Louis Henri Meurant

(17*-18*) Actor, playwright and journalist.

An activist for freedom of the press.

As performer and playwright

In his youth he was apparently an occasional actor for C.E. Boniface, and a friend of Frederick Rex. Possibly a co-author of Kaatjie Kekkelbek??

He also wrote a well-known and influential "Zamenspraak" (dialogue) about the disvision of the Eastern and Western provinces, entitled Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar over het onderwerp van afscheiding tusschen de Oostelyke en Westelyjke Provincie (1860/1861?). According to Ludwig Binge (1969) the character of the crusty Calvinist "Klaas Waarzegger" ("Klaas Soothsayer") became an influential model for later playwrights such as Melt Brink, C.J. Langenhoven, D.C. Postma and the "coloured" characters of later writers. ("Jan Twyfelaar" means "Jan the Doubter").

As cultural historian

Author of the invaluable source on 19th century theatre and other cultural matters, Sixty years ago, or, Reminiscences of the struggle for the freedom of the press in South Africa and the establishment of the first newspaper in the Eastern Province Cape Town, 1885.

[TH]

Sources

Binge, 1969

Bosman, 1928:pp. 261-268, 282-282, 295-297, 372, 547.

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