Ingrid Jonker: 'n Biografie (Afrikaans Edition) Author: Petrovna Metelerkamp
Ingrid Jonker: 'n Biografie (Afrikaans Edition)
The First Comprehensive and Definitive Biography of South Africa’s Iconic Cult Poet
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Ingrid Jonker: 'n Biografie (Afrikaans Edition)
- Author: Petrovna Metelerkamp
- Publisher: Umuzi / Penguin Random House South Africa
- Publication Date: 2018
- ISBN-13: 9781415209363
- Edition Details: First Trade Paperback Edition. Ex-Library Copy.
- Binding: Original publisher's heavy-gauge illustrated card wrappers (trade paperback).
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 440 pages. Augmented with newly integrated archival research, transcriptions, and conversational histories.
- Language: Afrikaans text.
Official Condition Report
-
The Book: Good (G)
- Exterior / Wraps: The card wrappers retain their overall structure with some typical surface shelf wear, rubbing along the edges, and minor creasing consistent with a well-read library copy. The spine is intact and sound, though it shows expected opening creases.
- Interior: The text block is structurally complete and firmly bound. Pages show a light, generalized dustiness and minor aging/handling discoloration across the margins and text block edge, standard for circulated copies. Free from disruptive underlining or text highlighting, though minor handling marks may be present.
- Provenance: An official ex-library copy. Features expected institutional library markings, including library stamps, barcodes, and typical paper/card pasting remnants on the inner wrappers and preliminary pages.
- The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 2018, Ingrid Jonker: 'n Biografie represents Petrovna Metelerkamp's definitive, all-encompassing biographical account of Ingrid Jonker, published more than 50 years after the poet’s legendary and tragic death in 1965. While shorter pictorial volumes laid the groundwork, this exhaustive 440-page biography explores deep into the unanswered questions, mythologies, and controversies surrounding Jonker’s short, tempestuous life.
Metelerkamp utilizes a wealth of fresh material—including recently discovered private letters, personal diaries, and audio recordings with friends and family captured shortly after her passing—to construct a beautifully objective portrayal of a complex figure. The text addresses her painful childhood under an abusive, politically prominent father, her struggles as a single mother, and the profound depth of her turbulent romantic engagements with André Brink and Jack Cope. It stands as an essential work of modern Africana literature, humanizing South Africa's most haunting literary cult figure.
Author Profile: Petrovna Metelerkamp
Petrovna Metelerkamp is a highly respected South African author, biographer, archivist, and former journalist. After completing her education, she built an extensive media career working on the editorial boards of prominent national publications, including Huisgenoot and the influential current affairs magazine Insig. In 2000, she founded the independent publishing house Hemel & See Boeke. Widely recognised as the primary authority on Ingrid Jonker's life, Metelerkamp has dedicated decades to researching the poet's archival materials, culminating in several highly acclaimed biographical texts, dramatic stage plays, and compilations that have been praised for their rigorous, objective reliance on private letters and diaries.
ingrid jonker n biografie, petrovna metelerkamp 2018, afrikaans poetry biography, umuzi penguin random house, ex library collectible books, rare afrikaanse boeke, sestigers literary history, used collectible book
