Mark Behr
Encyclopedia
Mark Behr is a Tanzanian writer in South Africa
. He is currently professor
of Creative Writing
at Rhodes College
, Memphis, TN. He has been professor
of World Literature
and Fiction Writing
at the College of Santa Fe
in Santa Fe
, New Mexico
. He also teaches in the MA
program at the University of Cape Town
and the MFA
program at the University of New Mexico
.
, Tanzania
, then still Tanganyika
. After the nationalization
of white-owned farms during the implementation of President Julius Nyerere
's Ujamaa
Policy of African Socialism
in 1964, the family immigrated to South Africa
. Here the family defined themselves as Afrikaners, with the Behr children attending Afrikaans language schools and the conservative Dutch Reformed church
.
Behr's father became a game ranger in the game parks of KwaZulu-Natal
, where Behr spent his early youth. Between ages ten and twelve Behr attended the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School, a private music academy in the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal
. After matriculation
from Port Natal High School
, an Afrikaans language school in Durban, he was, like most other young white South African men of his age, conscripted into the South African Defense Force, and he served in the Angolan War
, becoming a junior officer in the Marine Corps.
He has published novels, short stories and essays. His work is often concerned with issues of violence
, racism
, nationalism
, militarization
, masculinity
and colonialism
. Behr's work is extensively translated and has received awards from the Los Angeles Times
, the British
Society of Authors and the Academy of Science of South Africa
. He travels regularly between the USA and South Africa
.
in the Western-Cape
Province of South Africa. It was during this period (1985–1989) that Behr's creative work was first published several poems appeared in the university's annual magazine, "Die Stellenbosse Student". While a student there, Behr became an agent for the South African apartheid government, which was committed to monitoring
the activities of students on university campuses in order to prevent political insurrection.
Undergoing a process of political radicalization
himself, he later turned double agent
and spied on the South African government on behalf of the African National Congress
, one of the major anti-apartheid organizations (and, since the 1994 elections, the governing party of the new multiracial democracy). Having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
degree with majors in English and Politics. Behr proceeded to read for an Honors degree in Politics. After a year with IDASA (the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa) Behr became a Research Fellow and lecturer at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway
, and began to travel between Europe
, South Africa
, and the United States
. He enrolled at the University of Notre Dame
in the US where he studied with Joseph Buttigieg, the translator of Antonio Gramsci
’s Prison Notebooks
. Behr graduated from Notre Dame
with Master’s degrees in International Peace Studies in 1993, Fiction Writing in 1998, and English Literature in 2000.
(1995), appeared first in Afrikaans
in 1993 (as Die Reuk van Appels). The book garnered significant recognition in the form of the M-Net Award, one of South Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes, as well as the Eugene Marais
and the CNA Debut Literary Awards in South Africa, and the Betty Trask Award
for the best first novel published in the United Kingdom in 1996. The novel was also short-listed for both the Steinbeck and Guardian Literary Awards. In 1997 the novel received the Art Seidenbaum Award from the Los Angeles Times
.
The attention attracted by the success of this book compelled Behr to speak publicly about his spying. In 1996, at a Cape Town conference on Truth and Reconciliation, he used his podium
as keynote speaker to discuss his history in the South African military and his campus spy and double agent status. In 2000, Behr’s second novel, Embrace
, was published. Its mixed reviews may reflect enduring anxieties regarding Behr’s student political activities. Praised by Felice Picano
in the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide for its epic quality, universal reach and insistence on complexity it was reviled in The Sunday Times
by Tim Trengrove Jones as a “baggy monster of overstated anxiety.” Embrace was short-listed for The Sunday Times Award in South Africa and the Encore Award
in the United Kingdom. At the end of 2009 Behr published his third novel Kings of the Water
. Kate Saunders in The Times of London reviewed it as : "Superbly written, thoughtful and unflinching, this terrific novel
explores the mentality of the Afrikaner
male — with wonderfully poetic
use of the Afrikaans language." Novelist Christopher Hope, reviewing for The Guardian
(January 2010), noted the spirit of Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard" and called the novel 'one of the most moving to come out of South Africa in many years."
Behr has also written short stories
and essays. The short story “Die Boer en die Swaan” (The Boer and the Swan) appeared in Die Suid-Afrikaan, November 1993. “Cape Town
, My Love” appeared in 2006 in Cape Town: A City Imagined, edited by Steven Watson (Penguin). Also in 2006, “Socrates, Miss Celie and Me” was published in Gesprek Sonder Grense: Johan Degenaar Word 80. In Spring 2007, the journal
The Truth About the Fact published “People Like Us
,” which is an extract from a lecture Behr gave at Wilfrid Laurier University
in Canada in 2003. “A Tale of Two Towers: Language, Terrorism and Another Moment in History.” During 2009 the short short-story "Boy" was published in the international
anthology Between Men Two. This story is Behr's response to the short story "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid
. In Fifty Gay
and Lesbian
Books Everyone Must Read, Behr looks at the impact of Alice Walker
's The Color Purple
on his own political and psychological development. Behr’s work has, to date, been published in ten languages.
and Marlene van Niekerk
. Biographical experience and Behr’s identification as gay
/queer
appear to have strongly influenced the content and nature of his work. He has written of the early influence of The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Traces of other influence may be found in the work of South African poets Breyten Breytenbach
and Antjie Krog
. Key theoretical influences in Behr's writing may come from selected texts of Antonio Gramsci
, Judith Butler
and Richard Rorty
.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He is currently professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
at Rhodes College
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a private, predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Originally founded by freemasons in 1848, Rhodes became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1855. Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students pursuing bachelor's and master's...
, Memphis, TN. He has been professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of World Literature
World literature
World literature refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, American literature, Arabic literature, Asian literature, Australasian literature, Caribbean Literature, English literature, European literature, Indian literature, Latin American literature, Persian...
and Fiction Writing
Fiction writing
Fiction writing is any kind of writing that is not factual. Fictional writing most often takes the form of a story meant to convey an author's point of view or simply to entertain...
at the College of Santa Fe
College of Santa Fe
Santa Fe University of Art and Design is an institution of creative and performing arts based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The university offers programs in creative writing, theatre, art, graphic design, moving image arts , music, and photography, based on a liberal arts core curriculum...
in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. He also teaches in the MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
program at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
and the MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
program at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
.
Early life
Behr was born into a family of farmers in the district of Oljorro, ArushaArusha
Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, then still Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
. After the nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of white-owned farms during the implementation of President Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....
's Ujamaa
Ujamaa
Ujamaa was the concept that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania just after it gained independence from Britain in 1961...
Policy of African Socialism
African socialism
African socialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a "traditional" African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Many African politicians of the 1950s and 1960s professed their support for African socialism, although definitions and interpretations of this term varied...
in 1964, the family immigrated to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Here the family defined themselves as Afrikaners, with the Behr children attending Afrikaans language schools and the conservative Dutch Reformed church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
.
Behr's father became a game ranger in the game parks of KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
, where Behr spent his early youth. Between ages ten and twelve Behr attended the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School, a private music academy in the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
. After matriculation
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
from Port Natal High School
Port Natal High School
Port Natal High School is a public co-ed high school for Afrikaans speaking learners. The school is located in Umbilo, a middle class suburb of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1941 and is home to over 700 students from Grade 1 – 12.-External links:**...
, an Afrikaans language school in Durban, he was, like most other young white South African men of his age, conscripted into the South African Defense Force, and he served in the Angolan War
Angolan War of Independence
The Angolan War of Independence began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and became a multi-faction struggle for control of Portugal's Overseas Province of Angola with three nationalist movements and a separatist movement...
, becoming a junior officer in the Marine Corps.
Novels
Mark Behr's three novels are:- The Smell of ApplesThe Smell of ApplesThe Smell of Apples is a 1995 debut novel by South African Mark Behr, also published in the same year in Afrikaans as Die Reuk van Appels....
- EmbraceEmbrace (novel)Embrace is a 2001 novel by South African author Mark Behr.Embrace is the story of the sexual awakening of Karl De Man, a 13-year-old pupil at the Berg, an exclusive boys' school in South Africa in the 1970s...
- Kings of the WaterKings of the WaterKings of the Water is the third novel from writer Mark Behr, published in November 2009.-Plot summary:It is the story of thirty-five-year-old Michiel Steyn who returns to the family farm in South Africa for his mother's funeral...
He has published novels, short stories and essays. His work is often concerned with issues of violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, militarization
Militarization
Militarization, or militarisation, is the process by which a society organizes itself for military conflict and violence. It is related to militarism, which is an ideology that reflects the level of militarization of a state...
, masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
and colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
. Behr's work is extensively translated and has received awards from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Society of Authors and the Academy of Science of South Africa
Academy of Science of South Africa
The Academy of Science of South Africa is the national science academy for that country. It was started in 1996, and encompasses all fields of scientific work. Its legal foundation is the Academy of Science of South Africa Act, Act 67 of 2001, which came into operation in May 2002...
. He travels regularly between the USA and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Academic Study and Political Development
After leaving the South African Defence Force, Behr attended Stellenbosch UniversityStellenbosch University
Stellenbosch University is a public research university situated in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Other nearby universities are the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape....
in the Western-Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
Province of South Africa. It was during this period (1985–1989) that Behr's creative work was first published several poems appeared in the university's annual magazine, "Die Stellenbosse Student". While a student there, Behr became an agent for the South African apartheid government, which was committed to monitoring
Monitoring
To monitor or monitoring generally means to be aware of the state of a system. Below are specific examples:* to observe a situation for any changes which may occur over time, using a monitor or measuring device of some sort:...
the activities of students on university campuses in order to prevent political insurrection.
Undergoing a process of political radicalization
Radicalization
Radicalization is the process in which an individual changes from passiveness or activism to become more revolutionary, militant or extremist. Radicalization is often associated with youth, adversity, alienation, social exclusion, poverty, or the perception of injustice to self or others.-...
himself, he later turned double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
and spied on the South African government on behalf of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, one of the major anti-apartheid organizations (and, since the 1994 elections, the governing party of the new multiracial democracy). Having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree with majors in English and Politics. Behr proceeded to read for an Honors degree in Politics. After a year with IDASA (the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa) Behr became a Research Fellow and lecturer at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and began to travel between Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He enrolled at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in the US where he studied with Joseph Buttigieg, the translator of Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian writer, politician, political philosopher, and linguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime...
’s Prison Notebooks
Prison Notebooks
The Prison Notebooks were a series of notebooks by Antonio Gramscismuggled out of prison in the 1930s. They were not published until the 1950s....
. Behr graduated from Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
with Master’s degrees in International Peace Studies in 1993, Fiction Writing in 1998, and English Literature in 2000.
Writing Awards
Behr’s first published novel, The Smell of ApplesThe Smell of Apples
The Smell of Apples is a 1995 debut novel by South African Mark Behr, also published in the same year in Afrikaans as Die Reuk van Appels....
(1995), appeared first in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
in 1993 (as Die Reuk van Appels). The book garnered significant recognition in the form of the M-Net Award, one of South Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes, as well as the Eugene Marais
Eugene Marais
Eugène Nielen Marais was a South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer.- His early years, before and during the Boer War :Marais was born in Pretoria, the thirteenth and last child of his parents, Jan Christiaan Nielen Marais and Catharina Helena Cornelia van Niekerk...
and the CNA Debut Literary Awards in South Africa, and the Betty Trask Award
Betty Trask Award
The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...
for the best first novel published in the United Kingdom in 1996. The novel was also short-listed for both the Steinbeck and Guardian Literary Awards. In 1997 the novel received the Art Seidenbaum Award from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
.
The attention attracted by the success of this book compelled Behr to speak publicly about his spying. In 1996, at a Cape Town conference on Truth and Reconciliation, he used his podium
Podium
A podium is a platform that is used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many...
as keynote speaker to discuss his history in the South African military and his campus spy and double agent status. In 2000, Behr’s second novel, Embrace
Embrace (novel)
Embrace is a 2001 novel by South African author Mark Behr.Embrace is the story of the sexual awakening of Karl De Man, a 13-year-old pupil at the Berg, an exclusive boys' school in South Africa in the 1970s...
, was published. Its mixed reviews may reflect enduring anxieties regarding Behr’s student political activities. Praised by Felice Picano
Felice Picano
Felice Picano is an American writer. He graduated cum laude from Queens College in 1964 with English department honors. He founded SeaHorse Press in 1977, and The Gay Presses of New York in 1981 with Terry Helbing and Larry Mitchell; he was Editor-in-Chief there. He was an editor and writer for...
in the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide for its epic quality, universal reach and insistence on complexity it was reviled in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
by Tim Trengrove Jones as a “baggy monster of overstated anxiety.” Embrace was short-listed for The Sunday Times Award in South Africa and the Encore Award
Encore Award
The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel - now awarded biennially - was first awarded in 1990. It is administered by the Society of Authors and is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second...
in the United Kingdom. At the end of 2009 Behr published his third novel Kings of the Water
Kings of the Water
Kings of the Water is the third novel from writer Mark Behr, published in November 2009.-Plot summary:It is the story of thirty-five-year-old Michiel Steyn who returns to the family farm in South Africa for his mother's funeral...
. Kate Saunders in The Times of London reviewed it as : "Superbly written, thoughtful and unflinching, this terrific novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
explores the mentality of the Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
male — with wonderfully poetic
Poetic
Poetic may refer to:* Poetry, or a relation thereof.* Too Poetic, a deceased rapper and hip hop producer....
use of the Afrikaans language." Novelist Christopher Hope, reviewing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(January 2010), noted the spirit of Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard" and called the novel 'one of the most moving to come out of South Africa in many years."
Behr has also written short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
and essays. The short story “Die Boer en die Swaan” (The Boer and the Swan) appeared in Die Suid-Afrikaan, November 1993. “Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, My Love” appeared in 2006 in Cape Town: A City Imagined, edited by Steven Watson (Penguin). Also in 2006, “Socrates, Miss Celie and Me” was published in Gesprek Sonder Grense: Johan Degenaar Word 80. In Spring 2007, the journal
Journal
__FORCETOC__A journal has several related meanings:* a daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually referred to as a diary....
The Truth About the Fact published “People Like Us
People Like Us
People Like Us is a British comedy programme, a spoof on-location documentary written by John Morton, and starring Chris Langham as Roy Mallard, an inept interviewer...
,” which is an extract from a lecture Behr gave at Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University is a university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It also has campuses in Brantford, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario and a future proposed campus in Milton, Ontario. It is named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada....
in Canada in 2003. “A Tale of Two Towers: Language, Terrorism and Another Moment in History.” During 2009 the short short-story "Boy" was published in the international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
anthology Between Men Two. This story is Behr's response to the short story "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid is a Caribbean novelist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in the city of St. John's on the island of Antigua in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda...
. In Fifty Gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and Lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
Books Everyone Must Read, Behr looks at the impact of Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
's The Color Purple
The Color Purple
The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction...
on his own political and psychological development. Behr’s work has, to date, been published in ten languages.
Themes and Influences
Identity construction through the impact of language, nationalism]], gender, and militarization are consistent themes Behr's works. This is similar to other South African writers of his generation, like Damon GalgutDamon Galgut
Damon Galgut is an award-winning South African playwright and novelist.-Life and career:Galgut was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1963. His family, of European stock, had strong ties to the South African judiciary. When he was six years old, Galgut was diagnosed with cancer, a trauma which he...
and Marlene van Niekerk
Marlene van Niekerk
Marlene van Niekerk is a South African author who is best known for her novel Triomf. Her graphic and controversial descriptions of a poor Afrikaner family in Johannesburg brought her to the forefront of a post-apartheid society, still struggling to come to terms with all the changes in South...
. Biographical experience and Behr’s identification as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
/queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
appear to have strongly influenced the content and nature of his work. He has written of the early influence of The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Traces of other influence may be found in the work of South African poets Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
and Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog, born October 23, 1952 in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape.- Early life :...
. Key theoretical influences in Behr's writing may come from selected texts of Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian writer, politician, political philosopher, and linguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime...
, Judith Butler
Judith Butler
Judith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
and Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse academic career, including positions as Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton, Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University...
.