South African poet who wrote Die Stem (1873?1932)
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven
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Langenhoven with his wife at the church in
Oudtshoorn
on the wedding day of their daughter in 1926
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Born
| 13 August 1873
Hoeko,
Ladismith
,
Cape Colony
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Died
| 15 July 1932
(1932-07-15)
(aged 58)
Oudtshoorn
,
South Africa
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Resting place
| Arbeidsgenot, Oudtshoorn
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Language
| Afrikaans
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Nationality
| South African
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Notable works
| "
Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
",
Versamelde Werke
(Collected Works)
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Spouse
| Lenie van Velden
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Children
| Engela (b. 1901)
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Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven
(13 August 1873 ? 15 July 1932), who published under his initials
C.J. Langenhoven
, was a South African poet who played a major role in the development of
Afrikaans
literature and cultural history. His poetry was one of the then young language's foremost promoters. He is best known for writing the words for the national anthem of South Africa, "
Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
", which was used during the
apartheid
era. He was affectionately known as
Sagmoedige Neelsie
(Gentle Neelsie) or
Kerneels
. His childhood friend who helped him get into poetry was called Hans Conrodius van Zyl.
Biography
[
edit
]
Langenhoven was born at Hoeko, near
Ladismith
, in the then
Cape Colony
, and later moved to
Oudtshoorn
where he became its most famous resident. In 1897 he married the widow Lenie van Velden. They had one child, a daughter named Engela, who was born in 1901. By 1914 he became a member of parliament (first as member of The House of Assembly, and later as Senator) where he took to the next level the struggle to have Afrikaans officially recognised. He was also a founding member of the Afrikaans newspaper
Die Burger
, and a
South African Freemason
.
[1]
[2]
His most famous work is the former South African national anthem "
Die Stem
", which he wrote in 1918. Parts of it have been incorporated into the
current national anthem
, used since the abolition of
apartheid
in the 1990s. To celebrate the centenary of his birth, in 1973 the South African Post Office issued a series of stamps (in 4-cent, 5-cent and 15-cent denominations).
Langenhoven's writing career spanned almost every genre, from poetry to ghost and alien stories. He also translated several works into
Afrikaans
, amongst which was the
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
. He was instrumental in the movement for the acceptance of
Afrikaans
as a language, and for it to be taught as the first language in schools instead of
Dutch
. This culminated in the language officially being used in parliament in 1925, and by 1927 it was recognised as an official language of South Africa, together with English and Dutch, although it effectively replaced Dutch in general usage.
Personality
[
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]
Considered one of the most versatile writers in
Afrikaans
, he was a master of the short form of prose and is best remembered for his humorous and
satirical
works, illustrated by a nonsense-verse "love poem" he wrote for his dog. Langenhoven was well known for his sharp wit and gentle manner. He owned an imaginary elephant named
Herrie
("Harry") that appeared in many of his stories. He even carved its name onto a boulder next to the N12 highway near
Meiringspoort
(outside
Oudtshoorn
) in 1929. This boulder, known as
Herrie's Stone
("Herrie se Klip", in
Afrikaans
), has been declared a
provincial heritage site
.
[3]
Legacy
[
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]
- The
Stellenbosch University
Student Center is named after him and is affectionately known as "Die Neelsie" ("The Neelsie").
- South African filmmaker
Manie van Rensburg
made a light-hearted comedic television series based on Langenhoven's work in 1983, titled
Sagmoedige Neelsie
.
- To celebrate the
centenary
of his birth, the South African Post Office issued C.J. Langenhoven
stamps
in 1973.
- A suburb in the west of Bloemfontein called
Langenhoven Park
was named after him.
- Langenhoven is regarded as one of the most prolific and most versatile
Afrikaans
writers still today, his Collected Works comprising 16 volumes. He is also fondly remembered and referred to for his quirky personality.
- The place he and his family lived in, called the
Arbeidsgenot
, (meaning "the pleasure of work" or "the joy of labour") has been turned into a house museum. They lived there from 1901 until 1950.
[4]
- Nelson Mandela
recounts that in 1964 while in prison he read a book by Langenhoven called
Shadows of Nazareth
about the trial of Jesus Christ that deeply affected him. Mandela describes how in Langenhoven's book Pilate agreed to judge Jesus, then offered the public a choice that freed not Jesus but the zealot Barabbas, and then how he, Pilate, finally ordered Jesus brought into the Roman court. "He gazed upwards and his eyes seemed to pierce through the roof and to see right beyond the stars," wrote Langenhoven. "It became clear that in that courtroom authority was not in me as a judge, but was down below in the dock where the prisoner was."
[5]
[6]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven
at Wikimedia Commons
- See also the
Afrikaans link
from which this translation was originally derived
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