– XXXIV –

Grow up, break free, let loose, achieve; but most importantly: Live.  

Breyten Breytenbach Dies Aged 85

Hello Gentle Reader,

Breyten Breytenbach was one of the greatest South African Afrikaans language writers of his generation, an icon of who defended human rights and revolted against the barbaric delineation of apartheid. A statement from Breytenbach’s family perfectly summarizes and defines the author shortly after his peaceful passing:

“an immense artist, militant against apartheid, he fought for a better world until the end.”

As a writer, Breyten Breytenbach literary themes were formed in relation to that of Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, and Antjie Krog, an unmistakable outrage and disgust over the National Party’s hyper racial segregation policies and oppression of the majority black population or any other ethnicity designated ‘non-white.’ During his time at university, Breytenbach founded the Sestigers literary group with fellow wrier Andre Brink. The Sestigers were a group of dissident writers who opposed and challenged the prevailing doctrine of apartheid; they also sought to elevate the Afrikaans language, transcending it above its two-dimensional political associations of being a language of an oppressive minority. The Sestigers is affectionally referred to as a literary movement of exile within its own country, and its continued legacy reverberates today, being the foundational lifeblood of the explosion of Afrikaans language and art. The notion of Afrikaans language and the idea of Afrikaner were complex subjects for Breyten Breytenbach remarking:

“I'd never reject Afrikaans as a language, but I reject it as part of the Afrikaner political identity. I no longer consider myself an Afrikaner.”

As in the case of many writers whose work is influenced by its criticism of political realities, language for Breyten Breytenbach became homeland. In the 1960’s Breytenbach entered exile, living abroad in Paris, but remained a cultural icon in South Africa and a vocal critic. In the 1970’s, Breytenbach returned to South Africa, but was promptly arrested for allegedly supporting resistance movements and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Unrepented and unhindered Breyten Breytenbach continued to write poetry during his incarceration. The then French president François Mitterrand worked to facilitate Breytenbach’s release in 1982, afterwards Breytenbach would be granted French citizenship. These years of imprisonment provided Breyten Breytenbach the necessary material to write the monumental novel “The Albino Terrorist,” an account of his in incarceration, including the first two years spent in solitary confinement. Ever politically motivated Breyten Breytenbach continued his political discourse even as apartheid ended, refuting Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress of becoming corrupt and corroded with power.

Rest in Peace Breyten Breytenbach.

Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
 
M. Mary

Tanikawa Shuntarō Dies Aged 92

Hello Gentle Reader,

The grandfather of modern Japanese poetry and the Japanese master of free verse, Tanikawa Shuntarō has died at 92 years old. Japanese literary sensibilities are deep as they are subtle and refined. Emphasising understand brilliance; capitalizing on the contrast between subject and the negative space. The haiku is the perfect example of the concentrated principles of this aesthetic, whereby the entirety of the world is both captured and reflected within a single morning dewdrop. Tanikawa Shuntarō described the postwar period of Japanese society as bleak, the intellectual and cultural environment a vacuum with writers and thinkers continually turning away from previous lodestone institutions to find a new place for themselves within a society that had been bombed, obliterated, and ravaged by war. Those of Tanikawa’s generation who pursued postsecondary education involved themselves in political movements. Thankfully, Tanikawa was spared these political orientations and indoctrinations which allowed the poet to formulate a poetic style all his own. A free verse unbridled from the literary traditions of its forebears and open to exploring new literary frontiers. In a sparse and conversational style, Tanikawa Shuntarō crafted poetry that surveyed emotional truths and reflected on profound ideas all the while being set within the intimate and shared reality. Tanikawa’s debut collection “Two Billion Light Years of Solitude,” was an immediate bestseller in Japan and remains one of the most popular and beloved collections of poetry. What followed was a legendary poetic career of one of Japan’s most important and brilliant poetic voices, whose work remained a chameleonic and cutting-edge presence exploring new modes and literary expressions within the Japanese poetic canon. The hallmark of Tanikawa Shuntarō’s poetry is the approachability of the poems founded in a deceptive simplicity all the while sparkling with sophistication. In addition to poetry, Tanikawa was also a prolific translator, specifically of children’s literature, which included the Mother Goose Rhymes, Maurice Sendak, and Schulz’s  Peanuts comics. Tanikawa Shuntarō’s poetry introduced the world to the possibilities of Japanese poetry, and helped the nation move beyond the dour bleakness of the postwar years to a startling and brilliant future, one of possibility not ruin and devastation. Tanikawa Shuntarō’s poetry will continue and endure, recited and enjoyed by readers and students not only in Japan but around the world. The poetry of Tanikawa encompasses that full spectrum of the human condition, the multitudes of wonder and amazement, the struggles and drudgery of life, and still the perseverance to continue. In reflecting on his own death, Tanikawa Shuntarō reflected on the comfort of curiosity of what comes afterwards and continued on to live until that time. Despite not winning the Nobel, there is no doubt that Tanikawa Shuntarō is and was a deserving laureate in his own right, as his poetry inspired, renewed, and rejoiced at all the ideals of humanity, its flaws, and the countless possibilities.  

 
Rest in Peace, Tanikawa Shuntarō.
 
Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
 
M. Mary

The Booker Prize Winner 2024

Hello Gentle Reader,
 
This years Booker Prize has been awarded to the English writer Samantha Harvey for her novel: “Orbital.”
 
“Orbital,” is the second shortest book to have received the Booker Prize, accounting for four pages longer than Penelope Fitzgerald’s 1979 Booker winning novel “Offshore.” Perhaps Samantha Harvey’s win with “Orbital,” proves that shorter novels are more then a match to larger novels. Even more so, considering shorter novels require a gardener’s hand for pruning and a jeweler’s eye detail. Where larger novels can juggle multiple balls, granting them permissible room to let some inconsequentially fall without ceremony or fault. Whereas a shorter novel juggles only a few jeweled eggs, but there is no allowance for mishaps.
 
To contrast this years Booker Prize from last years award, judging chair Edmund de Waal confirmed that this year’s winner was chosen unanimously by the judges and that the judges read all 156 nominated books to completion. The unanimity of the judge’s decision according to de Waal recognizes the intensity of Harvey’s literary ambition in recognizing not only the preciousness of our shared planet, but also its precariousness. The novel itself recounts the one day in the life of twelve astronauts as they orbit the earth. The novel recounts not only the routine of life on the space station, but also their lives back on earth which tether and anchor them home. Through sixteen sunrises and sunsets, they orbit the blue celestial marble of home. “Orbital,” is a breath of fresh air. The novel is the necessary injection of literary pleasure and craftsmanship the Booker Prize needed, after years of politically charged and statement like novels. “Orbital,” embraces the possibility of the writer’s capacity to imagine and reflect on the vastness of space and our own celestial provincial attitudes in comparison to the magnanimity of space.
 
A very well earned prized. Congratulations to Samantha Harvey.
 

Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read


M. Mary