André Brink

Memoir offers a textured narrative of a life less ordinary lived to the full

Review by Rob Gaylard

THE COVER photo of Brink’s autobiography shows a young, innocent-looking Brink, aged 13, bursting with pride at his first kill.

He holds a springbok between his legs; his hands grasp the fork of its horns. This is the author’s initiation into the casual violence of the hunt, part of what was expected of him as a boy, part of the price to be paid for acceptance by family, by friends, by volk.

The opening chapters evoke the world of Brink’s childhood, the various dorps in which his father served as magistrate, and the sharpness and clarity of the writing make these among the most memorable parts of the narrative.

A leitmotif running through the memoir is the gratuitous “’surplus of violence” that seems foundational to our society. The young André grows up being proud of his father, the magistrate who dispenses justice,”second only to God” – but this is the same man who, one unforgettable Saturday morning, ignores the plea of a desperate, badly beaten black man who arrives at his house, and sends him back to the police – the very people who had beaten him in the first place.

It’s the author’s first, shocking intimation of “the long, long history of excess”. For the young boy, it is perhaps the end of innocence.

The early chapters trace the conflicts that were eventually to lead Brink into open rebellion against the norms of his people.

At the time, and just as importantly, we see the incipient writer discovering the potential of words to shape and express experience. After his first exposure to English, language is no longer something to be taken for granted.

Continue reading: Memoir offers a textured narrative of a life less ordinary lived to the full

(Cape Argus, 27 April 2009)

South Africa’s Brave New World by RW Johnson and A Legacy of Liberation by Mark Gevisser: a review

André Brink compares two writers’ accounts of Thabo Mbeki’s disastrous presidency

Among the numerous books published in recent years on the developing political situation in post-apartheid South Africa, two new titles present a special focus on Thabo Mbeki. Mark Gevisser’s A Legacy of Liberation, originally published in South Africa in 2007 under the title The Dream Deferred, is a towering biography of the recently “recalled” president. It has now been abridged but simultaneously expanded with a substantial epilogue that broadens into an illuminating assessment of the current situation. In its original form it was, with good reason, widely acclaimed and distinguished with several prizes, notably the Alan Paton Award; in its new format it is a brilliant analysis of past equivocations and present blundering, opening into a view of future challenges.

RW Johnson’s South Africa’s Brave New World is a massive volume which in its attempt not to leave any political stone unturned confronts the reader with an avalanche of information. Unlike Gevisser, Johnson is more concerned with data than interpretation. Consequently, in spite of its great length, it is rather a survey of the already-known, gleaned mainly from newspapers, than a treasury of new insights and diagnoses.

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Vertoiingde onderrok wat na regs uithang, maak tweedehandse indruk

R.W. Johnson: South Africa’s Brave New World – The ­Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid

Resensie deur André P. Brink

R.W. Johnson se reputasie as skrywer oor geskiedenis en politiek is ver­al in regse kringe gevestig deur werke soos How Long Will South ­Africa Survive? en South Africa – The First Man, the Last Nation. Dis pas aangevul deur die lywige South Africa’s Brave New World – The ­Beloved Country After Apartheid.

Vir Johnson gaan dit eerder om in­ligting wat byna uitsluitlik versamel is uit koerante en selfs populêre tydskrifte soos You as om intelligente en openbarende interpretasie, met die gevolg dat die werk mak­lik verslik in opeenstapeling, en in oppervlakkige skinderstories eerder as in­dringende navorsing.

Talle ver­wysings in die notas ­volstaan dan ook met ’n maklike wegkruipertjiespelery soos “Private source”, of vaaghede en veralgemenings soos: “It was generally assumed . . . There was suspicion . . . It was thought entirely possible . . . Causing some to believe . . . A Zimbabwean refugee told me . . . ” juis waar iets aanvegbaars gesê word.

Gesien die groot verskeidenheid bril­jante publikasies wat die afgelope paar jaar op dié terrein gepubliseer is – van John Pilger, Alis­tair Sparks, Max du Preez en Mam­phela Ramphele tot Mark Gevisser se manjifieke biografie oor Thabo Mbeki wat pas sowel verkort as aan­gevul is om dit tot by Zuma op datum te bring – verwag mens vandag darem meer as die hardlywige sukkelpas van Brave New World.

Continue reading: Vertoiingde onderrok wat na regs uithang, maak tweedehandse indruk

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Van heerlike stuitigheid tot donker ondertone

Riana Scheepers en Suzette Kotzé-Myburgh (reds.): Nuwe Kinderverseboek

Resensie deur André P. Brink

Toe Dirk Opperman in 1959 met sy Groot Verseboek (GV) begin het, het hy ook aan jong lesers gedink met Senior Verseboek en Junior Ver­se­boek, en later Kleuterverseboek (1957) en Klein Ver­se­boek (1959).

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Binnewerkinge van SA sensuurmasjien bekyk
deur André P Brink

Tydens al die jare waarin ons in Suid-Afrika gestriem is deur sensuur, is daar voortdurend oor dié kulturele plaag geskryf – meestal in artikels en briewe in die pers, soms ook gebundel, soos in JM Coetzee se Giving Offense. Maar so ’n uitvoerige ontleding soos Peter M. McDonald se The Literature ­Police het tot dusver ontbreek. In sy indringende ondersoek van sowel die geskiedenis van ­sensuur in die praktyk as die ­filosofiese en ideologiese grondslae daarvan, vul McDonald op briljante en dikwels verbluffende wyse daardie ont­stellende leemte onder die opgaaf Apartheid Censorship and its ­Cultural Consequences.

Verbluffend, omdat ons gereeld, danksy volgehoue protes en analise deur swart én wit, Afrikaans- én En­gelssprekende skrywers, in­ge­lig is oor die verrottende en ­ver­nie­tigende uitwerking van sensuur op ons kultuurlewe. Maar die binnewerkinge van die sensuurmasjinerie is nog altyd vir ons ­geheim gehou. Danksy McDonald se openbaring van die versweë ­argiewe van dié masjinerie is dit nou uiteindelik bloot­gelê – en dit laat die lesende publiek met ’n gevoel wat aan Luke Watson nie onbekend sal wees nie.

Continue reading: Binnewerkinge van SA sensuurmasjien bekyk

(Published in Die Burger, 23 February 2009)

See also: Michael Titlestad’s review of the same book.

“Brink se ‘memoir’ geen gewone outobiografie”

deur Fanie Olivier

Nadat hy onlangs vir ons die Afrikaanse poësie in ’n blik saamgebring het, vat André P. Brink homself saam in ’n ander soort blik: ’n blik op homself onder die titel ’n Vurk in die Pad.

Die keuse van die ongewone vorm “’n memoir” (wat eerder Engels is) om dit te tipeer (in plaas van die gebruiklike “memoires”) wil reeds die leser waarsku: die gebruiklike omvattende outobiografiese herinneringe gaan tweede viool speel. Hier is daar dalk eerder ’n historiese verslag of ’n biografie geskryf vanuit persoonlike kennis.

So ’n poging tot relativering van die “ware” storie tot die vlak van net nog ’n relaas is natuurlik tipies van ’n postmodernistiese beskouing van ’n skrywer oor en rondom homself. Elke vurk in die pad, waarsku Brink die leser ook uitdruklik in sy “Inleiding”, beteken dat daar keuses is. Maar: “Niks word ooit regtig uitgeskakel nie . . . wat nié gekies word nie bly skemer agter dié wat wel gekies is.”

Continue reading: “Brink se ‘memoir’ geen gewone outobiografie”

(Die Burger, 16 February 2009)

The following review of the Groot Verseboek by Riana Scheepers appeared last Monday in Die Burger.

Fyn net van woord wýd gespan in ‘Verseboek’

Daar is ’n paar soorte mense wat ­elke nuwe en belangwekkende bloem­lesing, soos die Groot Verseboek inderdaad is, met gespitste aandag lees.

Die eerste – en angstigste – ­lesers, is diegene wat direk betrokke is by die bundel, digters groot en klein (iemand soos ek). Hierdie digters, dié wat nog leef, lees hul eerste desperate lees sommer net daar in die boekwinkel, om te kyk hóéveel gedigte, en wátter gedigte uit hul weergalose oeuvre in die Groot Kanon op­geneem is.

Hierdie lesers se ingenomendheid of teleurstelling met die bloemleser se keuse bepaal gewoonlik hul uitspraak oor die bloemlesing se gehalte. Beslaan die skrywer se gedigte veelvuldige bladsye, nee kyk, dan is dit ’n ­wonderlike bundel en die samesteller ’n mens met ’n indrukwekkende letterkundige kwosiënt. As die opname maar skraal is, ’n ­enkele, benerige gediggie of selfs net ’n koeplet uit ’n nuwe dig­bundel . . . nou, ja, dan is die samesteller ’n charlatan wat geen ­aanvoeling het vir die fyn net van die woord nie.

Hierdie resensie is nie vir digters nie, hulle weet reeds alles.

Die tweede falanks lesers van bloemlesings is letterkundiges en akademici (iemand soos ek). Hulle is die wyse manne en vroue met letterkundige grade en die jare­lange sweet van seminare, studeerkamers en studente-lering. Dit is hulle wat diep en innig lees en uitsprake maak oor die fyn en gevaarlike praktyk van samestelling.

To read on click here: “Fyn net van woord wýd gespan in ‘Verseboek’”

André’s review of Carole Seymour-Jones’s double biography of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, entitled A Dangerous Liaison, was published in Die Burger on Monday, 28 July:

Ikone kom voor ’n val: Sartre en Beauvoir se lewe fassineer soos oop wond

“Die afgelope dekades het ­begin her­definieer aan ­sekere woorde: vandag word enige ou meisietjie wat met ’n skreestemmetjie voor ’n mikrofoon haar skraps onderkleertjies vertoon maklik beskryf as ’n “ikoon”. Maar enig­iemand vir wie woorde nog saak maak, sou saamstem dat in die wêreld van literatuur en filosofie Jean-Paul Sartre en Simone de Beauvoir met reg as 20ste-eeuse ikone beskryf word.

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One book about Nelson Mandela which Ben did not mention today is Elleke Boehmer’s recently published Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press).

(Elleke was so kind as to acknowledge André’s and my really tiny input into the book, for which we in turn are very grateful.)
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“The Blue Door is a timeless André Brink masterpiece,” writes Justice Malala in The Sunday Times today.

Justice Malala is a columnist on the Financial Mail and The Times.

Click here for his review of The Blue Door.

Justice Malala recently contributed to the collection of narratives on contemporary South Africa, At Risk, edited by Sarah Nuttall and Liz McGregor (Jonathan Ball, 2007).

Click here to read his piece on the moment when violence disrupted his entire life: Losing My Mind.

Last Sunday, The Sunday Independent, published André’s review of Flute, the book accompanying William Kentridge’s magical – in every sense of the word – production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Edited by Browyn Law-Viljoen and published by David Krut, Flute is a treasure trove for all lovers of Kentridge’s work and Mozart’s opera.

From p. 16 of The Sunday Independent (28 October 2007):

The performances of William Kentridge’s production of Mozart’s Magic Flute have been a triumph in a number of cities in the world, and South Africa has been no exception.

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