Serieuse selfstandige soeker: C M van den Heever (1902-1957)

The Afrikaans poet and author C M van den Heever was the first professor of Afrikaans and Dutch at the University of the Witwatersrand. During the term of his appointment (1933-1957) he played a key role in the development of Afrikaans cultural life in Johannesburg and in interpreting events and developments in the fields of literature and cultural politics. He was a dedicated supporter of close ties between the Dutch, Flemish and Afrikaans cultures. He strongly approved Prime Minister J B M Hertzog’s policy of reconciliation between Afrikaans- and Englishspeaking South Africans and criticised the cultural politics of many leading Afrikaansand English-speaking South Africans of his day. He is generally regarded as the first writer of the Thirties generation, although his work did not develop along the lines that later became typical of the Dertigers. In some ways he was a forerunner of N P van Wyk Louw’s ideas on the role of Afrikaner intellectuals, the importance of critical thought and the need for a liberal Afrikaner nationalism.