SA writers mourn Dalene Matthee
2005-02-20 21:20
Cape Town - "Maybe she just held out until her new book, Die Uitgespoeldes,
and its translation was done," Dalene Matthee's daughter Amanda said on Sunday after the author died in her sleep.
The 66-year-old Matthee died
in the Bayview clinic, Mossel Bay, early on Sunday morning. She was admitted
to the clinic for heart failure on Thursday.
The death of Matthee - who was especially well known for her forest trilogy,
of which the first, Kringe in 'n Bos (Circles in a Forest, first appeared in 1984 and was
reprinted 22 times - is being described as a huge loss for the Afrikaans
reading public.
"She was one of the most well-loved popular novelists in Afrikaans.
"With her
books such as Kringe, Fiela se Kind (Fiela's Child), Pieternella van die Kaap and, more
recently, Toorbos, she got the general Afrikaans public reading again, and
she successfully bridged the gap between quality and popular literature,"
said Eloise Wessels, chief executive of NB Publishers, on Sunday.
Novelist Elsa Joubert agrees.
"She succeeded in getting people who never
read Afrikaans to read in the language, and that's been a wonderful
contribution," she says.
The literary expert Wium van Zyl believes she was like Langenhoven.
"Like
him, she had something to offer the intellectual reader and for the everyday
reader.
"She exposed the reader to various challenges. She was an ecologist
and a mild feminist who considered the poor with attention and respect."
If there's someone whom the entire South African writers' community mourns
today, it would be Matthee, said Abraham H de Vries.
"The voice of one of
the best storytellers has fallen silent.
"Only she could have written those forest
stories - no one else could."
Film-maker Katinka Heyns, who directed the movie based on the book Fiela se
Kind, remembers how she spent two hours with Matthee in the Knysna forest.
"The forest would tell Dalene if I may make the movie. She did not say a
word and only sat listening.
"And then I had to wait an enitre night before
she gave the answer."
Matthee was famous for the rigorous research she did for her books.
She
researched only her forest trilogy (Kringe, Fiela and Moerbeibos) for seven
years, and Pieternella took three years' research.
Matthee's books were translated into 14 languages, including French, German,
Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Icelandic. She won the ATKV prize for good
popular fiction four times and was honoured with a Swiss literature prize
for her "energetic literary work and her passionate interest in nature
conservation" in Zurich in 1993.
Die Uitgespoeldes is the story of Moses Swart, a foundling raised by an
Afrikaans family after being found under a jacket on the beach.
Matthee is survived by her three daughters, Amanda and Hilary Matthee and
Toni van der Walt.
Her husband, Larius, died two years ago.
Buy books by Dalene Matthee:
Fiela's Child
Fiela se KindCircles in a forest
Kringe in 'n bos
Dream Forest
Toorbos