Lucas Cornelis Malan (19 July 1946 – 15 April 2010) was a South African academic and writer of poetry, prose, plays, text books, literary reviews and other articles, principally in

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 ...

Biography

Early life and academia

Lucas Malan was born in Nylstroom, where he also started school before matriculating at Pietersburg ''Hoërskool'' in 1963. Starting in 1964 he majored in Afrikaans and Art History at ''Normaal Kollege'',

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

(now part of

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

), completing his B.A. degree in 1966 and Higher Education Diploma in 1967. From 1968 he taught Afrikaans at the ''Hoër Seunskool'' Helpmekaar in Johannesburg for five years, before taking some time out to complete a B.A. Honours degree in Afrikaans and Dutch at the Rand Afrikaans University (now

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

) in 1974. It is during this time that his first poem is published, by the ''Izwi/Stem/Voice'', an underground

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

that offered a voice to many politically active writers of that time, including Karel Schoeman and Wilma Stockenström. From 1975 he studies under Prof. Ernst van Heerden at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

and is awarded an M.A. degree in 1978. After another Honours degree, in

Applied Linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

(1984), he is awarded his Doctorate in 1988 by the

, with a thesis entitled ''Paradox and Parabola: A Study of Ernst van Heerden's Later Poetry''.

Career

Malan spent most of his career in service of Afrikaans education and literature. Besides his period teaching at Helpmekaar, he also taught at Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg, before becoming a lecturer at the

Technikon Witwatersrand The Technikon Witwatersrand was a technikon located in South Africa. On 1 January 2005, it merged with Rand Afrikaans University and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University to form the University of Johannesburg The Universi ...

. In 1987 he became head of the Department of Afrikaans at the Johannesburg College of Education (JCE) (since 2001 part of the Wits School of Education).

Poetry

According to well-known Afrikaans biographer and critic, J.C. Kannemeyer, Malan's poetry stands in contrast to the "often amorphous poetry of many of his contemporaries", as he tends to write in a conventional style, typified by traditional features such as fixed stanzas, well-defined rhyme schemes and metre. While his word selection is also reflective of extreme precision and sensitivity, he does on occasion allow his verse greater freedom, but always takes care to retain the overall "unit-forming integrity" through the inspired use of image and sound.

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 ...

agrees with Kannemeyer's assessment, whilst adding that Malan's life, work and career are typified by how much he gave of himself to his friends, fellow writers, students and to Afrikaans literature in general. Even when he was getting older and suffering from ill health, he still found ways to bring a sense of self-irony into his poetry foreshadowing his own demise.

Retirement and death

In 1997 Malan retired to the rural town of

Darling, Western Cape Darling is a small town in a farming area on the west coast region of the Western Cape, about 75 km (46.6 mi) from Cape Town. At the beginning of the 18th century, about 29 farmers lived in an area called Groenkloof and on one of these ...

, but remained actively writing and publishing until his death in April 2010, due to complications arising after a heart valve operation. Notable publications during this period were the poetry volumes ''Afstande'' (2002) and ''Vermanings'' (2008), as well as co-editing with Lina Spies an anthology of essays and poems called ''’n Skrywer by Sonsopkoms'', on the occasion of

's 70th birthday in 2004.

Bibliography

Youth literature

* ''Die Skat in die Kelder'', Tiener-publikasies (1980)

Poetry

* ''’n Bark vir die Ontheemdes'', Tafelberg, Cape Town (1981) * ''Tydspoor'', Tafelberg, Cape Town (1985) * ''Edenboom'', HAUM-Literêr, Pretoria (1987) * ''Kaartehuis'', HAUM-Literêr, Pretoria (1990) * ''Hongergrond'', Human & Rousseau, Cape Town (1994) * ''Afstande'', Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria (2002) * ''Vermanings'', Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria (2008)

Academic

* ''Barnard Gilliland se bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde'' (MA Thesis), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (1977) * ''Afrikaans vir Andertaliges'' (1988) * ''Paradoks en Parabool: ’n Studie oor Ernst van Heerden se Latere Poësie'', HAUM-Literêr, Pretoria (1992) * ''Afrikaans is piekfyn'', Tafelberg, Cape Town (2006) * ''Versjoernaal: nuwe Benadering tot Poësie'', Pharos, Cape Town (2008)

Radio drama

* ''Die Jaar van die Yskaste'', Radio Suid-Afrika (1986)

As editor

* ''Verse vir Ernst'', Tafelberg, Cape Town (1991) * ''Bladsak'', Human & Rousseau (1996) * ''’n Skrywer by Sonsopkoms:

70'', Sun Press, Stellenbosch (2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malan, Lucas South African poets 1946 births 2010 deaths South African male poets People from Modimolle Local Municipality Afrikaans-language poets Afrikaans-language writers