Don Maclennan in 1984

Donald Alasdair Calum Maclennan (9 December 1929 – 9 February 2009) was a South African poet, critic, playwright and English professor.

He published a number of plays, short stories, collections of poems and scholarly works.

Born on 9 December 1929, in London, England, Maclennan came to South Africa as a child in 1938. He was educated at Witwatersrand University and Edinburgh University.[1]

Maclennan's academic career included lecturing at Wits University and the University of Cape Town.[2] He taught in both South Africa and the United States.[3] He began teaching at Rhodes University in 1966, teaching English there for more than 40 years,[2] although he officially retired in 1994. In later years, he continued to teach at the university, giving weekly seminars for another decade.[4]

In his final years, he self-published a number of works of poetry.[4] In his last decade, Maclennan had motor-neuron disease. He suffered a stroke in January 2009, although his mind was not affected by it. He died on 9 February 2009, in Port Elizabeth.[2]

Bibliography

Years link to corresponding "[year] in poetry" article for poetry; for literature, to corresponding "[year] in literature" article:

Poetry

  • 1971: In Memoriam Oskar Wolberheim, A.A. Balkema, combining Maclennan's poetry and the music of Norbert Nowotny[1]
  • 1977: Life Songs, Bateleur Press[1]
  • Bateleur Poets, ISBN 978-0-620-02281-1[5]
  • 1983: Reckonings,[1] New Africa Books, ISBN 978-0-908396-95-5[6]
  • 1988: Collecting Darkness, Justified Press, ISBN 978-0-9474510-3-5[1]
  • 1992: Letters: New Poems, Carrefour Press, ISBN 978-0-9583178-7-0[7]
  • 1995: The Poetry Lesson: New Poems[1] Snailpress, ISBN 978-1-874923-25-1[8]
  • 1997: Solstice: Poems, ISBN 978-1-874923-40-4,[9] winner of South Africa's Sanlam Literary Award for 1997[1]
  • 1998: Of Women and Some Men[1] with George Coutouvidis, Firfield Poetry Press, ISBN 978-1-875058-16-7[10]
  • 2001:
    • Notes from a Rhenish Mission,[1] Firfield Press, ISBN 978-1-875058-17-4[11]
    • A Brief History of Madness in the Eastern Cape, with drawings by Siddis Firfield,[1] Firfield Press, ISBN 978-1-875058-17-4[1]
  • 2002: Rock paintings at Salem, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2002: The Road to Kromdraai,[1] Publisher Snailpress, ISBN 978-1-874923-63-3[12]
  • 2003: The Dinner Party, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2003: A Letter to William Blake, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2003: Under Compassberg, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2004: Excavations,[1] self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2005: Reading the Signs, Carapace
  • 2006: The necessary salt, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2006: Selected Poems, Quartz Press
  • 2007: The owl of Minerva, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2008: Through a Glass Darkly, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2010: Dress Rehearsal, self-published, Rhodes University GSU
  • 2012: Collected Poems, Print Matters Heritage Press (ed. Dan Wylie) ISBN 978-0-987009562

Other works

  • An Enquiry into the Voyage of the Santiago, a play[4]
  • Job Mava, a play, written and performed in 1972/3 by The Ikhwezi Players, published 1981/2[4]
  • My Childhood, adaptation of Maxim Gorky's play, performed in 1975 by The Ikhwezi Players[4]
  • 2004: Editor, with Malcolm Hacksley, A Ruthless Fidelity: Collected Poems of Douglas Livingstone,[1] publisher: Ad Donker, ISBN 978-0-86852-232-6[13]
  • Olive Schreiner and After: Essays on Southern African Literature in Honour of Guy Butler[1] Publisher: D. Philip, ISBN 978-0-908396-92-4[14]
  • Sarah Christie, Don Maclennan, Geoffrey Hutchings, Perspectives on South African Fiction, Publisher Ad. Donker, ISBN 978-0-949937-74-2[15]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Maclennan, Donald (Alasdair Calum)" article, Student Encyclopedia of African Literature, by Douglas Killam, Alicia L. Kerfoot, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 ISBN 978-0-313-33580-8, retrieved via Google Books on 13 February 2009
  2. 1 2 3 Loewe, Mike, "Poet and playwright Maclennan dies at 79", article, 12 February 2009, Independent Online website of the Independent newspaper, article "was originally published on page 9 of Cape Argus on February 12, 2009", according to the Web page, retrieved 13 February 2009
  3. ↑ "Prof Don A C MacLennan" at Rhodes University website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "RIP Don Maclennan: 1929 – 2009. February 10th, 2009 by Ben – Editor", article at Book SA News website, retrieved 13 February 2009 Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Bateleur Poets" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  6. ↑ "Reckonings" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  7. ↑ "Letters: New Poems" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  8. ↑ "The Poetry Lesson: New Poems" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  9. ↑ "Solstice: Poems" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  10. ↑ "Of Women and Some Men" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  11. ↑ "Notes from a Rhenish Mission" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  12. ↑ "The Road to Kromdraai" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  13. ↑ "A Ruthless Fidelity: Collected Poems of Douglas Livingstone" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  14. ↑ "Olive Schreiner and After: Essays on Southern African Literature in Honour of Guy Butler" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
  15. ↑ "Perspectives on South African Fiction" at BookFinder.com website, retrieved 13 February 2009
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