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Daar was 32 mense op die verhoog tydens die 2023 Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée. | During the 2023 Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée 32 speakers participated.
Category: Latest
Vier dekades ná ‘Toorberg’
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Dit is byna vier dekades ná Toorberg. Met ’n onverwagte trein kom magistraat Imker Goedeman (wat destyds as jong man die afarm-magistraat van Toorberg, Abraham van der Ligt, in die gange van Bellville se landdroshof raakgeloop het) aan op Gebeente, ’n klein dorpie op die Vergete Grootpad noord van Sutherland. Die omgewing is geruk deur ’n opspraakwekkende plaasmoord, maar ’n nog komplekser saak moet ondersoek word: die diefstal van die Melkweg …
Ons is hier in die buurt van onwaarskynlikhede en eindelik word die ganse regstelsel uitgedaag. Historie, mite en allegorie word sjarmant verweef in dié meesleurende, fassinerende roman, en eindelik voer Etienne van Heerden sy kenmerkende magiese realisme die verste in sy hele oeuvre.
Commentators at the Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée, 22–24 September 2023
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Etienne van Heerden House, Cradock
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Click here for more information about the Etienne van Heerden House at Die Tuishuise & Victoria Manor in Cradock.
Boeken uit het huis: ‘Toverberg’
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Toverberg and Stories in the Wind: YouTube discussion with storytellers Etienne van Heerden, Deidre Jantjes, Toverberg translator Rob van der Veer and moderator Ingrid Glorie, Zuid-Afrika Huis, Amsterdam
‘Toverberg’: Review in ‘Friesch Dagblad’, Netherlands, of new, revised Dutch translation of ‘Toorberg’ (‘Ancestral Voices’)
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Click on the image for a larger version.
‘Gebeente’ (available October 2023)
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Etienne van Heerden’s new novel, Gebeente (October 2023), has as setting the Forgotten Highway, the ancient route from the Boland into the interior.
Michiel Heyns chatting to Etienne van Heerden about ‘A Library to Flee’, Franschhoek Literary Festival
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‘Welcome to Babel’: ‘A Library to Flee’ at the Franschhoek Literary Festival, 19 May 2023
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‘Brilliant characterization’: Mphuthumi Ntabeni reviews ‘A Library to Flee’ on africaisacountry.com
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“[I]t gradually resembles the best of Truman Capote’s writing, with acute observational powers, brilliant characterization, and narrative prose”
Mphuthumi Ntabeni reviews A Library to Flee on africaisacountry.com.
If an author writes with empathy, precision and authenticity about experiences foreign to their own, they’re a good writer and not a cultural appropriator.
The writer, Etienne Van Heerden, has admirable sweeping narrative powers to join events and cliffhangers into tight, jaw-dropping moments. He often grasps ideas by the nettle and delivers them in beautifully cut, clinical prose that produces intense emotions.
His new novel, translated from Afrikaans as A Library to Flee (original: Die Biblioteek aan die Einde van die Wêreld), is a collage of opinions about South Africa’s socio-political realities. At first, like most long reads, it feels disjointed and confusing—an inconsequential recording of semi-isolated occurrences and reportage culled from media outlets. But if you persevere, it gradually resembles the best of Truman Capote’s writing, with acute observational powers, brilliant characterization, and narrative prose.