Jeanne Goosen (13 July 1938 – 3 June 2020) was a South African journalist, poet and writer. She wrote short stories, children's books, plays and award-winning novels.

Life

Jeanne Goosen was born in

Parow, Cape Town Parow is the suburb of the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa and a Northern Suburb of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality founded by Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Parow who arrived in the locality in 1865. History Durin ...

. She studied at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

. Goosen was a controversial writer in Afrikaans. She debuted in 1971 as a poet with ''Owl fly away'', followed by ''Orrelpunte''. Especially as a writer of prose she attained a prominent place in

African literature African literature is literature from Africa, either Oral literature, oral ("orature") or written in African languages, African and Afro-Asiatic languages, Afro-Asiatic languages. Examples of Precolonialism, pre-colonial African literature can be ...

. In ''We are not all like that'', (translated into English 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 ...

) life is illuminated by a white family from the lower middle class in the fifties, which gets involved in all sorts of problems. It is told from the perspective of the daughter, Gertie. The appearance caused a stir in South Africa because of the attention it drew to the existence of 'poor white'. The novel ''Daantjie Dreamer'' (1993) is about a family from the 1950s. The narrator is the daughter Bubbles, who wants to free herself from the environment in which she grew up. Through her conversations with her philosophically inclined brother Daantjie Dreamer, she comes to new insights about political matters and she is aware of her own identity. Goosen died 3 June 2020, in

Melkbosstrand Melkbosstrand (Afrikaans for " Milkbush beach") is a coastal town located on the South West Coast of South Africa, 30 km north of Cape Town. It forms part of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, the municipality governing Cape ...

, near

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 ...

Works

* ''’n Uil vlieg weg'' 1971 - (poetry) * ''Orrelpunte'' 1975 - (poetry) * ''Om ‘n mens na te boots'' 1975 - * ''’n Kat in die sak'' 1986 - * ''Louoond'' 1987 - * ''Ons is nie almal so nie'' 1990 - * ''Daantjie Dromer'' 1993 - * ''’n Gelyke Kans'' 1995 - (short stories) * ''Wie is Jan Hoender?'' 2001 - (novella) * ''Straataf'' 2001 - * * ''Desnieteenstaande'' 2003 - (cabaret) * *

Works in English

References

External links

Interview met Jeanne Goosen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goosen, Jeanne Afrikaans-language poets 20th-century South African poets South African women journalists South African children's writers South African women children's writers South African dramatists and playwrights South African women dramatists and playwrights University of Cape Town alumni 1938 births 2020 deaths South African women poets 20th-century South African writers 20th-century South African women writers