Etienne Leroux
{{Short description|South African writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{expand Afrikaans|date=August 2018|topic=bio}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Etienne Leroux
| image = Etienne Leroux.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = 13 June 1922
| birth_place = Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, Union of South Africa
| death_date = 30 December 1989
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer
| language = Afrikaans
| nationality = South African
| alma_mater = Grey College Bloemfontein Stellenbosch University
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
| website =
| birth_name = Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux
}}
Etienne Leroux (born Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux; 13 June 1922 – 30 December 1989) was an Afrikaans writer and a member of the South African Sestigers literary movement.{{Cite journal |last=Penfold |first=Greg |last2=De Kock |first2=Leon |date=2017-03-02 |title=To a dubious critical salvation: Etienne Leroux and the canons of South African English criticism |url=https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/1775 |journal=Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.4314/tvl.v52i1.6 |issn=2309-9070|doi-access=free }}
Early life and career
Etienne Leroux was born in Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape on 13 June 1922 as Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux, son of Stephanus Petrus le Roux, a South African Minister of Agriculture. He studied law at Stellenbosch University (BA, LLB) and worked for a short time at a solicitor's office in Bloemfontein. From 1946 he farmed and lived as a writer on his farm in the Koffiefontein district. Etienne was a pupil at Grey College Bloemfontein where he matriculated.
An English translation of his 1964 novel Een vir Azazel (lit. "One for Azazel") was published in 1968 as One for the Devil. In his book review for One for the Devil, Graham Greene wrote: "His audience will be the audience that only a good writer can merit, an audience which assembles slowly from far away in ones and twos; while the big book club motorcoaches hurtle down the highway toward oblivion, the rumour spreads that here an addition will be found to the literature of our time."{{Cite journal |last=Greene |first=Graham |date=April 12, 1968 |title=The Comic, Terrifying Mind of M. Leroux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1QEAAAAMBAJ |journal=Life |volume=64 |issue=15 |pages=8}}
Several of his books were banned by the government of South Africa.{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Caryle |author-link=Caryle Murphy |date=March 4, 1978 |title=The Censorship of a Novel About a Boer War Battle |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1978/03/05/the-censorship-of-a-novel-about-a-boer-war-battle/db7720d3-5644-4431-952f-3a35029c7f99/ |work=The Washington Post}}
He died on 30 December 1989, and was buried at the family church yard of Wamakersdrift, of which his farm formed part.
Bibliography
- Die eerste lewe van Colet (1955)
- Hilaria (1957)
- Die mugu (1959)
- Sewe dae by die Silbersteins (1962). Seven Days at the Silbersteins, trans. Charles Eglington (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964). Also translated by Greg Penfold (2013).{{Cite thesis |title=Welgevonden revisited : a new translation of Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins, and its literary-critical rationale |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/85646 |publisher=Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |date=2013 |language=en-ZA |first=Gregory |last=Penfold}}
- Een vir Azazel (1964). One for the Devil, trans. Charles Eglington (Houghton Mifflin, 1968).
- Die derde oog (1966). The Third Eye, trans. Amy Starke (Houghton Mifflin, 1969).
- 18-44 (1967). 18-44, trans. Cassandra Perrey (Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
- IsisIsisIsis (1969)
- Na'va (1972)
- Magersfontein, o Magersfontein! (1976). Magersfontein, O Magersfontein!, trans. Ninon Roets (Hutchinson, 1983).
- Onse Hymie (1982)
= Compilations =
- Die Silberstein-trilogie (1984). Includes: Sewe dae by die Silbersteins; Een vir Azazel; Die derde oog
- Die eerste siklus (1986). Includes: Die eerste lewe van Colet; Hilaria; Die mugu
- Die 18-44 trilogie (2008). Includes: 18-44; IsisIsisIsis; Na’va
The English translations of Die Silberstein-trilogie were also published as a single volume: To a Dubious Salvation: A Trilogy of Fantastical Novels (Penguin, 1972).
Awards and honours
- 1964: Hertzog Prize (Prose) for Sewe dae by die Silbersteins
- 1964: CNA Literary Award for Een vir Azazel
- 1976: CNA Literary Award for Magersfontein, o Magersfontein!
- 1979: Hertzog Prize (Prose) for Magersfontein, o Magersfontein!Die Suid-Afrikaanse Gids - Isabel Uys
Further reading
A biography of Etienne Leroux, Leroux: 'n Lewe, by the respected biographer of Afrikaans writers, John Christoffel Kannemeyer, was published in July 2008.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
Misterie van die alchemis. 'n Inleiding tot Etienne Leroux se negedelige romansiklus. (By Charles Malan)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060909111116/http://leroux.afrikaans.be/ Digital Etienne Leroux Project]
- Journal of Southern African Studies Paper on Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins - [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636423 JSTOR]
- SABC news footage of Leroux's funeral on {{YouTube|am7yKJcYrRo}}
{{Sestigers}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leroux, Etienne}}
Category:South African writers