Andre Brink

A Dry White Season

Chris Minaar is a distinguished South African writer who has lost his gift for the word. That is, until, he meets Rachel, a woman destined to become the great love of his life, a love greater for being unfulfilled. Before I Forget is the final act of Chris's creative life; it is the coming together of all the chaotic pieces of his existence. It is much more than the story of how he met Rachel; it is the story of his life and his lifetime of loves. There are brief affairs, extended affairs, even a marriage and in all of them we find Chris retelling his joys and pains in such a way that they move us to tears and beyond. Erotic, searingly honest, and a profoundly moving novel, this is the history of a life set against the history of a nation and, more than anything, a tribute to lost lovers and our very ability to love at all.

A Novel

Before I Forget

In just one morning, he forgot who he was... Three provocative and interconnected stories from one of the world's greatest living writers: A white painter in Africa comes to his studio in the afternoon. On his doorstep, he sees a woman with curly hair and a dark complexion. He has never seen her before, but she embraces him. As he steps past her, two strange children rush to his feet yelling "Daddy!" This family welcomes him home, but he knows none of them. On the other side of Cape Town, a white man pulls himself out of bed and toward his mirror, where he is confronted by his suddenly black face. A concert pianist falls passionately in love with the celebrated singer he works beside, but cannot bring himself to touch her, until one night they sit down to eat dinner, and look up to see themselves surrounded by armed men. In this new novel, Andre Brink is at his best, exploring the fractured yet globalized world where we find ourselves and our lives transformed. PRAISE FOR ANDRE BRINK "South African novelist Brink is a master stylist." Publishers Weekly "Brink describes calamities and absurdities of the apartheid system with a cold lucidity that in no way interferes with high emotion and daring flights of the imagination." Mario Vargas Llosa, New York Times Book Review "One of the most important and prolific voices from South Africa." Library Journal "If you want to get the feeling of South Africa, as strongly as Camus gives you the feeling of Algiers, you will turn to André Brink." Tribune "Brink writes feelingly of South Africa—the land, the black, the white, the terrible beauty and tragedy that lies therein." Publishers Weekly "Brink is a hard-eyed storyteller." Philadelphia Inquirer

Other Lives

Martin Mynhardt seems invincible. Violence surrounds him, yet he remains unscathed: a woman asks him the time, then leaps in front of a train; after a mine riot, he watches hoses sweep scattered body parts off the floor. Just before the shocking violence that brings South African apartheid to an end, Martin decides to return to the family farm for a weekend. A highly successful businessman and Afrikaans Nationalist, he hopes to sell the property to the government in a deal both highly profitable and corrupt. The moment he steps onto the farm, his plans are derailed. The repercussions of a society's endemic violence catch up to him, and shake the relationships that frame his life. His closest friend, a brilliant, idealistic lawyer, is sentenced to prison for his anti-apartheid "terrorist" activities in part because Martin refused to help him. His son, recently returned from the Angolan war, is in silent revolt against the values of his father and his nation. His mistress, Bea, an intelligent, strong-willed woman who offers Martin the hope of redemption through her own capacity for empathy, is also caught up in the gathering political storm. This is Andre Brink's story of a society on the edge of collapse, spurred to profound self realization.

A Novel of Corruption and Redemption

Rumors of Rain

He is the chieftain leader of the Khoikhoi, a nomadic people derogatorily called "Hottentot"' by European colonists. She is a white woman left behind by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's crew when they rounded Africa's southern tip in 1498. Their romance is the core of this powerful novella. According to Portuguese myth, Zeus turned Adamastor into the rocky cape of the South African peninsula. André Brink's parable suggests that white Europeans have punished native Africans in the same way. With this novel, Brink takes us to the heart of the relationships that define South Africa's modern history. "Peter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Solzhenitsyn: André Brink must be considered with that class of writer." -Guardian

The First Life of Adamastor, A Story

Cape of Storms

The Blue Door

On a farm near the Cape Colony in the early nineteenth century, a slave rebellion kills three and leaves eleven others condemned to death. The rebellion's leader, Galant, was raised alongside the boys who would become his masters. His first victim, Nicholas van der Merwe, might have been his brother. As the many layers of Andre Brink's novel unfold, it becomes clear that the violent uprising is as much a culmination of family tensions as it is an outcry against the oppression of slavery. Spanning three generations and narrated in the voices of both the living and the dead, A Chain of Voices is reminiscent of William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!; it is a beautiful and haunting illustration of racism's plague on South Africa.

A Chain of Voices

Steve is een succesvolle architect die met zijn vrouw en twee dochters een gemoedelijk bestaan leidt in een door hemzelf ontworpen huis in Kaapstad. Tot hij op een ochtend bij het scheren een blik werpt in de fraaie art-nouveauspiegel, een geschenk van zijn vrouw, en het geschokte gezicht van een zwarte man hem aanstaart. Steve krijgt de schrik van zijn leven. Hij herkent zichzelf niet meer. Is hij van het ene op het andere moment veranderd of was hij altijd al zo? Wat zullen zijn familie, vrienden en collega’s zeggen? Vanaf het moment dat Steve zijn badkamer en uiteindelijk het huis durft te verlaten, is niets meer zeker.Dit is het tweede deel van Brinks trilogie over andere levens. Net als in De blauwe deur speelt André Brink in De spiegel met persoonlijke identiteit, het maken van keuzes en de mogelijkheid van een ander leven.

Andre Brink

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