Mark Behr

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Mark Behr (born October 19, 1963 in Oljorro , Arusha , Tanganyika ; † November 28, 2015 in Johannesburg ) was a writer born in today's Tanzania and raised in South Africa . Most recently, he was a professor at Rhodes College , Memphis, USA .

life and work

Behr was born in Tanganyika; his parents were white farmers. After the expropriation in 1964, the family emigrated to South Africa, where they defined themselves as Afrikaaner . Behr therefore received an Afrikaans-language school education. After graduating from high school, he was drafted into the army and served in the Angolan War . He then studied at Stellenbosch University from 1985 to 1989 and became an agent for the apartheid regime by observing other students. He became a double agent and in the late 1980s also spied for the then opposition, banned African National Congress (ANC).

After 1994 he traveled to the US University of Notre Dame, followed by Masters degrees in International Peace Studies (1993), Fiction (1998) and English Literature (2000).

His first novel, Die reuk van appels or The Smell of Apples , was published in Afrikaans in 1993 and in English two years later. Behr had previously written short stories. His homosexuality was often reflected in homosexual characters within his works. In 1995 he was the first South African to win the Betty Trask Award for a first novel.

Behr probably died of a myocardial infarction .

Works

Novels

  • Reuk van appels Queillerie, Strand 1993, ISBN 1-87490-106-6 (afrikaans).
  • Embrace (2000)
  • Kings of the Water (2009)
    • German translated and provided with a glossary by Michael Kleeberg: Wasserkönige, Roman, edited by Indra Wussow. Das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-88423-370-2 .

Awards

  • 1994: CNA Debut Literary Award for Die reuk van appels
  • 1994: Eugène Maraisprys for Die reuk van appels
  • 1995: Betty Trask Award for The Smell of Apples
  • 1996: M-Net Award for The Smell of Apples
  • 1997: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for a first work ( The Smell of Apples )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary at bookslive.co.za (English), accessed on November 29, 2015
  2. ↑ a b portrait at nb.co.za (English), accessed on November 29, 2015
  3. ↑ Death notice at timeslive.co.za from November 29, 2015 (English), accessed on November 29, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Behr, Mark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH near Oljorro , Arusha , Tanzania
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 2015
Place of death Johannesburg