Christina van Heyningen

Christina van Heyningen ()[] is an academic, theatre critic, biographer and editor.

Biography

The daughter of an English mother and an Afrikaans father, Christina van Heyningen was born in a British concentration camp in 1900. She attended schools in the Orange Free State, went on to study at the University of Stellenbosch completing a Masters Degree in English Literature, then attended Somerville College, Oxford to complete a degree in English in 1926. In 1932 she became a Senior Lecturer in English at Stellenbosch University and in 1947 joined the staff of the University of the Witwatersrand's English Department. In 1955 she was appointed Professor of English at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg)

Over the course of her career ahe published book reviews and critical articles in a number of South African journals and periodicals (writing in both English and Afrikaans). Her publications also included a number of textbooks on English language and expression, and is remembered, particularly, for her championing of the theatrical works of H.W.D. Manson.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Her publications included books and articles on lives and theatrical works of Uys Krige (with ) and H.W.D. Manson. She was one of the prime admirers of Manson, whose plays she also edited for publication. (See the listings for Christina van Heyningen in the ESAT Bibliography.)

Sources

https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50044939/

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL2146003A/Christina_Van_Heyningen

Corinne Sandwith. 1998. A Social Function for Literature? Two Women Critics and South African English Literary Studies, 1939-1948. In: Alternation: Vol. 5, No. 1 [1]

Go to the ESAT Bibliography