8 mei 2020
The Odyssey of Homer. A Southern African Translation
Richard Whitaker
African Sun Press 2017
The Odyssey, Homer’s great epic, tells the tale of the Greek hero, Odysseus, Chief of Ithaka, one of the most versatile and fascinating characters in literature. Odysseus returns to his wife and son in Ithaka after the fall of Troy, and avenges himself on enemy suitors who have invaded his homestead. His journey back takes him ten years, in which time he encounters cannibal monsters, mysterious divine beings and amorous goddesses. This new translation, with its generous African texturing, will delight lovers of poetry and students of the Classics alike.
Grondwater
Marlise Joubert
Protea 2017
Grondwater sluit aan by die vorige bundels van die gevestigde digter Marlise Joubert, maar het ’n boustof wat getuig van ’n nuwe stel lewenservaringe wat dit laat affilieer by die groeiende tradisie in Afrikaanse laatwerk. Dit is ’n bundel wat spreek van die spreker se terugblik op ’n leeftyd, die besef van eie sterflikheid en die ontginningsproses van die biologiese en psigologiese wortels van die mens, van die impak van ouerfigure en veral van die gestorwe moeder.
I am Pandarus
Michiel Heyns
Jonathan Ball Publishers 2017
In a London gay bar, a charismatic stranger accosts an editor still raw from his lover’s abandonment. The stranger insists he is the modern avatar of Pandarus, intent on getting his version of events published to counter the unflattering portrait of him that Shakespeare has given to the world. And so begins Michiel Heyns’s eighth novel, a modern retelling of the story of Troilus and Criseyde, set during the tenth year of the Trojan War, with both sides of the conflict exhausted and the supreme warrior Achilles sulking in his tent. This urbane and sparkling rendition of the classical tale is interspersed with meetings between the editor and Pandarus, as the latter supplies installments of his tale. I am Pandarus combines shrewd domestic comedy with high heroic tradegy in an original exploration of the nature of love, friendship, warfare and loss.
Seun
Neil Sonnekus
Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Seun is ’n verbysterende prestasie in post-apartheid skryfkuns. Die debuutroman deur Suid-Afrikaanse skrywer Neil Sonnekus is tot oorlopens toe vol geesdrif, energie en bravado. Hoewel dit mens soms laat skater van die lag is dit ook pynlik aangrypend en ontsettend roerend.In Seun lê Sonnekus die sogenaamde Noughties op skitterende wyse vas met sy tragikomiese karakter Len Bezuidenhout, ’n onlangs geskeide man wie se soektog na seks net so snaaks is soos sy pogings om ’n babelaasverhaal uit sy pa, ’n puriteinse ou suurknol, te ontwar. Pa en seun kon nie meer verskillend of eenders wees nie. Hulle is altwee storievertellers, maar wanneer die verhaal wat Len uit sy pa uittrek stadig maar seker onthul word is dit alles behalwe snaaks.Deur middel van skroeiende humor, vlymskerp sarkasme en ’n brutaal vrymoedige bevraagtekening van die land se “post-Reënboognasie”-patologie bring hierdie stilisties imponerende werk vrolikheid, bitter warmte en uiteindelik ook genade.
