Martin Versfeld

Front matter

Versfeld A South African Philosopher in Dark |

LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS

A SOUTH AFRICAN PHILOSOPHER IN DARK TIMES

Contents

PREFACE - Between joy and disquiet: Philosophising in dark times 11 Major publications by Marthinus Versfeld 17 INTRODUCTIONS 19 1. “Fertilizer to the last” - Biographical snips (by Ruth Versfeld) 21 2. What was Versfeld doing when he was doing philosophy? 37 1. On the warts 37 2. From autobiography to enigma 41 3. Genre - Or, how to do things with words 46 4. Theology: A portrait of the philosopher as an odd fish 48 5. Polyphony of philosophy: Introductions, liberal translations, historical work 52 6. Apartheid and other empiresque behaviour 55 7. A note on celebration 58 8. On its most intimate lesson 58 9. Conclusion 60

STUDIES

Self-knowledge and practical reason in a time of political madness

Preface

BETWEEN JOY AND DISQUIET: PHILOSOPHISING IN DARK TIMES

Martin Versfeld (11 August 1909-18 April 1995) is generally recognised as one of South Africa's greatest philosophers. Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town from 1937 to 1972, he was an inspiring lecturer and a stimulating author. Among his students, who became well-known themselves, are Athol Fugard, Richard Turner, Breyten Breytenbach, Adam Small, Jane Carruthers, Jeremy Cronin and Augustine Shutte. His influence stretched beyond the sphere of students and professional philosophers to activists, authors of literature and a broader public readership. A critic of apartheid from the first hour, he was also the first to introduce the study of oriental wisdom to South African academia, and among the first philosophers of ecology. One simply cannot bypass this figure of South African intellectual life. His writing career (1935-1990) coincided with one of the darkest times! of twentieth-century world history, and because he came through this era with his moral and intellectual integrity intact, the contemporary reader would want to explore the stakes that he had to deal with as a philosopher. How did he, as a professor of philosophical ethics and political philosophy, cope with the demands of this situation? Which strategies of reflection were available to him? How did he understand the strategic options of reflection open to him? How did he identify the difficulties of his task and how did he negotiate his way through them?

l I allude to the title of Hannah Arendt, Men in dark times (San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968).

Two major concerns justify studying Versfeld today. In recent years, events at universities have again demonstrated that in South Africa, as much as elsewhere,” our history is a domain of stakes and struggles, not a reliquary of ideas. Intellectual life is undergoing rapid change, as is indeed the society on which people try to reflect. We need to work constantly through our history and submit our diverse heritage to critical assessment. By doing so, we orientate ourselves in the present, albeit by destabilising our views. Hence the importance of intellectual history. Correspondingly, the first justification for this book is to do justice to this important figure and his thought by submitting his work to careful, scholarly analysis. This study is part of a broader research interest in South African intellectual life,’ and I hope that it will make a modest contribution to alleviating the relative paucity of studies on intellectual history in South Africa. In metamorphosed ways, the questions that preoccupied Versfeld are still with us.

That is already the second motive for writing this book. It is about Versfeld’s philosophical concerns — many of which are still ours today. What is a human person? How is one to understand the relation between generality and particularity? How does one deal with the failures of one’s own cultural traditions? Is it possible to make oneself at home in the modern world without destruction of human lives and the environment? The chapters are designed not only to present Versfeld’s views (on modernity, literature, social diversity, injustice, the relation between intellectual traditions, etc.) but to engage critically with his ideas from today’s sociopolitical and scholarly perspective. Only through proper critique can Versfeld remain our contemporary.

Cf. Mahmood Mamdani, “Between the public intellectual and the scholar: Decolonization and some post-independence initiatives in African higher education,’ Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 17, no. 1 (2016): 68-83; Ernst Wolff, “Decolonizing Philosophy. On the protests in South African universities,’ Books and Ideas, published 15 May 2017 (original French version published 28 October 2016), http://www.booksandideas.net/Decolonizing-Philosophy. html.; Harriet Swain, “Students want their curriculums decolonised. Are universities listening?”, The Guardian, 30 January 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/ jan/30/students-want-their-curriculums-decolonised-are-universities-listening [last access: 6 February 2020].

2 Cf. Ernst Wolff, Mongameli Mabona. His life and work. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2020; E. Wolff, “Adam Small’s shade of Black Consciousness,” in Philosophy on the border. Decoloniality and the shudder of the origin, ed. Leonhard Praeg (Pietermaritzburg: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Press, 2019), 112-147; E. Wolff, “Four questions on curriculum development in contemporary South Africa,” South African Journal of Philosophy 35, no. 4 (2016): 444-459; E. Wolff, “Anatomie van ’n teologiese ideologie. Die Hervormde Kerk se steun aan die Apartheid ideologie” [Anatomy of a theological ideology. The Reformed Church’s support of the apartheid ideology], Historia 51, no. 1 (May 2006): 141-162.

A number of traits of Versfeld’s thought make it particularly apt to stimulate reflection on these contemporary questions. He wasa severe critic of modernity, without being a conservative traditionalist. A scholar of ancient Greek philosophy, mediaeval philosophy and modern European philosophy, he had a strong command of the Western philosophical heritage and could engage creatively and critically with it. Yet, he gradually became aware of the narrowness of this form of open-mindedness and consciously strove to adopt elements from Indian and Chinese philosophy. The fruit of this endeavour is a philosophical anthropology that is enriched by a kaleidoscope of influences. The suggestive force of this work is of acute relevance to contemporary debates in the academic politics of intellectual traditions. Furthermore, Versfeld’s thought remains poised between the critique of political atrocities and celebration of the natural environment for which we have to care. Finally, his persistent experimentation with discursive forms stimulates reflection on how ideas are or should be conveyed, about the grounds of validity for any truth claim.

Versfeld’s name is synonymous with a philosophical celebration of life, coupled with a critique of political injustice, exploitation of nature, and consumerism. This tension between joy and disquiet is arguably the most salient trait of his work. This difficult marriage is also a primary reason why his work is — despite its masterful prose - more difficult to interpret than a superficial reading would lead one to believe. This book aims to advance the interpretation of Versfeld’s work. It is not intended as a substitute for it, but to invite those who have not yet read Versfeld to take up his books, and for those who have, to reread and restudy them attentively.

For this purpose, I have brought together a number of studies that clarify different aspects of Versfeld’s work. Some chapters are devoted to themes in his work, and others to specific books of his, or to his work as a whole. Without claiming that the book covers it all, the chapters are certainly representative of the largest part of Versfeld’s work. This is the first monograph on Martin Versfeld.* There is a host of important things that one may want to do in such a

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Helpful texts for situating Versfeld intellectually are Jonathan Allen, “A Competing Discourse on Empire; in South Africa, Greece and Rome: Classical Confrontations, ed. Grant Parker (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 235-261; Andrew Nash, “Marxism and dialectic, from Sharpeville to the negotiated settlement; in The dialectical tradition in South Africa (London and New York: Routledge, 2009), 159-184, here 159-164; Hennie Rossouw, “Die kuns van die lewe is om tuis te kom. Gedagtes oor die filosofie van Martin Versfeld; Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 36, no. 1 (1996): 11-20; W.A. de Klerk, “Marthinus Versfeld: mens en denker” Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 23, no. 3 (1983): 178-186; W.A. de Klerk, “Marthinus Versfeld: die man en sy denke,” Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 4 (1966): 62-72.

volume. Besides, the material is extremely rich. Still, Rome was not built in a day. For this book, I have decided to focus mostly on Versfeld’s work - a substantial part of the book consists of an immanent reading. Certainly, this includes some historical and intellectual contextualisation, but this is not the main thrust of these chapters.

The major part of the book was written by myself and consists either of essays published elsewhere? (translated and improved where needed) or written for this volume. In addition, three co-authors have filled in important gaps in my competence. To Ruth Versfeld, Paul van Tongeren and Kobus Kriiger, my sincerest gratitude. Antjie Krog and Marlene van Niekerk gave their support to this project in poetic form. Why this is so fitting for this book I discuss later, but I would already like to thank these writers here.

The chapters have been arranged in three parts: introductions, studies and conclusions.

Together, the first two chapters serve as a presentation of Martin Versfeld. They help to orientate the reader to Versfeld’s life (Chapter 1 is written by one of his daughters, Ruth Versfeld) and to his writing (Chapter 2).

The second part traces the development of Versfeld’s thought, by zooming in on a number of his books, selected from the early, middle and late periods: Oor gode en afgode (Chapter 3), Our Selves (Chapter 5) and Pots and Poetry (Chapter 7). The other contributions to this part of the book each develop a specific issue that came up in these three studies. Thus, the exploration of Versfeld’s earliest work reveals an unexpectedly positive appraisal of Nietzsche — his relation to Nietzsche is examined by Paul van Tongeren in Chapter 4. The presence of insights from Eastern thought, clearly foregrounded in Our Selves, raises the

Where I reproduce older texts I have not thought it necessary to erase my traces. I decided to maintain the original form of the texts, rather than to iron out the history of their composition, which would have required completely rewriting them. However, I have made small improvements where needed and I have added cross-references where applicable. With thanks to the relevant publishers, I used the following texts: “Poiesis. Oor maaksels en hul wêreld na aanleiding van Versfeld se Pots and Poetry, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 48, no. 1 (2011): 206-215 [Chapter 7]; “Grasping the truth from where we are,” introduction to the re-edition of Martin Versfeld, Our Selves (Pretoria: Protea, 2010), 7-39 [Chapter 5]; “Selfkennis, verstandigheid en inkarnasie. ’n Interpretasie van Versfeld se Oor gode en afgode? LitNet 7, no. 2 (2010): 257-279 / “Selfkennis en verstandigheid in ’n tyd van politieke raserny, introduction to the re-edition of Martin Versfeld, Oor gode en afgode (Pretoria: Protea, 2010), 7-40 [Chapter 3]; “Die neukery met verval en herstel in Versfeld se storie van die appelboom; Koers 74, no. 3 (2009): 539-542 [inserted into Chapter 7] and “Sanctus Marthinus laudator philosophicus,’ Fragmente 4 (1999): 87-101 [Chapter 9].

question of the profile of Versfeld’s reception and use of Eastern wisdom in general. Kobus Kriiger deals with this question in Chapter 6. The poems of Marlene van Niekerk and Antjie Krog® - Chapter 8 - complete the meditation on poiesis in the preceding chapter.

In conclusion, I offer two readings of Versfeld’s work as a whole, two views written twenty years apart. While not uncritical, the first reading is more appreciative, written as it were at the guru's feet. Still appreciative, the second is more critical, written in the spirit of the “philosopher as vulture” (an image that Versfeld advanced).

There are some minor overlaps between chapters. I have decided to retain these to maintain each chapter’s autonomy. The reader may indeed read any chapter on its own.

I thank Rika Opper for draft translations of Chapters 3, 7 and 9, and Christiaan Naudé for copy-editing the manuscript. To Mirjam Truwant, Annemie Vandezande, Beatrice van Eeghem and their colleagues at Leuven University Press, again my deep-felt recognition.

Christof Heyns - specialist of human rights law, United Nations Special Rapporteur, member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and a very amiable colleague - was acquainted with Versfeld in his youth. I discussed this book project with him some years ago already and, when the manuscript was accepted for publication in March 2021, asked him to write an endorsement for the cover. He readily accepted, but unexpectedly passed away a few days later on 28 March. I would like to pay tribute to him here.

I have characterised Versfeld’s work as situated in the tension between joy and disquiet. This book will be a success if it could facilitate its readers’ participation in this joyous celebration of life and ignite in them the disquieting concern for the atrocities of our own time.

Ernst Wolff Leuven, June 2020

The four poems of Antjie Krog, “Sunday lunch”, “the founding principle of generosity”, “to feed someone” and “convivium”, come from her volume Synapse, translation by Karen Press (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2014), 26, 43, 44, 80-82. I thank the publisher for permission to use them here.

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS

BY MARTHINUS VERSFELD

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Martin Versfeld, An Essay on the Metaphysics of Descartes (London: Methuen & Co, 1940).

Martin Versfeld, An Essay on the Metaphysics of Descartes (2 edition) (London: Routledge, 2016).

Martin Versfeld and W.A. de Klerk, Die berge van die Boland [The mountains of the Western Cape] (Stellenbosch: Kosmo, [1947] 1965).

Martin Versfeld, Oor gode en afgode [On gods and idols] (Cape Town: Nasionale Pers, 1948).

Martin Versfeld, with an introduction by Ernst Wolff, Oor gode en afgode [On gods and idols] (2™ edition) (Pretoria: Protea, 2010). Martin Versfeld, The Perennial Order (Dublin: Brown & Nolan, 1954).

Martin Versfeld, 4 Guide to The City of God (London: Sheed and Ward, 1958).

Martin Versfeld, The Mirror of Philosophers (London: Sheed and Ward, 1960).

Martin Versfeld, Rondom die Middeleeue [On the Middle Ages] (Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1962).

Martin Versfeld, “Talking Metaphysics”, in M. Versfeld and R. Meyer, On Metaphysics (Pretoria: Unisa, 1966).

Martin Versfeld, Wat is kontemporér? Vier opstelle oor ons tyd [What is contemporary. Four essays on our time] (Johannesburg: Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel, 1966).

Martin Versfeld, Klip en klei [Stone and Clay] (Pretoria: Human en Rousseau, 1968).

Martin Versfeld, Klip en klei [Stone and Clay] (2™ edition) (Pretoria: Protea, 2008).

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Martin Versfeld, W.A. de Klerk and J.J. Degenaar, Beweging uitwaarts [Movement outwards] (Cape Town: John Malherbe, 1969). Martin Versfeld, Plato. Die simposium of die drinkparty |Plato. The Symposium or the Drinking Party] (Cape Town: Buren, 1970). Martin Versfeld, Die buitelewe [Life outdoors] (Cape Town: Buren, 1970).

Martin Versfeld, The Socratic Spirit. University of Cape Town. Inaugural Lecture Series, no. 7, 1971 [also published in Persons, chapter 1].

Martin Versfeld, Persons (Cape Town: Buren, 1972).

Martin Versfeld, n Handleiding tot die Republiek van Plato [A Guide to Plato’s Republic] (Cape Town: Buren, 1974).

Martin Versfeld, M. Scholtz and LL. de Villiers, Wyn en wysheid. Vier sienings met fotos deur Chris Jansen [Wine and Wisdom. Four views with photo's by Chris Jansen] (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1978). Martin Versfeld, Our Selves (Cape Town: David Philip, 1979). Martin Versfeld, with an introduction Ernst Wolff, Our Selves (24 edition) (Pretoria: Protea, 2010).

Martin Versfeld, Tyd en dae [Time and days] (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1982).

Martin Versfeld, Food for Thought. A Philosopher's Cookbook (Cape Town: Carrefour, [1983] 1991).

Martin Versfeld, Die neukery met die appelboom [The trouble with the apple tree] (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1985).

Martin Versfeld, with an introduction by André Brink, Die neukery met die appelboom en ander essays [The trouble with the appletree] (2" edition) (Pretoria: Protea, 2009).

Martin Versfeld, Pots and Poetry (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1985). Martin Versfeld, with an introduction by André Brink, Pots and Poetry and other essays (2™ edition) (Pretoria: Protea, 2009). Martin Versfeld, Die lewensweg van Lao-Tse (Cape Town: Perskor, 1988).

Martin Versfeld, St Augustines Confessions and City of God (Cape Town: Carrefour, 1990).

Martin Versfeld, Sum. Selected Works / n Keur uit sy werke (Cape Town: Carrefour, 1991).

INTRODUCTIONS

Chapter 1

By Ruth Versfeld - with thanks for contributions from other family members

“A loafer all my life”, is how Martin Versfeld, my father, described himself in his honorary graduation ceremony speech at the University of Cape Town in 1987. He did indeed spend many hours in the armchair he had made for himself - a simple, wooden structure with curved arms and a chequerboard of broad leather straps across the seat and back. It sat in his study at Blyde Huis, a double-storeyed Victorian house built in 1840 in Rosebank, Cape Town. This was to be the house where he and his wife, Barbara, lived from 1945 until his death in 1995. Their nine children grew up here, and Martin would often rattle off the list until he reached the name of the one he was looking for ... “Joan, Adie, Cathy, Ursie, Dirk, Ruth, Molly, Tinie ... no, no I mean Balie.”

It was from his armchair that Martin did all his writing and much of his conversing. He had no typewriter and a hatred for ball-point pens. Instead he had a writing board and a pencil, kept sharpened with his ever-present pocket knife. Nothing was ever erased, though he did cross out or add the occasional word.

Many visitors came to Blyde Huis, passing through the squeaky wroughtiron gate, up the rough path under a huge magnolia tree to the wide front steps and the never-locked front door. The study was the first room on the left, a large room lined with books with the limerick volumes on a top shelf, ostensibly out of the reach of children. On the mantelpiece above the fireplace stood a crucifix along with, in later years, a statue of Buddha. If Martin was not here, he could usually be found cooking in the kitchen or wandering the rambling garden, often with company.

Martin had many friends: neighbourhood children, poets and academics; Scrabble companions, mountaineers and farmers; local beggars, teachers and former students; priests, infidels, along with, heaven forbid, judges and lawyers. For the sit-in-the-study visitors, Barbara seldom had time nor the inclination to be the tea-making wife. We children watched and commented, often irreverently, as “fans of the guru” traipsed from the study through to the kettle in the kitchen. Having said that, my brother, Dirk, recalls that sitting in the study when Dad was with his friends was incredibly important to me. It was about friendship, and this must have been deeply comforting to me. This has guided my life and my way of being with my own friends and their children - I hope [to give] some of that same sense of pleasure and security.

Sunday evening was the time for student visitations with Martin, who from his armchair read extracts from books and his latest pencilled writings. But much of his teaching came through aphorisms and casual remarks such as, “I hope he doesn’t end up a mere academic,’ or “So damnably the suffering elect. Virtue — Bah’, or “Potatoes are pure poetry ... so is good prose” and “People who think Western thought and art superior to that of the East are only half educated.” He loved these sessions and his students clearly did too. They kept coming back.

Denis Cowen, a frequent visitor to his study and friend from 1935 until the time Martin died, notes that although I know Martin better than I know Barbara, I actually know more about Barbara’s antecedents than Martin’s - a subject on which he was always surprisingly reticent, however hard or subtly one might try to draw him. Perhaps he set little store by such things. Perhaps he did not consider it worth the time and effort to find out ... but speculation on the subject is, so it seems to me, unnourishing.

I too, recall him saying that one learns more about a person by watching how he peels an orange than by studying his family tree.

Marthinus Versfeld was one of two children. His younger sister was Alma. Their parents were Anna Gertruida (born Le Roux) and John Henry Versfeld. “Ouma” Anna was a warm and welcoming woman with a brightness in her eyes. She was of French Huguenot descent. Her ancestors fled from France in 1685, at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes when Calvinist Protestants were no longer allowed to practise their religion in the predominantly Catholic state. (This adds interest to Martin’s conversion from Calvinism to Catholicism some 260 years later).

“Ouma” Annas family belonged to a Dutch Reformed Church congregation in Tulbagh, a small town in a mountainous part of the Western Cape. Her father farmed in the area. Anna herself was a staunch member of the Dutch Reformed Church all her life, ensuring her children attended church services as well as Sunday school and spent what was left of their Sundays “bettering” themselves and reading books with a “good moral tone” rather than having fun. Both Marthinus and Alma resented this, and my father would tell us of a sentimentally illustrated book he won at Sunday school and stuffed down a drain en route home.

Anna’s mother was known in Tulbagh for her nursing skills and had a formidable knowledge of indigenous plants and herbal medicines which she passed on to her daughter. Ouma in turn imparted both the knowledge and values of the goodness and power of nature to her children. Marthinus likewise was quick to apply pads of linen soaked in blousalie (blue sage) over a wound or to make a brew of wildeals (wormwood) if any of his children admitted to a stomach ache. He also had a reputation for feeding his family “weeds” from the garden. Some saw this as deprivation but we thrived.

One of ten children, Anna Le Roux trained as a primary school teacher and got a post some distance away in the Little Karoo town of Barrydale. Here she lodged at “Rose Cottage’, the home of the Versfeld family. John Henry Versfeld, whom she later married, had an only sister, Hilda, who taught at the same school.

John Henry was the middle son and his mother, we were told, favoured his older and younger brothers. He probably suffered from depression most of his life. At the time Anna was lodging with his family he was a law student and doing brilliantly. However, he then became deaf after a bout of illness, possibly meningitis or simply a severe cold. This, in those days, ruled out his wish to become a lawyer and restricted him to the deathly boring job of “Registrar of Deeds”.

John Henry Versfeld married Anna le Roux in 1908. His was the Dutch side of the family originating from the Netherlands in the early 1700s and with relatives in the Cape west coast upcountry regions of Darling, Malmesbury and Piketberg. There were also familial connections with branches of the Smuts, Gie and Duckitt families. The Versfeld web spread from the farm Groote Post west of the Cedarberg Mountains to the farm of Klaassenbosch in the Constantia valley, across to Caledon in the Overberg district, through Swellendam and Riversdale and on east to Knysna.

Marthinus Versfeld was born on 11 August 1909. Christened “Marthinus” in the Dutch Reformed Church, he kept this name but used “Martin” more and more as time went by. He and Alma grew up with their parents at 12 Camp Street, a double-storeyed, semi-detached house in Gardens, Cape Town. Marthinus had an upstairs room that led onto a balcony that commanded a fine view of the face of Table Mountain, a place he roamed from boyhood to old age. His father had a love of the outdoor life, often taking his family for walks along the “Firepath” (now Tafelberg Road) and the “Pipe Track” which contours the skirt of Table Mountain.

The family later moved to a larger house with a bigger garden in Hofmeyr Street, also in Gardens. This house they named “Tradouw” after the route through the Langeberg Mountains linking Barrydale to Suurbraak in the Overberg. Anna and John Henry would have enjoyed outings in this area when Anna lodged with the Versfelds in Barrydale.

Martin’s love of carpentry no doubt also stemmed from his father. The two shared a cramped workshop in the basement of their Hofmeyr Street home. Here they made bankies of black stinkwood and witels (white alder) along with bigger yellow wood tables, bookshelves and other useful pieces for the house. This fine feel for wood has been passed on to my generation and particularly to my brother Tinie (Martin), who started working wood with his father in the workshop at Blyde Huis and is now a craftsman himself.

It seems that John Henry became increasingly frustrated and gloomy with age. Denis Cowen recalls Martin telling him that his father “yearned to spread his wings in the competitive world of affairs, but was prevented by his deafness from getting out of the civil service rut”. Martin, as a schoolboy, had to deal with his father’s breakdowns and suicidal threats. He also successfully nursed both his parents when they contracted the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Martin matriculated from South African College Schools (SACS) and went on to study at the University of Cape Town. One could have expected him to study entomology as he was keen on the natural sciences and had already developed a deep interest and knowledge of goggas. However, he initially selected law, as his father had done, but then discovered that philosophy was a lot more fun.

For postgraduate study, Martin went to Glasgow University in Scotland where he garnered his PhD in 1933. A major revelation during his PhD studies was his discovery, under the guidance of A.A. Bowman, of mediaeval philosophy, particularly the writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. He was dismayed that the narrow Protestantism of his University of Cape Town education had omitted this period of Western thought. He dutifully completed his PhD on Descartes, but no longer admired the thinking of that style of philosophy.

In 1942 Martin met and married Barbara Barry. He was a junior lecturer in ethics at the University of Cape Town while she was an undergraduate student. Barbara also had ancestral roots in the Overberg that ran through Swellendam to the south coast. Hers was an English-speaking, Church of England family while Martin’s was Afrikaans-speaking and Dutch Reformed. Their families generally supported opposite sides in the Second Anglo-Boer, or South African, War at the start of the twentieth century. Martin’s father and a friend, for example, climbed Lion’s Head one night during this war and erected a “Vierkleur” - the Transvaal/Boer flag. It has to be said that Barbara’s great-uncle John X. Merriman, then Treasurer General of the Cape in the ministry of J.P. Schreiner, was accused of being “Pro-Boer” in the British House of Commons as he appealed for the prevention of the Second Boer War. Merriman even lost his seat in Parliament for a period because of his anti-war sentiments. Both families had a rebellious element, which Martin and Barbara each took on in their pacifist ways.

Within a couple of years of their marriage, Martin and Barbara together converted to Catholicism, a move of which neither the Dutch Reformed Church nor Barbara’s family approved. However, this was an exciting and uplifting time for them both as reflected in a letter from Martin to Simon Bisheuwel, a psychologist friend who had challenged him on the need for organised religion: “the function of the church is to present to us the Divine Values in the form in which they are visible to merely human eyes”. The writings of Catholic philosophers including Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson (both of the Thomas Aquinas tradition), Cardinal John Henry Newman and South Africa’s Monsignor EC. Kolbe clearly aided them in looking upon the Divine. G.K. Chesterton was another oft-quoted influence. I’m interested to discover that of all these professed Catholics, only Gilson was born into a Catholic family.

Later, and while essentially staying in that faith, Martin broadened his interests to include Eastern thought, especially Zen Buddhism. So, for example, in 1979 his essay “The Yin and the Yang in Christian Culture” was published in his collection Our Selves. Pots and Poetry, a 1985 collection of essays which includes “Plato and Confucius” where once again he draws parallels between Western and Eastern thought. I’m sure these ideas were brewing all along and remember, from the time I learnt to read in the early 1960s, trying to decipher the word “Upanishads” on the spine of one of the many books on his shelves. In 1988 Martin took enormous satisfaction in the publication of his Die Lewensweg van Lao-Tse, a translation into Afrikaans of the Tao Te Ching, authored by the ancient Chinese philosopher and poet Lao Tzu. He always said that philosophers peak at eighty. He was seventy-nine at the time!

This was also about the time when my brother Tinie had a discussion with his father about atheism. The old man explained that he was not brave enough to have no faith. Christianity as illuminated by the great Catholic thinkers, he said, appealed to him because it offered redemption from the terror of history. History did indeed plague him.

As a child I had little comprehension of what it was my parents did. When asked, my father’s response would go something like, “Well, it’s something like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there ... and finding it!” I remember my Sub-B (grade two) teacher going around the class asking our parents’ occupations for a list she was compiling. I was seven years old. When it was my turn, I proudly announced that my father was a carpenter, and my mother a secretary. (At the time, my mother was going to “the office” to do paralegal advisory work for transgressors of the pass and other apartheid laws.) My sister Ursie once explained what her father did with the words, “Sometimes he sits and thinks, and sometimes he just sits.” I’m sure my parents would have approved of both accounts!