Rhodes University extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the late André Brink, who was a South African scholar, internationally acclaimed writer and literary giant who passed away over the weekend.
“The sudden and unexpected death of Prof Brink has robbed our country and humankind of an exceptional scholar. Our University is privileged to have played some part in the formative years of Prof Brink’s career as a budding literary scholar. The fact that he died on his way back from Belgium where he had been honoured with an honorary degree speaks volumes about this literary giant,” said Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela.
Brink was a leading South African novelist, dramatist and litterateur, known for his literary comment on the apartheid government and a leading member of the movement of Afrikaans writers, the Sestigers. Brink received numerous awards including the CNA literary Award, the Martin Luther Memorial Prize and the French Prix Médicis étranger for foreign literature and was knight of the French Légion d'honneur.
Brink took up a post in then Department of Afrikaans and Nederlands (now Afrikaans & Netherlandic Studies) at Rhodes University in 1961. In 1975 he was awarded a D.Litt by Rhodes and received an Honorary Doctorate from Rhodes in recognition of his immense contribution to South African literature. He was head of the department from 1980 to 1990. In 1991 he joined the University of Cape Town as professor of English.
Head of Afrikaans & Netherlandic Studies in the Rhodes University School of Languages, Tim Huisamen, who was a colleague and close friend, described Brink as a superb, generous, kind and patient person, who was both a mentor and a true intellect.
Dr Godfrey Meintjes who retired as Head of Afrikaans and Netherlandic Studies at the end of 2013 said: “André unlocked unimaginable worlds for me as an undergraduate student; during my Honours course he made the complexities of literary theory and narratology accessible to me and as a PhD-student he supported me and allowed me to become an innovative reader; as head of department, he entrusted me with academic responsibility and as friend he was always generous and kind.”
Meintjes said André Brink was an internationally acclaimed writer and that he was often compared to writers such as Peter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Soltzhenitsyn, Camus and Dostoyevsky.
Picture: Sunday Times