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: 10 October 2026).

South African History Online, Eugene Marais [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443, (accessed 10 October 2026).

"Eugene Marais." South African History Online, 17 Feb. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0008443. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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