Louis Henri Meurant

(1812 - 1893) Journalist, printer, magistrate, parliamentarian, actor, playwright and language activist.

Also known as L.H. Meurant or Klaas Waarzegger

Biography

From 1853 onwards he was apparently a magistrate of several districts in the Colony.

He retired in Riversdal and was buried there in the Meurant Historical Cemetery, alongside his wife, Charlotte C.J. Meurant (1809-1888)

As performer and playwright

In his youth he was apparently an occasional actor for C.E. Boniface,

A friend of Frederick Rex, he was possibly a co-author of the satirical piece Kaatjie Kekkelbek, usually considered to consider the first example of Afrikaans writing, certainly one of the earliest in dramatic form.

He was also a friend of a number of other people in theatre, including the playwrights J. Suasso de Lima and C.E. Boniface, and apparently published some of their first writings in Afrikaans.

He himself also wrote and published some well-known and influential "Zamenspraake" (dialogues) in The Cradock News (1860) under the pseudonym Klaas Waarzegger ("Klaas Soothsayer") about the division of the Eastern and Western provinces, entitled Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar over het onderwerp van afscheiding tusschen de Oostelyke en Westelyjke Provincie. Collected in book form and first published in 1861, they were considered to be the first book in Afrikaans. According to Ludwig Binge (1969) the character of the crusty Calvinist "Klaas Waarzegger" also became an influential model for later playwrights such as Melt Brink, C.J. Langenhoven, D.C. Postma and the "coloured" characters of later writers. ("Jan Twyfelaar" means "Jan the Doubter").

As cultural activist and historian

An activist for freedom of the press and for the recognition of the Afrikaans language.

Author of the invaluable source on 19th century theatre and other cultural matters, Sixty years ago, or, Reminiscences of the struggle for the freedom of the press in South Africa and the establishment of the first newspaper in the Eastern Province Cape Town, 1885.

[TH]

Sources

Binge, 1969

Bosman, 1928:pp. 261-268, 282-282, 295-297, 372, 547.

http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=525518

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaas_Waarzegger

http://www.esaach.org.za/index.php?title=Meurant,_Louis_Henri

Ana Deumert 2004. Language Standardization and Language Change: The dynamics of Cape Dutch John Benjamins Publishing.[1]

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