The Sestigers (Sixtiers), also known as the Beweging van Sestig ("the movement of the sixties"), were a dissident

literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

-language poets and writers in

South Africa under apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. The movement was started in the beachside

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

suburb of Clifton during the early 1960s by

André Brink André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town. In the 1960s Brink, Ingrid Jonker, Etienne Lerou ...

and

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of ...

, under the mentorship of

Uys Krige Mattheus Uys Krige (4 February 1910 – 10 August 1987) was a South African writer of novels, short stories, poems and plays in Afrikaans and English. In Afrikaans literature, Krige is counted among the '' Dertigers'' ("Writers of the Thirties" ...

and

Jack Cope Robert Knox "Jack" Cope (3 June 1913 – 1 May 1991) was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet and editor. Life Jack Cope was born in Natal, South Africa, and home-schooled by tutors. From the age of 12, he boarded at Durban High Sc ...

, and in continuation of a tradition in

South African literature South African literature is the literature of South Africa, which has 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Tsonga and Ndebele. Overview Elleke Boehmer (cf. Cullhed, 2006: 79) writ ...

pioneered in the 1920s by Roy Campbell,

William Plomer William Charles Franklyn Plomer (10 December 1903 – 20 September 1973) was a South African and British novelist, poet and literary editor. He also wrote a series of librettos for Benjamin Britten. He wrote some of his poetry under the pseud ...

, and

Laurens van der Post Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, (13 December 1906 – 15 December 1996) was a South African Afrikaner writer, farmer, soldier, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist. He was noted for his interest in Jungi ...

. The Sestigers sought to elevate Afrikaans as a

literary language Literary language is the Register (sociolinguistics), register of a language used when writing in a formal, academic writing, academic, or particularly polite tone; when speaking or writing in such a tone, it can also be known as formal language. ...

and use it as a medium for

speaking truth to power "Speaking truth to power" is a non-violent political tactic, employed by dissidents against the received wisdom or propaganda of governments they regard as oppressive, authoritarian or an ideocracy. The phrase originated with a pamphlet, ...

against the extreme Afrikaner nationalist and

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

and its policies of both

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and

censorship in South Africa The mass media in South Africa has a large mass media sector and is one of Africa's major media centres. While South Africa's many broadcasters and publications reflect the diversity of the population as a whole, the most commonly used language ...

. ''Die Sestigers'' also included Reza de Wet,

Etienne Leroux Etienne Leroux (born Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux; 13 June 1922 – 30 December 1989) was an Afrikaans writer and a member of the South African Sestigers literary movement. Early life and career Etienne Leroux was born in Oudtshoorn in ...

Jan Rabie Jan Sebastian Rabie (14 November 1920 - 15 November 2001) was an Afrikaans writer of short stories, novels and other literary works. He was born in George, and was the writer of twenty-one works. He was included under the Sestigers The Sestige ...

Ingrid Jonker Ingrid Jonker (19 September 1933 – 19 July 1965) was a South African poet and one of the founders of modern Afrikaans literature. Her poems have been widely translated into other languages. Born into an Afrikaner family with four hundred y ...

, Adam Small,

Bartho Smit Bartho Smit (15 July 1924 – 31 December 1986) was a South African writer, poet, dramatist and director. He was a member of the Sestigers, a group of influential Afrikaans writers of the 1960s. He wrote ''Moeder Hanna'' ("Mother Hanna") in 195 ...

Chris Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8November 19222September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident victim ...

Hennie Aucamp Hennie Aucamp (20 January 1934 – 20 March 2014) was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing his h ...

Dolf van Niekerk Rudolf Johannes van Niekerk (known as Dolf) ( — ) was a South African author, dramatist, radio presenter and professor. He wrote in Afrikaans and was a member of the Sestigers group. Education van Niekerk was born in Edenburg and matriculated ...

, Abraham H. de Vries, and

Elsa Joubert Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert OIS (19 October 1922 – 14 June 2020) was a Sestigers Afrikaans-language writer. She rose to prominence with her novel '' Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena'' (The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena), which was tra ...

. These writers had often studied abroad (mainly in Paris) and under the widespread influence of

existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

attempted to face the innocent writing of

Afrikaans literature Afrikaans literature is literature written in Afrikaans. Afrikaans is the daughter language of 17th-century Dutch and is spoken by the majority of people in the Western Cape of South Africa and among Afrikaners and Coloured South Africans in othe ...

. Thus they aimed at a dissident literature in both prose and poetry by emulating both European

literary modernism Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...

and

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

to tackle the political, cultural, and sexual problems of South Africa under apartheid and eventually led to a phenomenal growth in the Afrikaans art in later decades. Judy H. Gardner has called the prose and poetry of ''die Sestigers'', "literature in exile in its own country". In her biography of dissident poet

, Louise Viljoen called ''die Sestigers'', "a cultural revolt within the heart of Afrikanerdom".

References

Afrikaans literature 20th-century South African literature Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists {{lit-mov-stub

See also

References