Afrikaans poet, actor, stage and television director and literary critic, Stephan Bouwer, passed away suddenly in July 1999. Despite his significant contribution to the Afrikaans literary and cultural world, very little has been written on his work. The overall purpose of this article is to provide a critical perspective on Bouwer's contribution to the Afrikaans literary and cultural system. First, an overview of his life and work will be provided since there is a strong relationship between his personal and professional life and his poetry. Secondly, the most important components of his poetry will be discussed – the homo-erotic character of his poetry, the satirical stance in his work, and evanescence as a dominant motif in his oeuvre. Example texts from his oeuvre will be discussed to illustrate how these aspects function on the content and technical levels in Bouwer’s poetry.
Die Afrikaanse digter, akteur, toneel- en televisieregisseur en literêre kritikus Stephan Bouwer het skielik in Julie 1999 gesterf. Ten spyte van sy beduidende bydrae tot die Afrikaanse literêre en kulturele wêreld is daar nog min akademiese studies oor sy werk onderneem. Die oorkoepelende doel met hierdie artikel is om ’n kritiese perspektief te bied op Bouwer se bydrae tot die Afrikaanse literêre en kulturele sisteem. Eerstens sal ’n oorsig oor sy lewe en werk gegee word, aangesien daar ’n noue verbintenis tussen sy persoonlike en professionele lewe en sy digkuns bestaan. Tweedens sal die belangrikste komponente van sy digkuns bespreek word – die homoërotiese karakter van sy digkuns, die satiriese inslag in sy werk, en verganklikheid as dominante motief in sy oeuvre. Voorbeeldtekste uit sy oeuvre sal bespreek word ten einde te illustreer hoe hierdie aspekte op inhoudelike en vers-tegniese vlak funksioneer in Bouwer se poësie.
