Breyten Breytenbach has left the world a poorer place with his passing.
Distinguished poet, painter, and man of letters Breyten Breytenbach has left the world a poorer place with his passing.
Breytenbach, who was born in 1939, died on Sunday in Paris, the city where he had first been exiled in the 1960s.
The multi-talented man, a great thinker in the true sense of the word, examined the themes of identity, exile, and justice with his work.
His brilliant career had extended to almost six decades; his paintings were exhibited in some of the world’s top galleries; and the literary and creative genius was awarded numerous and prestigious literary prizes.
The City of Cape Town along with the rest of South Africa, has mourned his passing and the loss of a great son of the province and the country. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis conveyed the City’s condolences on the passing of a man who owned a multitude of titles: not only as poet and painter, but a former political prisoner who had fought against apartheid and was also known in the City as a Civic Honour awardee.
“Almost exactly a year ago, our City awarded Civic Honours to Breyten Breytenbach for his remarkable service to Cape Town and society, his vast contribution to South African poetry and literature, and his profound personal sacrifice in opposition to apartheid.
He was a genius creator of transcendent beauty who captured our emotions, forced us to think, and demonstrated during the dark days of our country’s past that the pen is far mightier than the sword. May his soul rest in peace,” said the mayor.
Born in Bonnievale in the Western Cape, Breytenbach matriculated from Huguenot High School in Wellington (where the Breytenach Sentrum there honours him) and he went on to study fine arts at UCT. He left South Africa for France in 1960 due to his outspoken political defiance of the ruling National Party.
The apartheid government considered his marriage to Vietnamese Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien a criminal offence (due to “love across the colour line”) and Breytenbach was not allowed to enter South Africa. In 1975, when he did travel home on a false passport he was promptly arrested, charged with high treason, and sentenced to nine years in prison. He served seven years, the first two in solitary confinement.
Two of his books, Mouroir and Confession véridique d’un terroriste albino, were written during these years of incarceration.
His numerous literary accolades include the Alan Paton Award, the CNA Prize and the Hertzog Prize for Poetry.
Breytenbach was also a founding member of the Sestigers, a dissident Afrikaans literary movement strongly opposing the apartheid regime.
Breytenbach published his first poetry collection, Die ysterkoei moet sweet, in Afrikaans in 1964. He went on to publish over a dozen books of poetry in Afrikaans and English. He is also the author of several works of non fiction, including a four-volume cycle chronicling his experiences in South Africa.
Writing about him in The New York Review of Books, J M Coetzee comments, “An immensely gifted writer, able to descend effortlessly into the Africa of the poetic unconscious and return with the rhythm and the words, the words in the rhythm, that give life.”
The Presidency of the French Republic issued a communiqué in Paris on November 25, saying: “President François Mitterrand’s steadfast support contributed to his (prison) release in 1982.
Breytenbach became a voice of conscience for France, forging a deep connection with Danielle Mitterrand, with whom he shared bonds of friendship and struggle.
He actively participated in the anti-apartheid efforts of France Libertés, the association led by the First Lady, which supported Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment.”
Nelson Mandela’s first trip outside Africa after his release was to France, while François Mitterrand’s last trip in October 1994 was to attend President Mandela’s inauguration. Breytenbach, who gained French nationality in 1982, lived in France until apartheid laws were abolished, allowing him to return to South Africa. He then divided his time between his adopted homeland, the US, and Senegal, painting and writing novels, poems, and plays that explored inner worlds, borderless journeys, exile, and universal humanity.
“Breyten Breytenbach was a ferryman of freedom, crossing oceans and dismantling barriers of identity and division. He remained committed to exposing the inequalities of an unjust world and urging us to ‘imagine Africa’. The President of the Republic pays tribute to this great champion of human rights and freedom, whose legacy will forever link France and South Africa,” said the Embassy.
Breytenbach’s honours and awards include the Ansfield-Wolf Book Award, the Alan Paton Award for Literature, and the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity.
He has taught at the University of Natal, Princeton University, and New York University.
*Some of the information contained in this article is attributed to The Conversation.
Cape Times
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