André Philippus BrinkOIS(29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in bothAfrikaansand English and taught English at theUniversity of Cape Town.[1][2]
During his stay, he came across an undeniable fact that changed his mind forever: black students were treated on an equal social basis with other students. Back in South Africa, he became one of the most prominent young Afrikaans writers, along with the novelistEtienne Lerouxand the poetBreyten Breytenbach,to challenge the apartheid policy of the National party through his writings. During a second journey in France between 1967 and 1968, he hardened his political position against Apartheid and began writing both in Afrikaans and English to enlarge his audience and outplay the censure he was facing in his native country at the time.
Indeed, his novelKennis van die aand(1973) was the first Afrikaans book to be banned by the South African government.[3]André Brink translatedKennis van die aandinto English and published it abroad asLooking on Darkness.This was his firstself-translation.[4]After that, André Brink wrote his works simultaneously in English and Afrikaans.[5]In 1975, he obtained his PhD in Literature atRhodes University.
In 2008, in an echo of a scene from his novelA Chain of Voices,his family was beset by tragedy, when his nephew Adri Brink was murdered in front of his wife and children in theirGautenghome.[6]
Brink died on a flight fromAmsterdamto South Africa, having visited Belgium to receive an honorary doctorate from the Belgian FrancophoneUniversité Catholique de Louvain.[7]He was married five times. Brink's son, Anton Brink, is an artist.[8]
^Brink, André (11 September 2010)."A Long Way From Mandela's Kitchen".New York Times.Retrieved15 October2012.One of my novels had the dubious distinction of being the first book in Afrikaans to be banned under apartheid.
^Brink, André (2003): "English and the Afrikaans Writer" in: Steven G. KellmanSwitching languages. Translingual writers reflect on their craft.University of Nebraska Press, p. 218.
