A short life of the author
André Brink (1935–2015) was a South African novelist who wrote with moral urgency about apartheid, colonialism, and the possibility of human decency in the face of state violence. He was the first Afrikaner writer to have a novel banned by the apartheid government — Kennis van die Aand (Looking on Darkness, 1974) — and he became one of the most prominent literary voices against the regime, alongside Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee.
Life and Career
André Philippus Brink was born on 29 May 1935 in Vrede, Free State, South Africa. He studied at Potchefstroom University and the Sorbonne in Paris, where he was radicalized by the intellectual ferment of the late 1960s and by the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, which crystallized his opposition to apartheid. He returned to South Africa committed to using literature as a weapon against the regime.
He was a member of the Sestigers (“Sixtyers”), a group of Afrikaans writers who sought to modernize Afrikaans literature and challenge its conservative, nationalist traditions. Looking on Darkness (1974) — about an interracial love affair — was the first Afrikaans novel banned under apartheid censorship laws. Brink responded by translating it into English and publishing it internationally.
An Instant in the Wind (1976) — about an escaped slave and a white woman crossing the South African interior in the eighteenth century — was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. A Dry White Season (1979) — about a white schoolteacher in Johannesburg who investigates the death of a Black friend’s son in police custody — is his most famous novel and one of the key literary texts of the anti-apartheid movement. It was adapted into a film (1989) starring Donald Sutherland and Marlon Brando.
A Chain of Voices (1982), States of Emergency (1988), and An Act of Terror (1991) continued his engagement with South African politics. After apartheid ended, his novels explored post-apartheid reckoning: Imaginings of Sand (1996), The Rights of Desire (2000), Before I Forget (2004).
He taught at the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University and published over thirty novels. He died on 6 February 2015.
Key Works
- Looking on Darkness (1974)
- A Dry White Season (1979)
- A Chain of Voices (1982)
- An Instant in the Wind (1976)
Collecting Brink
Afrikaans first editions are the true firsts for many titles, preceding English self-translations. A Dry White Season first edition (W.H. Allen, UK, 1979) brings $75–$300. Signed copies are available — Brink was a generous signer at events. His death in 2015 fixed the supply. The banned Afrikaans first edition of Kennis van die Aand (1974) is a significant bibliographic item. English-language first editions (various UK publishers) are the standard Western collected form.