D.J. Opperman

Diederik (or Dirk) Johannes Opperman, commonly referred to as D.J. Opperman, (1914-1985) was a hugely influential Afrikaans poet, dramatist, critic and university lecturer.

His most formidable contribution to South African literature (besides his own resounding poetry), must be the comprehensive Groot Verseboek (“Great book of verse”) which first appeared in 1956, and became the definitive canonizing instrument in Afrikaans literature, a work he periodically updated. He was editor of the journal Standpunte for many years, while his poetry workshop in the University of Stellenbosch’s Department of Afrikaans and Dutch was enormously influential, with numerous later poets, writers, critics and dramatists passing through his hands. (Among these later dramatists were Pieter Fourie, Herman Pretorius, Marlene van Niekerk, Charles Fryer and others.

He was awarded the Hertzog Prize four times: twice for Afrikaans Drama (1956 & 1969) and twice for Afrikaans poetry (1947 & 1980).

Biography

Youth

He was born on 29 September 1914 in Dundee in Natal, where he grew up. He went to school in the towns of Estcourt and Vryheid.

Training

and afterwards received an M.A. degree from the University of Natal.

Career

He taught at schools in Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg, and later on became editor of Die Huisgenoot.[1] In 1949 he became a lecturer at the University of Cape Town. During this period he completed one of his most important publications – Digters van Dertig (Poets of the thirties) – in 1953.

He won the coveted Hertzog prize for poetry in 1947 for his collection Heilige beeste ("Holy cattle"). From 1960 to 1975 he was a professor of Afrikaans at Stellenbosch University, where he also served on the editorial board of the publication Standpunte ("Points of View"). He died in 1985 in Stellenbosch.

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

Opperman wrote three full-length stage plays, all verse plays: Periandros van Korinthe (1954), Vergelegen (1956) and Voëlvry (1968).

His plays were however seldom really effective on stage and certainly the weakest of his literary works, despite the perrenial prescription of Periandros van Korinthe as a drama text for schools and universities. Nevertheless, he was twice awarded the Hertzog Prize for Drama. (Tucker)

Sources

Tucker, 1997

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