Eugene Nielen Marais

(1871-1936). A pioneer of Afrikaans literature, poet, playwright, naturalist, journalist and advocate. Besides his internationally known behavioural field studies (The Soul of the White Ant, The Soul of the Ape and My Friends, the Baboons - the first of which has been dramatised), and his enthralling but sombre lyric poetry and short stories (of which some have also been dramatised), he wrote * plays. These include Die Swart Verraad ("The Black Treason") performed by KMDOS in 1933), Nag (published posthumously in 1937), *** and ***. A complex character, he himself has been the subject of a gripping biography by Leon Rousseau (The Dark Stream, Human and Rousseau, 1982) and a film, scripted by and starring Athol Fugard and Gordon Vorster?*, and directed by Ross Devenish (The Guest, 19**).

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