Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twijfelaar

Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar is the shorter title of a collection of well-known and influential "Zamenspraake" ("dialogues") in early Afrikaans by Klaas Waarzegger (nom de plume of , Louis Henri Meurant, 1811/182/1813 - 1893)

The collection

The full title of the collection is Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar over het onderwerp van afscheiding tusschen de Oostelyke en Westelyke Provincie (I.e. in English: "Duologue between Klaas the Soothsayer and Jan the Doubter on the subject of the separation of the Eastern and Western provinces".)

This was a collection of well-known and influential "Zamenspraake" ("duologues"). In this case focused on the subject of the impending split of the Cape Province into the Eastern Province and the Western Province, which Meurant published in The Cradock News in 1860, under the pseudonym Klaas Waarzegger ("Klaas Soothsayer").

According to Ludwig Binge (1969) his literary persona, the crusty Calvinist "Klaas Waarzegger", also became an influential model for later writers and playwrights such as Melt Brink, C.J. Langenhoven, D.C. Postma and the "coloured" characters used by of later writers. This work was no doubt informed by the writings of Charles Etienne Boniface and Joseph Suasso de Limazamenspraak or samespraak (duologue) as a literary and journalistic vehicle for argument and satire.

Collected in book form and first published in 1861, the volume was considered to be the first published book in Afrikaans.

Sources

Facsimile version of the original publication, Google E-book[1]

Ludwig Wilhelm Berthold Binge. 1969. Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse toneel (1832-1950). Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik

Conradie, Elizabeth, 1949. Hollandse skrywers uit Suid-Afrika. Deel 2 (1875-1905) 'n Kultuur-historische studie. Pretoria, J.H. de Bussy and Cape Town H.A.U.M..[2]

J.C. Kannemeyer. 1984. ‘’Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Literatuur’’1. Tafelberg Uitgewers[3]

Go to ESAT Bibliography