Peter Horn

Peter Rudolf Gisela Horn, born 7 December 1934 in Teplice Czechoslovakia (currently in Czech Republic). He is a well-known South African poet, who made his mark especially with his anti-Apartheid poetry. [Chapman, Michael: South African English Poetry. A Modern Perspective. A.D.Donker (1984) S.251-255; Adey, David, und , Ridley Beeton, Michael Chapman, Ernest Pereira (Hg.): Companion to South African English Literature. A.D.Donker (1986) S.102] At the end of World War II he had to flee from his home and settled with his parents first in Bavaria and later in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he completed high school in 1954. He then emigrated with his parents to South Africa.

Education and Career

He studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and the College of Education (Johannesburg). He worked for some time as a packer, builder, lab assistant, photographer, insurance agent, and a teacher. He then taught at University of the Witwatersrand, the University of South Africa and the University of Zululand. He was professor and head of department of German at the University of Cape Town (1974-1999). [Sevry 1993:104-113; Berold 1995:31-41]

Poetry and short stories

His poetry has been characterised by Jacques Alvarez-Pereyre as follows:

Totalitarian regimes have the citizens and poets they deserve, those who accept the bayonets upon which order is based and who, by their silence or useless chatter, make themselves the accomplices of those who rule. Peter Horn' is not one of these: he has chosen to be on the side of the oppressed, on the side of the future, of the dream of a multiracial society, in short, on the side of freedom. [Alvarez-Pereyre, Jacques : „The new prophets: Peter Horn." In: Alvarez-Pereyre, Jacques: The Poetry of Commitment in South Africa. 1983.] ,

Lionel Abrahams said that his poetry "is overwhelmingly the record of his responses to aspects of the South African system, which he scrutinises not in a nakedly personal way but, rather in the manner of his master Brecht, through the equipment of a revolutionary critique." [Rand Daily Mail. 1974.] . Andries Walter Oliphant described "The Rivers Which Connect us to the Past": "These broad themes are given an African inflection and expressed with consummate craft in a variety of poetic modalities." [Sunday Independent. 2.3.1997, p.22.] , Jane Rosenthal described Horn's stories, as "ranging from the drily satirical to recreations of horror and dementia", they "leave an impression of savage intensity. Waiting for Mandela, one of the lighter stories, is about a pickpocket who attends the release rally with loot in mind. Here Horn achieves a bizarre and telling counterpoint of the apolitical indifference of this singleminded "skelm" with the lyrical majesty of Mandela.'s speech" [Mail & Guardian August 13 to 19; 1999.] .

Prizes and honours

Among the many prizes were the 1992 Noma Award: (Honourable Mention for "Poems 1964-1989" ['Two Books Share Noma Award.' [Includes reference to Poems, 1964-1989 / P Horn; Casspirs en Camparis / E van Heerden which were singled out. for "Honourable Mention"] The African Book Publishing Record 18 (3): p.165-166, 1992.] , the 1993 Alex La Guma/Bessie Head Award for "The Kaffir who read Books" (published as "My Voice is under Control now"); he was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Cape Town in 1994; in 2000 he was awarded the Charles Herman Bosman Prize for "My Voice is under Control now"; in 2000 he was a Finalist for the Caine Prize for African Literature. He served on the COSAW (Congress of South African Writers] ) Western Cape Executive (1988-1990); the COSAW National Executive (1991 - 1992), as an Honorary Vice President NUSAS (1977-1981); a Trustee of the South African Prisoners' Educational Trust Fund (1980-1985); Interim Committee of the Unemployed Workers' Movement (1984/5).

Poetry

* "Voices from the Gallows Trees". (Poems) Ophir (1969) [Edmonds, Marguerite: "The bell-shaped glass." In: New Nation. (1970) S.19-20.]
*"Walking through our sleep." (Poems) Ravan Press (1974) [JCT."(Review of „Walking through our sleep")." In: Pretoria News. (1974); M., M.: „Poems sincere to the point of pain." In: Natal Witness. 12. December (1974)]
* "Silence in Jail." (Poems: banned). Scribe Press (1979)
* "The Civil War Cantos." (Poems: banned) Scribe Press (1987) [Jacques Alvarez-Péreyre , Peter Horn's Civil War Cantos. In: Dr. Geoff Davis (Hg.) Crisis and Conflict. Essays on Southern African Literature. Essen: Verlag Blaue Eule 1990, S.215-227; Adler, Michelle: „ SA reality under magnifying glass The Civil War Cantos« by Peter Horn" .In: The New Nation. 3.-9. March (1988) S.16]
* "Poems 1964 -1990." Johannesburg: Ravan (1991) [Dirk Klopper, „A new beginning for South African Poetry. Peter Horn, Poems 1964-1989" . In: Staffrider vol. 10, nr. 1 1992, pp.97-100)]
* "An Axe in the Ice". Poems. Johannesburg: COSAW Publishing House 1992 [Vasu Reddy, „Horn's latest volume 'powerful, brooding'". In: New Nation May, 21st, 1993, p279]
* "Derrière le vernis du soleil", poèmes 1964-1989. Choisis et traduit de l’anglais sud-africain par Jacques Alavarez-Péreyre. Dessins de Nils Burwitz. Paris: europePoesie (1993)
* "The Rivers that Connect us to the Past". "Survivors." Poems. Belville: Mayibuye Press 1996
* "Poems". Translated into Bangla by Aminur Rahman. Montreal, Dhaka, London: SACAC, KATHAK 2003

Short stories

* "My Voice is Under control Now." Short Stories. Cape Town: Kwela 1999;

Criticism

* "Heinrich von Kleists Erzählungen. Eine Einführung". (Sprache+Literatur+Didaktik) (Scriptor Taschenbuch S 141). Scriptor (1978).
* "Kleist-Chronik". Athenäum (1980) 140 S.
* "Writing my Reading. Essays on Literary Politics in South Africa". Amsterdam/Atlanta : Rodopi Press 1994 [recte: 1995] (= Cross/Cultures - Readings in Post/Colonial Literatures in English 15).

Notes

Sources

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* Sevry, Jean. 'Peter Horn: Introducing a South African Poet.' (Interview with P Horn, August 1992) Commonwealth Essays and Studies 16 (l): p.104-113, 1993
* Berold, Robert.. 'Interview.' (Interview with P Horn, including discussion of poetry in the 'new' South Africa) New Coin 31 (l): p.31-41, 1995.
* See also: Literature of South Africa and Peter Horn's home page: [http://prghorn.kilu2.de/start.htm]