F.I.J. van Rensburg

F.I.J. van Rensburg (1922 - 2015) was an Afrikaans academic and literary critic.

Also referred to more informally as Frans van Rensburg.

Biography

Born Francois Izak Janse van Rensburg in Dewetsdorp in the Orange Free State on 18 Januarie 1922, and after a few years schooling in his home town, completed his primary education in Bloemfontein at the Dr Viljoenskool and matriculated at the Sentraal Hoërskool there in 1938.

In 1939 he began his tertiary studies at the University College of the Orange Free State to complete a BA degree in Dutch, History and English as majors in 1941. This was followed by an MA in 1944, and a doctorate from the Gemeentelijke Universiteit in Amsterdam in 1954.

He initially began working as a teacher in Ladybrand and Philippolis, before joining the Free State Technical College in Bloemfontein as a lecturer in 1945. After his return from Amsterdam in 1952 he again taught for a time in Kroonstad, before being appointed a lecturer (later senior lecturer) at the University of the Orange Free State in 1955. In 1967 he became the first professor and head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch at the newly established Rand Afrikaans University.

He was married to child psychologist Susan Grobler and the couple had four children, three daughters and a son.

He passed away in Johannesburg on 10 Januarie 2015.

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

The author of numerous articles, essays, reviews and books on literary theory and Afrikaans literature, including a number of reviews and studies of plays and playwrights, among them Anthony Delius, Uys Krige and N.P. van Wyk Louw.

(For relevant items by Van Rensburg, see the ESAST Bibliography at ESAT Bibliography Van O-Van R.)