Can Themba

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Can Themba (born June 21, 1924 in Marabastad near Pretoria , † 1968 in Manzini , Swaziland ; actually Daniel Canadoise D'Orsay Themba ) was a South African writer and journalist .

Life

Themba was born near Pretoria. After finishing school he received a scholarship to study at Fort Hare University in Alice . There he obtained a degree in English with top marks and a diploma as a teacher.

He moved to Johannesburg in the Sophiatown district , which was then a center of urban culture for black South Africans. Themba started writing short stories. He won the Drum Award in 1953 , first prize in a competition organized by Drum magazine , which was based in Sophiatown. As a result, he wrote regularly for the magazine and became one of the "drum boys" together with other young South Africans such as Henry Nxumalo , Bloke Modisane and Lewis Nkosi . Their motto was Live fast, the young and have a good-looking corpse (German: "Live fast, die early and have a good-looking corpse"). Themba boasted not speaking any African language.

Can Themba, like his colleagues at Drum, examined the reality of apartheid in terms of investigative journalism . So he reported on his attempts to get into churches that were reserved for whites. At times he was deputy editor of the magazine.

In 1959 Themba was fired because of his alcohol consumption at Drum . A year later he was employed by the weekly newspaper The City Post . Since Themba was dissatisfied with the restrictions imposed by apartheid, he moved to neighboring Swaziland in 1963 to work as a teacher. In 1966 he was declared a communist in South Africa and his works were banned. Themba became increasingly addicted to alcohol . In 1968 (or 1969) he died in Manzini.

Two of his works were not published until after Themba's death: The Will to Die and The World of Can Themba . One of his best-known stories is The Suit (German: "The Suit"), which is set in a family of lawyers in Sophiatown. The eponymous suit belongs to the woman's lover. Her husband forces her to treat the suit like a guest until she dies to remind her of the adultery. The Suit was adapted for the stage. Other well-known stories include Crepuscle , The Will to Die and The Bottom of the Bottle , in which Themba addresses his alcohol addiction.

Awards

  • 2006 (posthumous): South African National Orders' Presidential Award Ikhamanga (in silver) for Excellent achievement in literature, contributing to the field of journalism and striving for a just and democratic South Africa (German: “excellent performance in literature, contributing to the field of journalism and striving for a just and democratic society in South Africa ")

Works

Translations into German

  • Requiem for Sophiatown . Story, translated by Elisabeth Schnack, in: The green gnu and other stories from South Africa , ed. by Elisabeth Schnack, Diogenes, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-257-20883-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to other sources in 1969
  2. ↑ a b Information on Can Themba (English), accessed on February 9, 2010
  3. ↑ Brief portrait at litencyc.com, accessed on April 3, 2018
  4. ^ Review of The Will to Die , accessed February 9, 2010
  5. ^ Report on the award of the medal ( Memento from May 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 15, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Themba, Can
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Themba, Daniel Canadoise D'Orsay (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Marabastad near Pretoria
DATE OF DEATH 1968
Place of death Manzini