Met die bundel beeldgedigte stel Marlene van Niekerk op ’n oorspronklike en toeganklike manier die minder bekende Nederlandse skilder Jan Mankes (1889-1920) bekend. Sy lewer daarmee nogeens ’n bewys van die vernuwende aard van haar werk. Die bundel bevat ’n dosyn of wat skilderye, in kleur afgedruk, telkens vergesel van ’n beeldgedig in Afrikaans met die Nederlandse vertaling daarvan op die volgende bladsy. Beskryf as “’n poetiese kragtoer”.

Met die bundel beeldgedigte stel Marlene van Niekerk op ’n oorspronklike en toeganklike manier die minder bekende Nederlandse skilder Jan Mankes (1889-1920) bekend. Sy lewer daarmee nogeens ’n bewys van die vernuwende aard van haar werk. Die bundel bevat ’n dosyn of wat skilderye, in kleur afgedruk, telkens vergesel van ’n beeldgedig in Afrikaans met die Nederlandse vertaling daarvan op die volgende bladsy. Beskryf as “’n poetiese kragtoer”.

How do stories begin, and why? What are the conditions for writing fiction? Need, compulsion, a listener, opportunity, rhetoric …

In The Snow Sleeper, the art and meaning of storytelling is illuminated in four magically interwoven tales of friendship. In each, a narrator’s narrow vision is gradually broadened and transformed into piercing self-knowledge.

“The Swan Whisperer”: A creative writing lecturer receives a series of bizarre missives from an eccentric student, which bring into question her most dearly held literary convictions.

“The Percussionist”: At his best friend’s funeral, a clockmaker delivers a eulogy that, in recalling the writer’s voyeuristic obsessions, explores the nature of love and friendship.

“The Snow Sleeper”: A fieldworker interviewing the homeless is confronted with her own grief by a most articulate and charismatic vagrant.

“The Friend”: The confidante of a famous photographer acknowledges her role in his decline. A story that resonates with the interplay of the artistic and political in South Africa today.

These characters, all alter egos, are linked each to the other in strange, recurring loops, drawing the reader into the depths of a beautiful snowstorm.     

Hierdie omvangryke digbundel, Marlene van Niekerk se eerste digbundel in 30 jaar, sluit gedigte in wat wissel tussen pragtig liries en aangrypend menslik tot sterk satiriese protes- en politieke gedigte. ’n Groot aantal temas word dikwels in fyn besonderhede aangebied – die natuur, voels, diere, die liefde, die vader, sosiale vraagstukke – en getuig van hierdie digter se veelsydige inslag. Afrikaans word in al sy fasette ingespan en die spel met taal en woorde is telkens verbluffend. Sowel die inhoud as die gebruik van taal getuig van ’n meesterlike skrywerskap. Ondersoekende denke, sensitiewe waarneming en uitsonderlike uitdrukkingsvermoe bied die leser van Kaar ’n avontuurlike ontdekkingreis deur die werelde van mense en diere.

How do stories begin, and why? What are the conditions for writing fiction? Need, compulsion, a listener, opportunity, rhetoric … In The Snow Sleeper , the art and meaning of storytelling is illuminated in four magically interwoven tales of friendship. In each, a narrator's narrow vision is gradually broadened and transformed into piercing self-knowledge. The characters are linked each to the other in strange, recurring loops, drawing the reader into the depths of a beautiful snowstorm.

This playful, genre-bending cahier tells the story of pale, anxious creative writing student Kasper Olwagen and his strange encounter with the phenomenon of translation in the person of the Swan Whisperer. Through brilliantly imagined letters and recordings, van Niekerk recounts Olwagen's discovery of a vagrant who, without uttering any even remotely intelligible words, summons swans from Amsterdam's canals. Through the story of Olwagen's experience, van Niekerk probes the relationship between language and experience, writing and translation, stories and truth. A story of doubles, cadence, and, yes, swan whispering, The Swan Whisperer delves into the playfulness of sound in the Afrikaans language and the necessity for listening in all translation.