Eep Francken is an Affiliated Researcher at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society and an Extraordinary Professor in the Research Unit for Languages and Literature at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University.

More information about Eep Francken

Fields of interest

Modern Dutch and Afrikaans literature

Research

After obtaining my Doctorate on Multatuli, I started to focus on South African literature written in Dutch and in Afrikaans. South African Dutch literature forms a part of Dutch colonial and post-colonial literature which has been forgotten by readers and critics. A second focus of my studies is the ‘coloured’ writers: the authors from the ‘bruinmense’ population writing in Afrikaans. Currently I am preparing a comprehensive study on South African Dutch writing from the year 1652 to this day (with Olf Praamstra).

Curriculum Vitae

I was born on 18 May 1948 in Zoetermeer. I completed the Gymnasium B at the Huygens Lyceum in Voorburg in 1966 and in 1974 obtained a  Doctoraal degree in Dutch Linguistics and Literature at Leiden University, with distinction. From 1970 to 1974 I worked in the Dutch Department as an assistant to Professor H.A. Gomperts (Modern Dutch Literature). During the years 1973-1976 I was a secondary school teacher of Dutch in Leidschendam. Since that time I have worked in the Dutch Department at Leiden University. I obtained my doctorate in 1990 under the supervision of Professor Ton Anbeek. Both in 1995 and 2003, I was a guest lecturer in South Africa – at the University of Cape Town and at Potchefstroom University. In 2005, the South African Academy for Science and Arts awarded both Professor Luc Renders (Hasselt University, Belgium) and myself the Elisabeth Eybers Research Grant. I was offered membership by the Academy in 2007. In 2013 I retired and was honoured with an impressive festschrift. Since then I am a guest researcher at the L.U. Centre for the Arts in Society. In 2019 I accepted my appointment as Extraordinary Professor in the Research Unit for Languages and Literature in the SA Context at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University.

Publications

Aug.P. van Groeningen:  Volledig werk, ed. Eep Francken. Amsterdam 1978. 

De veelzinnige muze van E. Douwes Dekker. Amsterdam 1990. 

H.A. Gomperts : Intenties 1-2-3, ed. Eep Francken en Herman Verhaar. Amsterdam 2003. 

(with Luc Renders):  Skrywers in die strydperk. Krachtlijnen in de Zuid-Afrikaanse literatuur. Amsterdam 2005. www.dbnl.nl

(with Olf Praamstra): “De wederopstanding van de Zuid-Afrikaanse Nederlandse literatuur? Over de ‘canonisering’ van minderheidsliteraturen.” Literator 33 (2012) nr. 2. https://journals.co.za/content/literat/33/2