Afrikaans Lit

Friday, June 25, 2010

Enlarge

Marlene Van Niekerk's "Agaat"

Few authors who write in Afrikaans are read as widely outside South Africa than Marlene Van Niekerk. Her challenging novel Agaat, about the complex and bitter relationship of a black and a white woman running a farm, has earned her the endorsement of Toni Morrison. Van Niekerk explains how moral ambiguities pervade everything about South Africa.

Guests:

Marlene Van Niekerk

Comments [1]

Frank Schoeman from Somers NY

The text introducing the the audio clip incorrectly identifies Agaat as a black and the interviewer repeats this misidentification even after Ms. van Niekerk explained that the character, as would be likely in the Western Cape, is a coloured (South African spelling.) The typical euphemism used in the US is "person of mixed race". This is ignorance of South Africa that is incredible for someone who claims to have visited. He further shows it by referring to the Afrikaans language as 'African', I could hear no hint of the final 's' or the 'aa'. Disappointing.

Jun. 27 2010 12:20 PM

Score: 0/0

Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.

Content type*

Object pk*

Timestamp*

Security hash*

Name*

Email address*

URL

Comment*

If you enter anything in this field your comment will be treated as spam

Location

* Denotes a required field