W.A. de Klerk
(1917-1996) was an
Afrikaans
author and playwright.
Generally known as
Bill de Klerk
to his friends and intimates.
Biography
Born
Willem Adriaan de Klerk
in the Paarl, he was schooled at
Grey College
in Bloemfontein and at the
University of Stellenbosch
, where he completed a BA (1937) and an LLB (1939).
He started out his working life with a short stint of 5 years as an advocate in the Cape, before he spent 3 years as a freelance writer and announcer for the
SABC
and for the BBC in London.
In the early nineteen fifties he settled on the farm "Saffier" ("Saphire") near the Paarl and became a full-time writer-farmer. Here he would produce numerous and eclectic prose works - among them adventure stories, novels, children’s books and political-philosophical works on the
Afrikaner
, one of the best known of these being
The Puritans in Africa: A Story of Afrikanerdom
(1975).
A much loved man, Saffier also became a rallying point for Cape writers and other
Afrikaner
intellectuals.
His contribution to South African theatre.
As dramatist De Klerk picks up where
J.F.W. Grosskopf
left off with social realism, linking with Ibsen and O’Neill. While strong dramatic situations are depicted and he aims for powerful characterization (often focussed on the limitations of and challenges for man in society), the plays are at times spoiled by relatively heavy-handed and "stagey" dialogue and purple passages of pseudo-philosophical moralizing. However he was perhaps the pre-eminent "serious" dramatic writer of his generation, his works forming the cornerstone of the
National Theatre Organisation
(
NTO
) repertoire and the published plays became a core part of the mid-century dramatic canon in Afrikaans. For example,
Nag het die Wind Gebring
("Night brought the Wind") was originally directed by
Anna Neethling-Pohl
for
Volksteater
, but then later used for the inaugural season of
NTO
,
Hellersee
was first done by
K.A.T.
in Cape Town, and then by
NTO
in 1959, while
Die Jaar van die Vuuros
, his most ambitious and profound ? possibly best - play, was written as a commissioned work for the 1952
Van Riebeeck Tricentenary
festivities. The play tentatively sought to question some of the tenets underlying the segregationists ideas being propagated by the newly elected Nationalist Party. Produced by
NTO
, it won De Klerk the
Hertzog Prize
for drama (a contentious award because he shared it with
Gerhard J. Beukes
). It was also a standard prescribed work for schools and literary courses for almost four decades (1950s-1980s).
Other full-length plays
His first play was
Uit die goeie aarde
(“From the good earth” - 1942), a play about student life, followed by a collection of three plays (
Die Verterende Vuur
[“The consuming fire”],
Nag het die Wind Gebring
[“Night brought the wind”] and
Hellersee
[which opened the
Bloemfontein Civic Theatre
in 1959], in
Drie Dramas
, 1947).
Thereafter came:
Vlamme oor La Roche
(“Flames over La Roche” ? 1951),
Die Jaar van die Vuuros
(lit. “The year of the fire ox”, 1952),
Die Twisappel
(The bone [lit. “apple”] of contention”, 1955),
Vermaak se kind
(“Child of entertainment”, 1963),
Wanneer see en branders dreun
(“When sea and waves boom”, 1963).
After a long silence he published
Die Markplein
(“The marketplace”) in 1978, but by then his style of theatre had gone out of fashion and it was never seriously considered for performance.
Shorter works
He wrote nine published one-act plays, among which are some of his better works, including:
Pilatus
(in
Ses Eenbedrywe
, 1946)
Die Volmaakte Huwelik
,
Die Jammer Hart
and
Ontvlugting
(in
Drie Vroue
, 1947),
Die Reen Van Jou Liefde
(in
Uitgesoekte Eenbedrywe
, 1948).
Waai, Westewind
(in
Vier Uitgesoekte Eenbedrywe
, 1950).
Radio
He also wrote a number of radio dramas.
Awards
1952: Awarded the
Hertzog Prize
for
Afrikaans
Drama for his three plays
As ons twee eers getroud is
,
Langs die steiltes
en
Salome dans!
. He controversially shared the prize with
Gerhard J. Beukes
, in a time when all expectations were that
Uys Krige
would be the winner.
1958: Awarded the
Scheepersprys vir Jeuglektuur
("Scheepers Prize for Youth Literature" in
Afrikaans
).
Sources
Afrikaans
Wikipedia
[1]
Mona de Beer
1995.
Who Did What in South Africa
(Revised ed.). Johannesburg:
Ad Donker
.
J.C. Kannemeyer
1983.
Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Literatuur II
. Pretoria:
Academica
(Second edition, 1984
[2]
).
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