author
D'Arbez
1856–1918
Best known by the pen name D'Arbez, this Cape Town-born writer helped bridge an important turning point in early Afrikaans literature while writing vivid historical fiction. His novels often reached back into South African history, bringing adventure and drama to earlier centuries.
3 Audiobooks
Aan Tafelbaai's Strand
by D'Arbez
About the author
Born in Cape Town on 20 November 1856 and died in Somerset West on 6 September 1918, Johan Frederik van Oordt wrote under the name D'Arbez. Sources describe him as an important transitional figure between the first and second Afrikaans language movements, and note that he was the son of newspaper editor and classicist J.W.G. van Oordt.
The pen name D'Arbez came from "zebra" spelled backward, a nickname reportedly given to him while he was at school in the Netherlands. Although he is associated with Afrikaans literary history, later literary reference sources note that he was the last Afrikaner writer of his kind to produce his works in Dutch rather than Afrikaans.
He is remembered especially for historical fiction. Surviving and digitized works linked to him include David Malan: Een verhaal uit den Grooten Trek, De Dochter van de Zeekapitein, and Aan Tafelbaai's Strand, all of which show his strong interest in South Africa's past and in storytelling rooted in place and history.