
German Southwest Africa. Marais also collected a very large store of
African folklore in the Waterberg District from an elderly
San storyteller locally nicknamed ''Ou Hendrick''. Marais published his stories in Afrikaans under the title ''Dwaalstories'' ("Wandering Stories").
Several years before his death, the Rev. A.J. Louw, an
Afrikaner Calvinist dominee known as "The Pope of the Highveld", confronted Marais during a ''haus bezoek'', or visitation, for believing in
Darwinian evolution
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that ...
. Marais replied, "Don't pick on ''me'', Dominee. It's a matter between you and the Almighty. I really had nothing to do with the creation of the Universe."
[Jack Cope (1982), ''The Adversary Within: Dissident Writers in Afrikaans'', page 2.]
One of Marais' last poems, ''Diep Rivier'' ("Deep River"), is an ode to the drug
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. The ...
and was written ten years before its author's death by his own hand.
Death
On March 29, 1936, having been forsaken by his friends and family and deprived of morphine for several days, Marais borrowed a shotgun on the pretext of killing a snake and shot himself in the chest. The wound was not fatal, and Marais therefore put the gun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Marais took his own life on the farm
Pelindaba
Pelindaba ("Pelile Ndaba", Zulu for "end of story" or "the conclusion") is South Africa's main nuclear research centre, run by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. It is situated near the Hartbeespoort Dam, approximately 33 km (22 ...
, which belonged to his friend
Gustav Preller
Gustav Schoeman Preller (4 October 1875 in Klein Schoemansdal, Klipdrift, Pretoria – 7 October 1943 in Pelindaba) was a journalist, historian, writer and literary critic. He fought for the recognition of Afrikaans. Preller helped the Afrikan ...
. For those who are familiar with the dark moods of certain of Marais' poems, there is a black irony there; in
Zulu language
Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal ...
, Pelindaba means 'the end of the business' – although the more common interpretation is 'Place of great gatherings'.
Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for '' The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic t ...
, an admirer of Eugène Marais's, attributed Marais'
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
to the theft of his intellectual property by Maeterlinck. Ardrey said in his introduction to ''The Soul of the Ape'', published in 1969, that 'As a scientist he was unique, supreme in his time, yet a worker in a science unborn.' He also refers to Marais' work at length in his book ''African Genesis''.
Eugéne Marais and his wife Aletta lie buried in the
Heroes' Acre, Pretoria.
Legacy
Marais' work as a naturalist, although by no means trivial (he was one of the first scientists to practise
ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and object ...
and was repeatedly acknowledged as such by
Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for '' The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic t ...
and others), gained less public attention and appreciation than his literary work. He discovered the Waterberg Cycad, which was named after him (''
Encephalartos eugene-maraisii
__NOTOC__
''Encephalartos eugene-maraisii'' is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is limited to Limpopo. It is known as the Waterberg cycad.
This plant grows in the sandstone hills of the Water ...
''). He was the first person to study the behaviour of wild primates, and his observations continue to be cited in contemporary evolutionary biology. He is among the greatest of the
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...
poets and remains one of the most popular, although his output was not large.
Opperman described him as the first professional Afrikaner poet; Marais believed that craft was as important as inspiration for poetry. Along with J.H.H. de Waal and G.S. Preller, he was a leading light in the Second Afrikaans Language Movement in the period immediately after the Second Boer War, which ended in 1902. Some of his finest poems deal with the wonders of life and nature, but he also wrote about inexorable death. Marais was isolated in some of his beliefs. He was a self-confessed
pantheist
Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
and claimed that the only time he entered a church was for weddings. An assessment of Marais' status as an Afrikaner hero was published by historian Sandra Swart.
Although an Afrikaner patriot, Marais was sympathetic to the cultural values of the black tribal peoples of the
Transvaal; this is seen in poems such as ''Die Dans van die Reën'' (The Dance of the Rain). The following translation of Marais' ''Winternag" is by J. W. Marchant:
"Winter's Night"
O the small wind is frigid and spare
and bright in the dim light and bare
as wide as God's merciful boon
the
veld
Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Bot ...
lies in starlight and gloom
and on the high lands
spread through burnt bands
the grass-seed, astir, is like beckoning hands.
O East-wind gives mournful measure to song
Like the lilt of a lovelorn lass who's been wronged
In every grass fold
bright dewdrop takes hold
and promptly pales to frost in the cold!
While the above translation is generally faithful, and is a fine poem in English, it does not quite capture the terse directness of the Afrikaans language, which makes Afrikaans poetry so bittersweet and evocative, striking straight to the heart and soul. Below follows a translation by Farrell Hope, which may closer reflect the original Afrikaans idiom. Note the above version by J. W. Marchant, as well as the third version below by At de Lange, both translate the Afrikaans word in the poem ''skade'' (damage) as if it was ''skadu'' (shade). This is a common error in translating the poem and misses the point Marais was making: that the British forces had destroyed the Boer farms.
"Winternight"
O cold is the slight wind,
and keen.
Bare and bright in dim light
is seen,
as vast as the graces of God,
the veld's starlit and fire-scarred sod.
To the high edge of the lands,
spread through the scorched sands,
new seed-grass is stirring
like beckoning hands.
O mournful the tune
of the East-wind refrain,
like the song of a girl
who loved but in vain.
One drop of dew glistens
on each grass-blade's fold
and fast does it pale
to frost in the cold!
An English translation by At de Lange preserves the musicality of the poem quite well:
"Winter's Night"
O cold is the windlet
and spare.
And bright in the dim-light
and bare,
as vast as God's mercy has bade,
lie the plains in starlight and shade.
And high in the ridges,
spreaded in burnt ditches,
are the grass plumes stirring
like beckoning hands.
O tune with grief laden
on the east wind's drone,
like the song of a maiden
in her love made alone.
In each grass blade's fold
a drop of dew gleams bold,
and it pales quickly
to frost in the cold!
''Die Wonderwerker''
This 2012 movie directed by
Katinka Heyns explores Marais' convalescence from malaria on a farm in the Waterberg.
Cultural References
* Eugene Marais is fictionalised in
Brian Catling's Vorrh trilogy in the last of the series, ''The Cloven''.
* ''The Soul of the Ape'' is visible on the floor of the hotel room of the protagonist in the 1975 film The Passenger by
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...
.
* ''The Soul of the Ape'' and ''The Soul of the Ant'' are both referenced in the book ''The Soul of Viktor Tronko'' by David Quammen, published 1987
The Marais name
The progenitors of the
Marais name in the region were Charles and Claude Marais, from the Paris region of France. The Marais name has retained its original French spelling and pronunciation
in South Africa.
See also
*
Afrikaans folklore
*
Eugène Marais Prize
Bibliography
* ''The Soul of the White Ant'', 1937, first published as ''Die Siel van die Mier'' in 1925, in Afrikaans
* ''The Soul of the Ape'', 1919, published posthumously in 1969.
Notes
# Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud. Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa.
Bernard Lugan. January 1996. '
# Opperman, D.J. Undated but probably 1962. Senior verseboek. Nasionale Boekhandel Bpk, Kaapstad. Negende druk, 185pp
# Schirmer, P. 1980. The concise illustrated South African encyclopaedia. Central News Agency, Johannesburg. First edition, about 212pp.
# Rousseau, Leon 1982, The Dark Stream—The Story of Eugène Marais. Jonathan Ball Publishers, JeppesTown.
# Hogan, C.Michael, Mark L. Cooke and Helen Murray, ''The Waterberg Biosphere'', Lumina Technologies Inc, 22 May 2006
# Marais, Eugène, ''Soul of the Ape'', Human and Rousseau (1937)
# Ardrey, Robert
The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations, 1966
# Van Niekerk, H. L. ''Eugène Marais: Nuwe Feite en Nuwe Inligting'' 2010 (''Eugène Marais: New Facts and New Insights'')
References
External links
Eugène Marais Foundation
Eugène Marais the PoetSome key poems by Eugène Marais (in Afrikaans)
Article
The Soul of the White Antonline pdf
Entry on Eugene Marais
* Leon Rousseau
Eugène Marais: The great longing Sunday Times, 24 September 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marais, Eugene N.
1871 births
1936 suicides
Afrikaans-language poets
Afrikaans-language writers
Afrikaner people
Collectors of fairy tales
English-language South African poets
Myrmecologists
Pantheists
People from Pretoria
South African entomologists
South African naturalists
South African writers
South African people of Dutch descent
Suicides by firearm in South Africa