John Kannemeyer (1939–2011): He was an institution

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“Untimely” is an over-used adjective, routinely applied to a life cut short. But consider how apt it is in the case of John Kannemeyer. The manuscript of his magnum opus, JM Coetzee: ‘n Geskryfde Lewe, is complete, in both the Afrikaans original and in the English translation by Michiel Heyns. It is being shepherded through the press by Hannes van Zyl, acting for the publisher, Jonathan Ball, and will be released in late 2012. Uitgeverij Cossee in Amsterdam will publish a Dutch edition and distribute the book internationally.

JM Coetzee’s life and work represent the most challenging of all possible biographies in South African literature. Not that his life has been adventurous, though it has involved a distinctly unprivileged childhood and more sorrow in adult life than most of us have to bear. It was the sheer volume of work, its intellectual depth, its unusual publishing history, the fact that it was often intensely personal and local in inspiration while being formidably international in range, that made the undertaking so huge. To have tackled this subject within the terms of a conventionally chronological biography was no small feat.

Though I didn’t know John Kannemeyer well, or for very long (we first met in April, 2010 and corresponded after that), I suspect that only he could have done it. The book is exactly what is needed for the first biography of Coetzee: it is empirical, secure in what it does best, avoids being lured into pyrotechnics by the power of the writing (a failing of much Coetzee criticism); it is thorough, factually reliable, informative and sensitive in its handling of difficult episodes; respectful of its subject. It rises to the challenge. There will be many books, including books of a biographical kind, on Coetzee, perhaps as many one day as there are currently on a figure like Beckett, but Kannemeyer’s will put the enterprise on a sound footing.

It seems premature to signal a book’s strengths so far in advance of its appearance. But it is right to do so, because the completion of the Coetzee biography is very much part of the context around the author’s shockingly sudden passing. Kannemeyer was fond of saying that by comparison his earlier biographies were “kinderspeletjies” (child’s play). The comment did not belittle his earlier subjects; the point was that the task proved to be even bigger than he had anticipated. He was on the verge of taking a long vacation to Europe, though he was to meet with his publisher in the Netherlands to discuss the international editions.

He should have been able to see the book in print, to weigh it in his hands with that immense satisfaction that all writers know well, no matter how distinguished. With this book, John Kannemeyer will become a biographer not only of a regional literature, or of a literature that historically has received more from world literature than it has been able to give in return; he will become a biographer of world literature – a giver as much as a receiver. And he will miss that moment. It is very painful. He deserved better.

How he managed to complete such an immense task in three years will remain a mystery. I had assumed that he had an army of researchers working for him, which proved not to be the case. From overhearing conversations in Afrikaans circles I gather that he has always been larger than life. My experience of him was that he was friendly and courteous in an old-fashioned way, direct, though without giving much away, and completely dedicated to the life of literature. In being prepared to share his work he was generous, a risk-taker, a man whose trust implicitly demanded a like response. As a person he was obviously sui generis; as a scholar he was an institution, whose work is like the house we live in, the furniture we use every day. We are lucky that it is so spacious, and gracious. Thank you, John Kannemeyer.

David Attwell is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of York.

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