A.P. Grové

A.P. Grové (1918–2004) was an Afrikaans academic, cultural leader, literary critic, historian and lecturer.

Biography

Born Alewyn Petrus Grové in Potchefstroom on is op 10 June 1918, where he also completed his schooling at the Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom in 1935, before going on to complete a B.A.degree at the Potchefstroomse Universiteitskollege in 1939 and an die M.A.in Afrikaans and Dutch, a Higher Education Diploma and ultimately completing a doctoral degree at the same institution 1950.

His teaching career began in 1941 as a Latin teacher at the Potchefstroomse Hoër Gimnasium, followed by a period as a lecturer in Afrikaans and Dutch at the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg (1947-1958) and in 1959 appointed senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria. In 1962 made professor and head of the department of Afrikaans literature, and in 1967 head of the combined department of Afrikaans and Dutch language and literature, later being made Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (1972-1983). He retired in July 1983.

In 1945 he married Hester Henriette Venter (1922–2009), a teach and award-winning author, who published stories in magazines under the pseudonym of Linda Joubert, and stage and radio plays and other literary work under her married name of Henriette Grové. The couple had four children, two sons (Niek en Alewyn) and two daughters (Elsa en Mariet).

Grové passed away in 2004.

Contribution

He was a member of the editorial board of the influential Afrikaans literary journal Standpunte from 1955 to 1986, serving as final editor from June 1960 to 1970.

Though his main interest was poetry, his writing often also encompassed essays on and reviews of drama. Besides numerous reviews and articles for various newspapers and journals (including Die Vaderland, Standpunte and Tydskrif vir Letterkunde and Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe). He also wrote and edited several monographs on aspects of Afrikaans literature.

For a listing of some of his drama related writing, see the ESAT Bibliography Gro.

A member of numerous literary and cultural organizations, including the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, Publications Control Board (from 1963) and later the Publications Appeal Board (1975 to 1994).