Sestigers

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The Sestigers ( Afrikaans ; German: "The Sixties"; also Moving van Sestig, "Movement of Sixty") was an avant-garde movement of South African writers who wrote in Afrikaans in the 1960s .

history

In the 1930s there was the Dertigers ("Thirties") movement in South Africa, which included poets writing in Afrikaans such as NP van Wyk Louw and Uys Krige . The prose works of Afrikaans-speaking authors, however, have long been characterized by a provincial and non-confrontational character. The first book by the Sestigers is Een-en-twintig by Jan Rabie (1920-2001), published in 1956 , which contained 21 surreal short stories . The Sestigers were founded in 1962 on the initiative of Chris Barnard (1939–2015), André Brink (1935–2015), Breyten Breytenbach (* 1939) and Ingrid Jonker (1933–1965).

The common goals included the rejection of the authoritarian ruling National Party (NP) and its apartheid policy and thus the inclusion of all South Africans in Afrikaans-language literature, not just the Boers . This included the requirement to describe topics avoided in the puritanical circles of the Boers such as sexuality and atheism. The other important concern was the opening of literature to modern styles, such as surrealism and symbolism . The majority of the Sestigers, such as Rabie, Brink and Breytenbach, had spent a few years in France and got to know existentialism there. Breytenbach actually belonged to the movement, but declared that he was not a member. Jonker was temporarily dating Brink and committed suicide in 1965.

The literary magazine The Sestigers appeared quarterly from November 1963 to 1965 . It was initiated by Bartho Smit (1924–1986) and edited by André Brink and propagated experimental literature. It was designed for a short period of publication.

Etienne Leroux (1922–1989), Elsa Joubert (1922–2020), Abraham de Vries (* 1937) and Dolf van Niekerk (* 1929) also belonged to the Sestigers . The only non-white member was the Colored Adam Small (1936-2016). All members met only twice - without Breytenbach - for the premiere of the magazine and for the decision to discontinue the magazine two years later. Breytenbach was living in Paris at the time and took a more radical position than the other members.

The reaction of a large part of the ruling NP and the main Boer church, the Dutch Reformed Church , was negative. In parliamentary debates and from the pulpit , the authors were sharply condemned for breaking taboos within their own population group. It has been claimed that Etienne Leroux's books, which parodied the pastoral style of novels that had prevailed up to that time, propagated communism . Members of the Sestigers placed their books outside a large part of Boer society. They were often referred to as traitors or communists. According to Brink, the attitude towards the Sestigers divided the NP into the tense (conservative) and the lost (enlightened) camp, a division that has long characterized the NP. The movement was particularly popular among young Boers. The government censorship agency under the newly introduced Publications and Entertainments Act No. 26/1963 the Publications Control Board, which was still relatively tolerant in the 1960s. Its members received their appointment from the Minister of the Interior. However, censorship was already taking place in the publishing houses so that books were not printed or shortened at all. The first book in Afrikaans banned by the government agency was Brink's 1973 novel Kennis van die aand (German as Blick ins Dunkel ). The banning of literature or other media products has been deliberately practiced since 1956, with reference to the Suppression of Communism Act and the Customs and Excise Act No. 91/1964 . Between 1956 and 1963, 5,515 publications and 25 other works (e.g. films) were banned. The Publications and Entertainments Act was amended in 1973 to deal with the duties of the Publication Control Board . From its inception until August 1974, this supervisory body banned 8,728 publications and 78 other media products. These numbers were found in response to inquiries from members of parliament.

Some of the authors had parents who belonged to the authoritarian ruling class. Leroux's father, Stephanus Petrus le Roux, was a member of the NP and was Minister of Agriculture from 1948 to 1958, Jonker's father Abraham Jonker was a member of the NP's parliament and chairman of the parliamentary committee for censorship laws. As a district judge, Brink's father was also part of the apartheid system.

In 1968, the group disintegrated as some members like Brink and Leroux called for more decisive political interference and others opposed it.

aftermath

The members of the Sestigers remained active as authors, some of them to this day.

Although Etienne Leroux received the prestigious Hertzog Prize of the South African Academy for the Sciences and Arts for the Roman Magersfontein, o Magersfontein in 1979 , he subsequently left the academy with his former colleagues from the Sestigers, as the Colored Adam Small should not be admitted as a member .

Afrikaans writers of the 1980s are sometimes called Tagtigers ("eighties"). A characteristic work is the 1978 published Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena by Elsa Joubert, in which the fate of a Xhosa woman is the focus (German as The Long Path of Poppie Nongena ).

In May 1994 President-elect Nelson Mandela read Ingrid Jonker's poem The Child in the English version during the opening speech of the first parliament elected by all South Africans. The poem is about a black child in the Cape Town district of Nyanga who was shot by the police .

Works (selection)

  • 1956: Een-en-twintig by Jan Rabie (poems)
  • 1962: Lobola vir di lewe by André Brink (novel)
  • 1963: Rook en oker by Ingrid Jonker; therein Die Kind, English The Child (poems)
  • 1964: Sewe dae by die Silbersteins by Etienne Leroux (novel)
  • 1965: Kanna hy kô hystoe by Adam Small (Drama)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 207. Digital copy (excerpts)
  2. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 210.Digitized (excerpts)
  3. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 111.Digitalized (excerpts)
  4. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 211. Digital copy (excerpts)
  5. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 216. Digital copy (excerpts)
  6. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 212. Digital copy (excerpts)
  7. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 218. Digital copy (excerpts)
  8. ^ Description of the law in the O'Malley Archives , accessed August 20, 2013
  9. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 219. Digital copy (excerpts)
  10. ^ A long way from Mandela's kitchen New York Times on September 11, 2010 (English), accessed on August 20, 2013
  11. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1972 . Johannesburg 1973, p. 80
  12. ^ SAIRR: Survey 1973 . 1974, p. 63
  13. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1974 . 1975, p. 72
  14. ↑ Background on father and daughter Jonker ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  15. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 47.Digitized (excerpts)
  16. ^ Biography André Brinks at marabout.de , accessed on August 17, 2013
  17. ^ André Brink : A Fork in the Road. Harvill Secker, London 2009, ISBN 978-1846552458 , p. 227.Digitized (excerpts)
  18. ↑ Abstract at africabib.org (English), accessed on August 17, 2013
  19. ↑ Video of the speech , accessed on August 16, 2013