André Philippus Brink is one of South Africa’s most esteemed writers. Initially writing only in Afrikaans, he was one of the leading figures of the so-called Sestigers [Writers of the Sixties] who radically renewed Afrikaans literature, breaking away from the Realist tradition in Afrikaans fiction. Influenced by the French nouveau roman and the existentialism of Camus, Brink’s work of the 1960’s introduced Modernism to Afrikaans fiction. Breaking many taboos, writing openly about sex, and questioning the narrow Calvinist religious doctrine and political views prevailing at the time in the Afrikaner community led to clashes with the conservative Afrikaner establishment.