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Marlene van Niekerk

マルレーネ・ファン・ニーケルク

Marlene van Niekerk

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1954-11-10 （Tygerhoek farm near Caledon, Western Cape, South Africa）
Nationality
South African
Languages
Afrikaans, English
Residence History
Stellenbosch (study, work) → Amsterdam (study) → Johannesburg area (long-term, setting)

Career

Occupations
novelist, poet, academic (Afrikaans & Dutch literature, creative writing)
Active Years
1977-
Affiliations
Stellenbosch University (Assoc. Professor, Afrikaans & Dutch), University of the Witwatersrand (former lecturer), University of Zululand (taught philosophy), University of South Africa (UNISA, taught)
Nominations
Man Booker International Prize (nominated), Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (shortlisted)

Education

Stellenbosch University
Faculty of Languages and Philosophy / Languages and Philosophy
Degree: MA
Period: 1970s
Year of Graduation: 1978
Country: South Africa
MA thesis on the literary design in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'
University of Amsterdam
Philosophy (doctorandus) / Philosophy
Degree: Doctorandus (Philosophy)
Period: 1980s
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: Netherlands
Thesis on Claude Lévi-Strauss and Paul Ricoeur (structuralist and hermeneutic approaches)

Awards

Eugène Marais Prize
1977
Work: Sprokkelster
Organization: South African literary bodies
Result: 受賞
Ingrid Jonker Prize
1978
Work: Sprokkelster
Organization: Ingrid Jonker Prize committee
Result: 受賞
M-Net Literary Award
1995
Work: Triomf
Organization: M-Net
Result: 受賞
CNA Prize
1995
Work: Triomf
Organization: CNA
Result: 受賞
Noma Award for Publishing in Africa
1995
Work: Triomf
Organization: Noma Award committee
Result: 受賞
M-Net Literary Award
2005
Work: Agaat
Organization: M-Net
Result: 受賞
W.A. Hofmeyr Prize
2005
Work: Agaat
Organization: Literary prize committee
Result: 受賞
Sunday Times Literary Award
2007
Work: Agaat
Organization: Sunday Times
Result: 受賞
Helgaard Steyn Prize
2008
Work: Agaat
Organization: Helgaard Steyn Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Hertzog Prize
2007
Work: Agaat (and later for Kaar)
Organization: Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns
Result: 受賞
Order of Ikhamanga (Silver)
2011
Work: Outstanding intellectual contribution to the literary arts and culture
Organization: The Presidency of South Africa
Result: 受章
Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation (translator award)
2007
Work: Agaat (English translation by Michiel Heyns)
Organization: Translation prize committee
Result: 翻訳者が受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Triomf

1994 tragicomedy / novel

Follows the Benade family in a poor white suburb built on the ruins of Sophiatown; a satirical tragicomedy exploring family dynamics and the consequences of apartheid on class and race.

familypost-Apartheid societyracismclassgender
Adaptations
  • [film] Triomf (film) / Michael Raeburn (2008)
Translations
  • English translation by Leon de Kock (2000)

Agaat

2004 novel (literary)

Set in 1996, it centers on Kamilla de Wet, suffering from motor neurone disease, and her maid Agaat; the novel explores shifting power dynamics, memory, family and broader social change in post-Apartheid South Africa.

memorycare and powergenderrace & classfamily
Translations
  • English translation by Michiel Heyns (2007)

Memorandum: A Story with Paintings

2006 short story / illustrated

A story accompanied by paintings by Adriaan van Zyl; a hybrid literary-visual work.

artmemory

Bibliography

  • Sprokkelster (1977)
  • Groenstaar (1983)
  • Triomf (1994)
  • Agaat (2004)
  • Memorandum: A Story with Paintings (2006)
  • The Snow Sleeper (2010)
  • Kaar (2013)
  • Gesant van die mispels (2017)
  • In die stille agterkamer (2017)

Adaptations

  • Triomf (2008 film, dir. Michael Raeburn)
  • Die kortstondige raklewe van Anastasia W (stage production, 2011, Stellenbosch)

Translations by Author

  • The Swan Whisperer (English trans., co-translated by Marlene van Niekerk & Marius Swart, 2015)

Translations of Works

  • English, Dutch, French, Danish, Italian, Swedish translations

Style & Themes

Literary Style
satirical and tragicomic toneexperimental and baroque stylistic elements (wordplay, lyricism)memory-focused and introspective narrative
Recurring Motifs
family breakdownshifts in power (generation, race, class)memory and diary fragmentscare/dependency relationshipsAfrikaner culture and gender

Legacy

Marlene van Niekerk is a leading South African writer in Afrikaans whose major novels Triomf and Agaat have gained international acclaim for their critical portrayals of post-Apartheid society. She has influenced both literary study and international readership through translations and academic work.

Academic Societies

  • Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and Arts)

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation of Triomf (2008)
  • Stage productions and dedicated academic journal special issues

Quotes

  • "[Agaat] exemplified the reason people read novels, and the reason authors write them."
    Source: The New York Times (review by Liesl Schillinger, 2010) (2010)

Trivia

  • Debut Sprokkelster (1977) won the Eugène Marais Prize and the Ingrid Jonker Prize.
  • Agaat won multiple South African literary awards; its English translation was also honored (translator won the Sol Plaatje Prize).
  • Awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) by the Presidency of South Africa in 2011.
  • Recurring subjects include post-Apartheid class and race issues, gender, and family power dynamics.