N. P. van Wyk Louw

Nicolaas Petrus van Wyk Louw (b. June 11, 1906 in Sutherland, formerly Cape Province, now Northern Cape Province in South Africa; d. June 18, 1970), almost universally known as N.P. van Wyk Louw, was an Afrikaans-language poet, playwright, and scholar. He is the older brother of Afrikaans-language poet W.E.G. Louw.

One of the Dertigers, or "Writers of the Thirties," N.P. van Wyk Louw produced among his most famous works his debut 1935 volume of poems, Alleenspraak ("Monologue"), the 1937 poetry collection Die halwe kring ("The Semicircle"), the verse epic Raka, and the 1956 tragedy Germanicus.¹

N.P. van Wyk Louw is quoted on the Afrikaans Language Monument in Paarl, Western Cape Province; in his quote, he views Afrikaans as a bridge that connects Europe with Africa.

The South African composer Cromwell Everson composed a song cycle, "Vier Liefdesliedjies", that used three of Louw's poems: "Nagliedje", "Net altyd jy" , and "Dennebosse".

Life

The second of four brothers, N.P. van Wyk Louw moved to Cape Town at the age of 14. He earned a Master's Degree in German at the University of Cape Town, where he later taught. He received an honorary degree from the University of Utrecht in in 1948, and was a professor of Afrikaans at the University of Amsterdam from 1949-1958. He finished his academic career at the University of Witwatersrand as head of the Dutch/Afrikaans department.

External Links

Picture and brief biography [1]

¹Lindenberg, E., et al. "Inleiding tot die Afrikaanse Letterkunde". Pretoria and Cape Town: Fifth edition, 1980.