Both Michiel Heyns and Leon de Kock (both former heads of the English Department at Stellenbosch University) have made a name for themselves as translators of South African fiction, particularly works of Marlene Van Niekerk (Leon with Triomf and Michiel with Agaat). Both men are also successful authors: Michiel has written six novels, including Body Politic, Lost Ground and most recently Invisible Furies, while Leon is an accomplished poet, having published the volumes of poetry Bloodsong, Gone to the Edges and Bodyhood. Leon also founded the literary practice website SLiPnet, run from the Stellenbosch English Department, in 2011, and has published his first novel, Bad Sex, a controversial book that certainly caused a stir in the local industry upon its release in 2011/2012.
Follow Jonathan's questions and the time indicated on the video clip for easy navigation:
Part I
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00:37
Leon – Triomf was one of the first and most notable Afrikaans texts to see the light under the banners of post-apartheid and post-colonialism. It’s a truly uncompromising and searing account of Afrikaner identity on the fringes of Johannesburg. How did you end up doing the translation? What did it mean to you at the time, and what does it mean now, ten years down the line?
05:07
Michiel – You’ve done the translation of Agaat, probably Marlene’s best-known work of fiction. It’s also a work as daunting and immense as Triomf, if not more so, and a number of tricky challenges would naturally have arisen from doing the translation. What stands out as the most difficult aspects of translating a work where the narrative voice operates at such a level of complexity, and what, then, was also the most rewarding aspect at the end of the day? Where does translating end and rewriting begin?
12:10
Michiel – Both Lost Ground and Invisible Furies deal explicitly with issues of homecoming, belonging and being out of place in two locations – the Karoo and the city of Paris – that seem very different at first glance. Why did you choose to set your fictions in these two locations?
14:49
Leon – After three very diverse, intense volumes of poetry, chart for us very briefly your evolution as a poet, your inspirations and your favourite themes. What would you say is most different for you when writing poetry as opposed to creative writing?
19:12
Leon – Your first novel, Bad Sex, is characterised by a truly exuberant fictional voice, recalling Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint and the voice of Martin Amis, among others. Were these two American authors an influence on the writing? Part memoir, part fiction - what finally pushed you into writing this novel, which appeared at a time when South African men are facing a very public trial of their masculinity?
Part II
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00:10
I'd like to pose the following to you both: How do you or have you juggle(d) being a full-time academic and teacher with the demands of writing? Michiel, how do you manage to be so prolific? What’s your secret? Or do you just stick to a very strict schedule à la Coetzee?
04:45
Michiel – Are you ever going to write anything in Afrikaans? Hoekom het ons nog niks van jou in Afrikaans teëgekom nie?
06:39
I'd like to ask you both about the impact of the rise of independent book publishers and transnationalisation and internationalisation. How do you feel about its effect on the local publisher? Is it your dream to be published overseas? Does it matter to you? Is a local readership enough?
15:16
As regular reviewers of local works you would both have a strong sense of our local literature.
Leon – Your take on the rise of crime fiction on the local circuit? Just authors cashing in, or something genuinely worthwhile?
Michiel – Is our literature (Afrikaans and English) vibrant and healthy, or are we seeing the publication of too many manuscripts?
How do you both feel about the increasing practice of authors reviewing other authors’ works? Are we too complimentary about local texts?
22:13
What local and international novels have you enjoyed lately?
Questions from the audience
22:54
When you write, do you use a pencil or do you write directly on to the computer?
23:55
Marlene once told me that translating from Afrikaans to English, she prefers that the grain of Afrikaans is present ... Should one always be able to sense when a text is a translation?
26:03
Is writing equivalent to experience?
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