Invloed van die Boland op die werk van Eugène N. Marais

Abstract

Eugène N. Marais (1871-1936), die beroemde Afrikaanse digter, prosaskrywer, joernalis, regsgeleerde, kenner van dieregedrag en morfinis, het drie jaar lank in die Boland, in die Wes-Kaap van Suid-Afrika, deurgebring en daar sy skoolopleiding voltooi. Die beskikbare inligting oor hierdie tydperk laat die leser kennis maak met Marais se Hugenote-wortels en deurslaggewende invloede soos sy vroeë skryfwerk en joernalistiek, die destydse debatsverenigings en bewuswording van taalregte. 'n Aantal van Marais se kortverhale speel ook in die Boland af of vertoon spore van hierdie agtergrond. Die feit dat Marais in staat was om op 'n baie vroeë leeftyd 'n suksesvolle joernalis te word kort nadat hy die Boland verlaat het om hom in die eertydse Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) te vestig, getuig daarvan dat sy vormende jare as 'n leerling aan die huidige Hoër Jongenskool Paarl en blootstelling aan die streek se opvoedkundige en kulturele lewe baie vrugbaar was. ENGLISH: Eugène N. Marais (1871-1936), the famous Afrikaans poet, prose writer, journalist, lawyer, morphinist and expert on animal behaviour, spent three years in the Boland, a region in the Western Cape of South Africa, where he completed his schooling. The available information about this period introduces the reader to Marais's Huguenot roots and crucial influences during his youth such as his early writing and journalism, the then debating societies and people becoming aware of language rights. A few of Marais's short stories were set in the Boland or show traces of this background. The fact that Marais was able to become a successful journalist at a very young age shortly after he left the Boland to settle in Pretoria in the former Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), also testifies that his formative years as a pupil of the current Hoër Jongenskool Paarl were very fruitful, as was exposure to the region's educational and cultural life.