Eugene Marais

Eugène Nielen Marais. Source: http://www.southernwrite.net/

Born: 9 January 1871
Died: 29 March 1936
Updated: 13 Jan 2023

Eugene Marais portrait — Eugène Nielen Marais. Source: http://www.southernwrite.net/

Summary

Author and poet

Marais was one of the most innovative Afrikaans writers and a pioneer of the usage of free verse in Afrikaans. He was an editor of the newspaper, Land en Volk and became controversial in Transvaal politics. He withdrew to a lonely life on a Waterberg farm, north of Pretoria and created some of his best poetry. It was also around this time that he published The Soul of the White Ant (1937) and then My Friends the Baboons (1939) which was posthumously published after he had taken his life.

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, February 17). Eugene Marais. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443

South African History Online (2011) 'Eugene Marais', South African History Online, 17 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443 (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

South African History Online, Eugene Marais [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443, (accessed 21 September 2026).

"Eugene Marais." South African History Online, 17 Feb. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443. Accessed 21 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Eugene Marais." South African History Online. February 17, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443.

Eugene Marais

Summary

Further reading

KwaZulu-Natal Literary Trails (under Heritage Routes)

Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza and her connection with Scotland: An Appreciation by Brian Filling

Langa Township, Cape Town

Gansbaai, Overberg

The Biko Inquest: ‘We carry our history with us’ - The road from liberation to disillusionment by Ashwin Desai