Etienne Leroux (13 June 1922 – 30 December 1989) was an

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 ...

writer and a member of the South African

Sestigers The Sestigers (Sixtiers), also known as the Beweging van Sestig (the movement of sixty), were a group of influential resistant Afrikaans-language writers in the 1960s started by André Brink and Breyten Breytenbach, which also included Reza de We ...

literary movement.

Early life and career

Etienne Leroux was born in

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865– ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

on 13 June 1922 as Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux, son of S.P. Le Roux, a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

. He studied law at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

(BA, LLB) and worked for a short time at a solicitor's office in Bloemfontein. From 1946 he farmed and lived as a writer on his farm in the

Koffiefontein Koffiefontein is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. The name means ''coffee fountain'' in Afrikaans. History In the 1800s, Koffiefontein was a stopover spot for transport riders traveling between the coast and the di ...

district. Etienne was a pupil at Grey College

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

where he matriculated. His 1968 ''Een vir Azazel'' (''One for Azazel'' in Afrikaans) was translated into English as ''One for the Devil'', and makes use of the

Azazel In the Bible, the name Azazel (; he, עֲזָאזֵל ''ʿAzāʾzēl''; ar, عزازيل, ʿAzāzīl) appears in association with the scapegoat rite; the name represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the sins of the Jews during ...

myth. He died on 30 December 1989, and was buried at the family church yard of Wamakersdrift, of which his farm formed part.

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

wrote: "His audience will be the audience that only a good writer can merit, an audience which assembles slowly in ones and twos ... the rumour spreads that here an addition will be found to the literature of our time."

Awards

Hertzog Prize The Hertzog Prize (or Hertzogprys) is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for the Sciences and Art), formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature a ...

for prose for ''Sewe dae by die Silbersteins'', 1964 * Hertzog Prize for Prose for ''Magersfontein, O Magersfontein!'', 1979Die Suid-Afrikaanse Gids - Isabel Uys and CNA Literary Award *

CNA Literary Award The Central News Agency Literary Award (CNA Literary Award, CNA Prize) was a major annual literary award in South Africa. It was named for the CNA chain of bookstores. Founded by Phillip Stein, it recognised works in prose and poetry, and in both t ...

for ''Een vir Azazel''

List of works

* ''Die eerste lewe van Colet'', 1955 * ''Hilaria'', 1957 * ''Die mugu'', 1959 * ''Sewe dae by die Silbersteins'', 1962 * ''Een vir Azazel'', 1964 * ''Die derde oog'', 1966 * ''1844'', 1967 * ''Isis, Isis, Isis'', 1969 * ''Na'va'', 1972 * ''Magersfontein, o Magersfontein!'', 1976 * ''Onse Hymie'', 1982 * ''Die Silberstein-trilogie'', 1984 (appeared at Penguin as: To a dubious salvation) Etienne Leroux. Die eerste siklus. Die eerste lewe van Colet - Hilaria - Die mugu. A

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of Etienne Leroux, by the respected biographer of Afrikaans writers, John Christoffel Kannemeyer, was published in July 2008.

Selected publications

*''Seven days at the Silbersteins'' Translated by Charles Eglington. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1964. *''One for the Devil'' Translated by Charles Eglington. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1968. *''The Third Eye'' Translated by Amy Starke. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1969. *''18/44'' Translated by Cassandra Perrey. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1972. *''To a dubious salvation: a trilogy of fantastical novels'' Penguin, 1972. *''Magersfontein, O Magersfontein!'' Translated by Ninon Roets. Hutchinson, 1983.

References

External links

Misterie van die alchemis. 'n Inleiding tot Etienne Leroux se negedelige romansiklus. (By Charles Malan)
Digital Etienne Leroux Project
* Journal of Southern African Studies Paper on ''Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins''
JSTOR
*

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's stat ...

news footage of Leroux's funeral on {{DEFAULTSORT:Leroux, Etienne 1922 births 1989 deaths South African writers Sestigers Afrikaans-language writers Hertzog Prize winners for prose