My Mother's Mother's Mother

South African Women's Writing from 17th Century Dutch to Contemporary Afrikaans
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-8728-318-6
Verlag: Leiden University Press

Buch, Englisch, 962 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 1498 g

The first of its kind, this volume collects more than seventy South African women’s voices, from 1652 until today. We share the joys and sorrows of these women through their entertaining, sometimes disturbing texts. A testament to a significant segment of the linguistic and cultural history of the country, they speak in Dutch, then in different varieties of Afrikaans. The printing press arrived late at the Cape, and when it finally did, it took another century before the first publications by women appeared. Initially their writing bore a strong biblical influence, but gradually, as women began to have access to better educational opportunities, they began to produce literature of world stature in Afrikaans. Through this literature, we can see women’s perspectives on the tumultuous history of South Africa from colonisation to democracy as it unfolded. This book is crucial for researchers of language development and historical texts by women. It is also indispensable for everyone interested in world literature and its development, particularly in South Africa.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Van Beek, Pieta

Van Niekerk, Annemarie

van Nierkerk,

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literatursoziologie, Gender Studies
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturen sonstiger Sprachräume Afrikanische Literaturen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

CONTENTS

Preface

About this book

Introduction

Eva/Krotoa (ca. 1641-1674), Interpreter, beautiful maiden, malicious woman

Marie Jeanne des Pres (1675-1763), “The first of these was Mary chosen”

Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (1679-1734), “Cape stories”

Maria van Hoeven (169?-1737), “Dear soul”

Susanna de Vries (née Bosman) (1711-1755), “An Afrikaans woman in an untamed region”

Elizabeth Bosman (1720-1784), A daughter writes about her father

Elizabeth Conradie (1746-1806), “Devout farmer’s wife”

Machteld Smith (1749-1821), A Mother of Israel at the Cape

Johanna Duminy (1757-1807), “While laughing and talking”

Magdalena Retief (née De Wet) (1782-1855), “The mother of all suffering”

Helena Susanna Hauptfleisch (née Le Roux) (1783-1851), “A deeply devout soul”

Women poets in and around the Bosman book of verse, “Incapable of writing poetry”

Magdalena Jonker (née Van Zyl) (1765-1831), “A shining light in a remote region”

Hester Venter (1750-18??), “Many a woman, defenceless maiden or innocent infant slain”

Anonymous (fl. ca. 1800), “Through meeting again in eternal life”

Catharina Allegonda van Lier (1768-1801), “Like a bush in the desert”

Missionary in her own right Sophia Burgmann (1769-1811)

Augusta Uitenhage de Mist (1786-1832), The travel journal of a Dutch female traveller to Africa

Anonymous (ca. 1775), “A talk between a mother and her daughter on the passing away of her suitor”

Christiana Thom (née Meijer) (1788-1816), “Behold my little lamb”

Anna Steenkamp (née Retief) (1797-1891), “From days of struggle”

Petronella Camijn (1787-1868), A cheerful and versatile artist

Susanna Smit (1799-1863), Barefoot crossing the Drakensberg?

Maria de Vooght (fl. 1846-?), “Your loving friend”

H.H. Martinson (fl. 1825-?), A New Year’s wish from 1825

Maria Neethling (née Murray) (1831-1912), Writing as missionary work

Maria Hamman (1832-1874) (and other Hamman women writers), “Your father is already so infatuated with you”

Elizabeth Neethling (née Murray) (1855-1917), “Reporter” of the Anglo-Boer War

Ella Neethling (1862-1926), Missionary work from her sickbed

Anna Pauw (1870-1953), Smiles and tears of a missionary school teacher

Johanna Grobbelaar (fl. 1897), Windhoek, shooting and lots of beer

M.E.R. (Maria Elizabeth Rothmann) (1875-1975), Developing and educating her people

Marie du Toit (1880-1931), The first Afrikaans writer on feminism

Petronella van Heerden (1887-1975), The first female doctor in South Africa

The South African Federation of Women and the Garment Workers Union, Early 20th-century popular fiction

Anna M. Louw (1913-2003), The struggle between good and evil

Elisabeth Eybers (1915-2007), A balancing act between South Africa and the Netherlands

Elsa Joubert (1922), Opening eyes

Sheila Cussons (1922-2004), Mysticism and Catholicism in Afrikaans poetry

Olga Kirsch (1924-1997), Bringing Israel and Judaism to Afrikaans poetry

Ina Rousseau (1926-2005), A failed Eden

Wilma Stockenström (1933), Stripped African landscapes

Ingrid Jonker (1933-1965), Tragedy in life and death

Petra Müller (1935), Like a pebble perfected by nature

Jeanne Goosen (1938), Master of all

Dalene Matthee (1938-2005), A reader’s writer

Lina Spies (1939), “My mother tongue is my ultimate home”

J.M. Gilfillan (1941), The frailty of life, love and beauty

Corlia Fourie (1944), Writing like playing

Emma Huismans (1946), Heart in Africa, head in the Netherlands

Lettie Viljoen / Ingrid Winterbach (1948), Painting music with words

E.K.M. Dido (1951), First woman of colour to publish a book in Afrikaans

Antjie Krog (1952), “Un-writing” country, body and tradition

Diana Ferrus (1953), Bringing home Sara Baartman

Marlene van Niekerk (1954), Juggler of genres and virtuosa in all

Jeanette

Über Autor(innen)

Van Beek, Pieta
Pieta van Beek is a researcher at the Universities of Utrecht and Stellenbosch and her publications are predominantly on the polyglot seventeenth-century learned woman Anna Maria van Schurman, who was the first female university student. Her book Brieven van overzee: Ida Gerhardt nabij is about her friendship and correspondence with the poet Ida Gerhardt. With Dineke Ehlers she co-authored the textbook Oranje boven: Nederlands voor Zuid-Afrika.

van Nierkerk,
Annemarié van Niekerk was for many years a university lecturer and literary critic in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands. She has published numerous articles on Women’s Literature, Gender Studies and Literary History and has compiled various anthologies of African and South African women’s writing. Currently she is book reviewer for the Dutch newspaper Trouw and writes a column for the Belgian sociocultural magazine Streven.

Pieta van Beek is a research fellow at the Universities of Utrecht and Stellenbosch. She has published extensively on forgotten Dutch-Afrikaans women writers of South Africa, as well as on the Dutch learned woman Anna Maria van Schurman, the first female university student.

Annemarié van Niekerk was a university lecturer and literary critic in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands. Currently she is book reviewer for the Dutch newspaper Trouw and writes a column for the Belgian sociocultural magazine Streven.