Ekphrasis and/As Translation in Marlene van Niekerk’s Volumes of Poetry Gesant van die mispels and in die stille agterkamer

ABSTRACT This article discusses two volumes of ekphrastic poems by the South African author Marlene van Niekerk. The volumes are based on paintings by two relatively minor Dutch painters. The first, Gesant van die mispels [‘Emissary of the medlars’], centres on paintings by Adriaen Coorte who presumably lived from 1659 to 1708, whereas the second In die stille agterkamer [‘In the quiet backroom’] relates to paintings by Jan Mankes who was born in 1889 and died of tuberculosis in 1920. Taking its cue from the poet’s comments in an interview with Jan Steyn, the article explores the way in which writing ekphrastic poetry can be seen as a process during which artefacts produced in one semiotic system (the visual) are translated into artefacts in another semiotic system (the verbal), making use of theoretical insights by James Heffernan, W. J. T. Mitchell and Elizabeth Bergmann Loizeaux. The article also explores the further significance of publishing the original version of the poems written in the language Afrikaans next to their translations into Dutch, pointing out the significance of the fact that the poems highlight the historical connection between the two languages. The article also discusses the way in which the poet engages with the way in which the two artists dealt artistically with their respective realities. It includes analyses of two poems, one from each volume, in which the poet deals with certain profound qualities she finds in these painters’ work.