Louw, N. P. van Wyk (1906-1970), was an outstanding South African writer and critic. He wrote poetry in the Afrikaans language and is considered the greatest poet in Afrikaans. Louw also wrote critical works on Afrikaans literature (see Afrikaans language). Louw’s narrative poem “Raka” and his play Germanicus are masterpieces of Afrikaans literature. His many essays have reshaped Afrikaans literary criticism and had a strong influence on South African thought.
Louw’s first volume of poetry, Alleenspraak (Soliloquy), was published in 1935. It won the Hertzog Prize, the foremost prize for Afrikaans literature, awarded by the South African Academy for Science and Arts. The academy also awarded the Hertzog Prize to his second volume, Die Halwe Kring (The Half Circle), published in 1937, and his last volume Tristia (1962). His most influential critical work was Vernuwing in die Prose (Renewal in Prose, 1961).
Nicolaas Petrus van Wyk Louw was born on June 11, 1906, in Sutherland in what is now the province of Northern Cape. His academic career began in 1929 with a lectureship in education at the University of Cape Town. In 1950, he was appointed professor of Afrikaans literature and language at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. From 1958 until his death, he was professor of Afrikaans and Nederlands (Dutch) at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Louw died on June 18, 1970.
