Etienne Leroux

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Etienne Leroux (born June 13, 1922 in Oudtshoorn , † December 30, 1989 in Bloemfontein ; real name Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux ) was a South African writer . He belonged to the avant-garde movement of the Sestigers who write in Afrikaans .

Life

Leroux's father, Stephanus Patrus le Roux, was a member of the National Party and from 1948 to 1958 Minister of Agriculture in the apartheid government. Leroux studied law at the University of Stellenbosch , where he achieved a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law . In 1946 he acquired the Ja-Nee ("Ja-No") farm at Koffiefontein , which he managed from then on alongside his work as an author. Among other things, he raised merino sheep and cultivated cotton and tomatoes. In 1948 he married the painter Renée Malherbe, with whom he had three children. In 1954 he spent five months in Europe, mainly in Paris . The following year, his first novel, Die eerste lewe van Colet (roughly: "Colet's first life") appeared under his pseudonym Etienne Leroux . The first three books form a trilogy .

In the 1960s Leroux belonged to the Sestigers, who opposed the majority opinion of the Boers politically and at the same time promoted a stylistic renewal of Afrikaans-language literature. In 1962 the novel Sewe dae by die Silbersteins (for example: "Seven days with the Silbersteins") was published, which describes the visit of the young Henry van Eeden (for example: "Henry of Paradise") to the Silberstein family on the Welgevonden farm . He would like to visit his unknown fiancée there, but instead has to get to know the farm and various groups of people accompanied by the host. The book parodies the novel style of earlier Boer novels and describes each of the seven days with increasing surreality . Especially from 1964, after receiving the renowned Hertzogprys from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns for Sewe dae by the Silbersteins, Leroux was publicly hostile by many Boers and called a communist .

In 1964 Leroux published the novel Een vir Azazel (about: "One for Asasel "). Together with Sewe dae by die Silbersteins and Die derde oog (for example: "The third eye") he forms the "Silberstein trilogy", which was also published in English as To a dubious salvation by the British publisher Penguin . Leroux was friends with the American writer Graham Greene from 1967 after he had read Sewe dae by die Silbersteins . In 1968 the Sestigers' movement disbanded because only some of the members, including Leroux, wanted to emphasize the political role of writers more. In 1969 he got divorced. In 1970 he married the pianist Elizabeth Joubert. The next three novels form the third trilogy.

Leroux's novel Magersfontein, o Magersfontein , published in 1976, also portrays in parodic form the work of a film crew who want to re- enact the Battle of Magersfontein from the Second Boer War . Initially, the Publication Control Board, South Africa's censorship authority, allowed the book to be published, but later it was banned after the Aksie morele standaarde (for example: "Action for moral values") complained about the book to Information Minister Connie Mulder - although the initiator said it was his own I don't understand the book at all. The ban was not lifted until 1980. Nevertheless, in 1979 he received the Hertzogprys for this work as well . After receiving the award, however, he left the academy because it refused to accept the writer Adam Small , who belonged to the Coloreds .

In 1982 Onse Hymie appeared, a satire on the apartheid system. A Jew wanders through the Karoo , contrasted with a “meat palace”, a “microcosm of modernity” in which the multitude of apartheid laws ultimately lead to the collapse of the computer that controls them. Leroux's books were not translated into German.

Leroux died in Bloemfontein and was buried in the family grave in Wamakersdrift near Koffiefontein.

Awards

Works

  • 1955: The first lewe van Colet
  • 1957: Hilaria
  • 1959: The mugu
  • 1962: Sewe dae by the Silbersteins
  • 1964: Een vir Azazel
  • 1966: The derde oog
  • 1967: 18-44
  • 1969: Isis, Isis, Isis
  • 1972: Na'va
  • 1976: Magersfontein, oh Magersfontein!
  • 1982: Onse Hymie
  • 1990: The suiwerste hugenoot is Jan Schoeman (posthumous, facsimile)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b portrait at stellenboschwriters.com (English), accessed on September 11, 2013
  2. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 216. Digital copy (excerpts)
  3. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 227.Digitized (excerpts)
  4. ^ Margreet de Lange: The muzzled muse: Literature and censorship in South Africa. John Benjamin Publishing, Amsterdam 1997, ISBN 1556194315 , p. 39. (digitized version ) The movement is incorrectly spelled here with stock instead of Aksie . See the movement's publications on WorldCat .
  5. ↑ a b Portrait of Leroux on the Sestigers' private website , accessed on September 10, 2013
  6. ↑ Description of Leroux's work by JC Kannemeyer ( Memento of October 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on September 9, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Leroux, Etienne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES le Roux, Stephanus Petrus Daniel (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Oudtshoorn
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1989
Place of death Bloemfontein