Background
D. J. Opperman was born on September 29, 1914, in Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa
In 1953 D. J. Opperman obtained a Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Cape Town.
D.J. Opperman
D.J. Opperman
D.J. Opperman
educator playwright author poet
D. J. Opperman was born on September 29, 1914, in Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
D. J. Opperman attended school in Estcourt and Vryheid. He studied at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg and received a Master of Arts degree in 1935. In 1953 Opperman obtained a Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Cape Town.
The poet D.J. Opperman came into prominence in 1945. His technique superimposes different historical levels intermingled with a fascinating mosaic of themes, images, and allusions from both Africa and a common Western heritage. In Heilige Beeste and subsequent volumes, Opperman showed himself to be a versatile poet who wrote verse that was sober and, for the most part, devoid of sentimentality. He often wrote about the paradoxical natures of African and Western cultures; and much of his work was inspired by the political and social situations existing in South Africa, beginning with the Boer War early in the twentieth century.
By the time his 1979 collection of poems, Komas uit 'n bamboessok, synde die mirakelagtige terugkeer nd lawerversaking van ene Marco Polo, was published, Opperman was considered the doyen of Afrikaans poetry. His previous collection of poems, Edms Bpk, had been published nine years earlier. After its publication, Opperman had become extremely ill and eventually lapsed into a coma. South African newspapers already had his obituary written and plans were underway to give him posthumous awards. But Opperman recovered and began writing poetry again.
His subsequent book Komas uit’n bamboessok includes poems about the travels of Marco Polo that serve as an inspiration and metaphor for Opperman to reassess his own roots and life. For example, the poem "Comas from a Bamboo Cane" is a discussion of Opperman’s months spent in a coma as well as a story about silkworm smuggling by Marco Polo. In 1987, two years after Opperman’s death, his poems were collected in a volume titled Versamelde Poesie. His verse plays include Periandros van Korinthe (1954), Vergelegen (1956), Voëlvry (1968).
From 1946 to 1948 he worked as a journalist at Die Huisgenoot in Cape Town. From 1960 to 1979 he was a professor of Afrikaans literature at the University of Stellenbosch. Opperman was also an accomplished essayist and lecturer, many of which are included in the volume Verspreide Opstelle.
D. J. Opperman was an honorary member of the South African Academy of Arts and Science and of the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature.
D. J. Opperman was married to Marié van Reenan, a writer. They had three children: Heila, Trienke, Diederi.