Guest of the ilb 2003
“I am an African with Asian and
Dutch blood in me, I don’t know what race I am, and I don’t care", with
this description of himself, Achmat Dangor also
describes the central themes of his literary work: heritage and a sense
of belonging. He was born into a Muslim and Indian environment in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1948, the year that marked the beginning
of apartheid in South Africa. As a result of the racial
classification, he was considered a “colored person". He
spoke Afrikaans and Sotho until he started school. Today he
writes in English.
Dangor says about himself, “I write because
I have to and because I love to; it is the closest I am to having an
obsession." and has committed himself to politics with the same
fervor. At the time of his studies he was a member of the group
“Black Thoughts", whose goal was to strengthen the black movement
through literature, theater, and music. As a result of this
involvement, he was "banned" from 1973 to 1979; he was confined to
Johannesburg and could not attending any social or political
gatherings. In retrospect he sees this as an extremely productive
period, as it gave him the opportunity to write, even if he had to
do secretly.
In the 80s Dangor, one of the cofounders of the
South African Writer’s Congress, started to publish books in South
Africa which were translated into five languages: short stories, books
of poetry and to date three novels, one of which “Kafka’s Curse"(1997)
was published in German under the title “Kafkas Fluch"(2001). The
central figure is a Muslim by birth named Omar Khan, who, as the
supposed Jew Oscar Kahn, is married to a white woman. Using more
than one voice, Dangor tells of the psychological consequences which
emerge when the members of the affected family discover that this was a
lie. The novel thereby calls attention to the complex problems
which the many ethnic and religious groups in South African society
have to struggle with even today. The metamorphosis the hero goes
through recalls Kafka as much as an Arabic legend, in which a gardener
transforms himself into a tree because he dared to love a
princess. Dangor’s prose is lyrical and rich in metaphors.
It is reminiscent of Salman Rushdie, who has been an influence on
Dangor.
At the request of Bishop Tutu, he took over the
direction of the newly founded Kagiso Trust, the largest foundation
directed by blacks in South Africa, and politics accordingly again
assumed a larger role in Dangor’s life. Dangor was the director
of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund until the end 2001 and since then
has lived in Johannesburg and New York, where his wife works for
the United Nations.
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