The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a multi-campus South African public research university^[4] situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University. The University has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley,^[1] it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation, after the University of Cape Town (founded in 1829),^[5] and Stellenbosch University (founded in 1866).^[6]

In 1959, the Extension of University Education Act forced restricted registrations of black students for most of the apartheid era; despite this, several notable black leaders graduated from the University. It became desegregated once again prior to the abolition of apartheid in 1990. Several of apartheid's most provocative critics, of either European or African descent, were one-time students and graduates of the University.^[3]

The University has an enrollment of 27,934 students as of 2010, of which approximately 4,566 live on campus in the University's 18 residences. As of 2010, 67.7% of the University's total enrollment is for undergraduate study, with the remaining 32.3% being postgraduate.^[2]

History[link]

The Great Hall, on East Campus, where graduation ceremonies, ceremonial lectures, concerts and other functions are held.

The early years: 1896-1922[link]

The University was founded in Kimberley in 1896 as the South African School of Mines. Eight years later, in 1904, the school was moved to Johannesburg and renamed the Transvaal Technical Institute. The school's name changed yet again in 1906 to Transvaal University College. In 1908, a new campus of the Transvaal University College was established in Pretoria. The Johannesburg and Pretoria campuses separated on 17 May 1910, each becoming a separate institution. The Johannesburg campus was reincorporated as the South African School of Mines and Technology, while the Pretoria campus remained the Transvaal University College until 1930 when it became the University of Pretoria.^[3][7] In 1920, the school was renamed the University College, Johannesburg.^[3]

The open years: 1922-1959[link]

Finally, on 1 March 1922, the University College, Johannesburg, was granted full university status after being incorporated as the University of the Witwatersrand.^[8] The Johannesburg municipality donated a site in Milner Park, north-west of Braamfontein, to the new institution as its campus and construction began the same year, on 4 October. The first Chancellor of the new university was Prince Arthur of Connaught and the first Principal (a position that would be merged with that of Vice-Chancellor in 1948)^[9] was Professor Jan Hofmeyr^[10] Hofmeyr set the tone of the University's subsequent opposition to apartheid when, during his inaugural address as Principal he declared, while discussing the nature of a university and its desired function in a democracy, that universities "should know no distinctions of class, wealth, race or creed".^[11] True to Hofmeyr's words, from the outset Wits was an open university with a policy of non-discrimination on racial or any other grounds.^[3]

Initially, there were six faculties — Arts, Science, Medicine, Engineering, Law and Commerce — 37 departments, 73 academic staff, and approximately 1,000 students.^[12] In 1923, the University began moving into the new campus, slowly vacating its former premises on Ellof Street for the first completed building in Milner Park: the Botany and Zoology Block. In 1925, the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) officially opened Central Block (which includes the Great Hall).^[3] The University's first library, housed at the time in what was meant to be a temporary construction, was destroyed in a fire on Christmas Eve in 1931. Following this, an appeal was made to the public for ₤80,000 to pay for the construction of a new library, and the acquisition of books. This resulted in the fairly rapid construction of the William Cullen Library; completed in 1935.^[13] During this period, as the Great Depression hit South Africa, the University was faced with severe financial restrictions. Nonetheless, it continued to grow at an impressive rate. From a total enrollment of 2,544 students in 1939, the University grew to 3,100 in 1945. This growth led to accommodation problems, which were temporarily resolved by the construction of wood and galvanised-iron huts in the centre of the campus (which remained in use until 1972).^[3]

During World War II, Wits was involved in South Africa's war efforts. The Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research was placed under the Union of South Africa's defence ministry, and was involved in important research into the use of radar. Additionally, an elite force of female soldiers was trained on the University's campus.^[13]

In 1957, as the National Party government, elected in 1948, continued to roll out its policy of apartheid, Wits, along with University of Cape Town, Rhodes University and the University of Natal, issued a joint statement entitled "The Open Universities in South Africa", committing themselves to the principles of university autonomy and academic freedom. It arose out of the government's decision in 1956 to enforce segregation in universities in South Africa^[14] In 1959, the apartheid government passed the Extension of University Education Act, which achieved the enforcement of university apartheid. Wits protested strongly and continued to maintain a firm and consistent stand in opposition to apartheid. This marked the beginning of a period of conflict with the apartheid regime, which also coincided with a period of massive growth for the University.^[3]

East Campus as seen from the north of the campus. Senate House and the high-rise buildings of Braamfontein are visible in the background.

Growth and opposition to apartheid: 1959-1994[link]

As the University continued to grow (from a mere 6,275 students in 1963, to 10,600 in 1975, to over 16,400 by 1985), the expansion of the University's campus became imperative. In 1964, the medical library and administrative offices of the Faculty of Medicine moved to Esselen Street, in the Hillbrow district of Johannesburg. In 1968, the Graduate School of Business was opened in Parktown. A year later, the Ernest Oppenheimer Hall of Residence and Savernake, the new residence of the Vice-Chancellor (replacing Hofmeyr House on the main campus) were both established, also in Parktown. That same year, the Medical School's new clinical departments were opened.^[3]

During the course of the 1960s, Wits acquired a limestone cave renowned for its archaeological material located at Sterkfontein. A farm next to Sterkfontein named Swartkrans rich in archaeological material was purchased in 1968, and excavation rights were obtained for archaeological and palaeontological purposes at Makapansgat, located in Limpopo Province.^[3]

The 1960s also witnessed widespread protest against apartheid policies. This resulted in numerous police campus invasions to break up peaceful protests, and in the banning, deportation and detention of many students and staff. Government funding for the University was cut, with funds originally meant for Wits often being channeled to the more conservative Afrikaans universities instead. Nonetheless, in the words of Chipkin, the "university environment was filled with deep contradictions". This stemmed from the Wits Council being dominated by "highly conservative members representing mining and financial interests", and was compounded by the fact that the mining industry provided major financial support for the university. With a strongly entrenched "[c]olonial mentality" at Wits, along with "high capitalism, the new liberalism and communism of a South African kind, combined with entrenched white settler mores (particularly in the Engineering and Science faculties) ... the university ... was an arena of conflicting positions generally contained within polite academic conventions".^[15]

The 1970s saw the construction of Jubilee Hall and the Wartenweiler Library, as well as the opening of the Tandem Accelerator; the first, and to date only, nuclear facility at a South African university.^[13] In 1976, Lawson's Corner in Braamfontein was acquired and renamed University Corner. Senate House, the university's main administrative building, was completed in 1977. The university underwent a significant expansion programme in the 1980s. The Medical School was moved to new premises on York Street in Parktown on 30 August 1982. Additionally, in 1984 the University acquired the Milner Park showgrounds from the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society and renamed them West Campus,^[15] with the original campus becoming East Campus.^[3] In 1984, the Chamber of Mines building opened. A large walkway named the Amic Deck was constructed across the De Villiers Graaff Motorway which bisects the campus, linking East Campus with West Campus.^[3]

The 1980s also witnessed a period of heightened opposition to apartheid, as the University struggled to maintain its autonomy in the face of attacks from the apartheid state. Wits looked anew to the "Open Universities" statement of 1957, to which the University of the Western Cape now also added its voice. As the apartheid government attempted, through the threat of financial sanctions, to bring Wits under firmer control, protest escalated culminating in the General Assembly of 28 October 1987, at which the University reiterated its commitment to the values underlying the "Open Universities" statement.^[14]

University management itself came under increasing grassroots pressure to implement change within the University. A Wits initiated research project, Perspectives of Wits (POW), published in 1986, revealed a surprising disconnect between the perceptions of disadvantaged communities of Wits and the image Wits had been attempting to convey of itself as a progressive opponent of apartheid. POW, which had involved interviews with members of organisations among disadvantaged communities in the PWV area, international academics, students and staff at Wits, and even a meeting with the then-banned ANC in Lusaka, revealed that to many in the surrounding disadvantaged communities, there was a perception that Wits had not transformed itself sufficiently.^[14]

However, instead of translating POW's proposals into institutional plans for transformation, Wits reacted in a defensive manner and refused to acknowledge many of the criticisms that had been brought up by POW. Within the University, the perception was different: it was felt that Wits was on the right track. The contradiction between internal and external perceptions would serve increasingly to undermine the University's unity in opposition to apartheid, as external perceptions began to seep into the University community. Internal debates about, among other things, the international academic boycott of South Africa and the role of academics in the anti-apartheid struggle led to increasing division within the University. University management was increasingly seen as isolated and out of touch, and began to be referred to by the metonym "the eleventh floor", referring to the eleventh floor of Senate House where top management at Wits is located.^[14]

Nonetheless, the University community continued to uphold its opposition to apartheid and its commitment to university autonomy and academic freedom. The remainder of the 1980s saw numerous protests on campus, which often ended with police invasions of the University. In 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released, the students of Men's Res, on East Campus, unofficially renamed the lawn outside their residence "Mandela Square".

Post-apartheid: 1994-present[link]

On 25 February 2000, University management began implementing a policy called "Wits 2001" whereby 623 building care, catering, cleaning, grounds, maintenance, and transport workers employed by the University were retrenched, with their jobs being outsourced to sub-contracting companies. There was also a restructuring of academic departments; the University's nine faculties were reduced to five, the University's 99 departments were merged into 40 schools, and courses that were deemed redundant following a mass review were cancelled. Another wave of retrenchments, affecting academic and administrative staff was also implemented as part of Wits 2001.^[16][17] Wits management did, however, initiate programmes to ameliorate some of the negative effects of Wits 2001. These included the implementation of early retirement and voluntary severance packages to minimise retrenchments. Additionally, many of the affected employees' children were studying at Wits at the time, and received bursaries as part of their parents' employment contracts with Wits. The University therefore continued to offer bursaries to them until the completion of the degrees for which they were then enrolled, as well as offering bursaies to the children of affected employees who matriculated in 2000.^[18][19]

Wits 2001 attracted widespread criticism from the workers and staff affected, as well as from students and other staff. The arguments behind the restructuring were criticised as badly reasoned, and the policy itself was criticised as being regressive and neoliberal.^[20][21] The then-vice-chancellor, Professor Colin Bundy, said in defense of Wits 2001 that "[t]his fundamental reorganisation of both academic activities and support services will equip the university for the challenges of higher education in the 21st Century".^[18] Management issued a statement on 30 May 2000 responding to criticism of Wits 2001 from the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU), the largest trade union among Wits employees, in which it defended Wits 2001 as constituting the "outsourcing [of] contracts for certain non-core functions, rather than any shift in ownership relations or governance" contra NEHAWU's claims that it constituted privatisation. Management further defended the changes as "improving the financial sustainability of Wits, taking pressure off management and students, and allowing for better academic and support facilities and services".^[22] Along with "Igoli 2002", Wits 2001 was one of the policies implemented in the early 2000s which resulted in the formation of the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF).

In 2002, the Johannesburg College of Education was incorporated into the University as Wits Education Campus under the national Department of Education's plan to reform tertiary education in South Africa.^[15] In 2003, a student mall, called the Matrix, was opened in the Student Union Building on East Campus.^[23]

In 2010, an organisation of workers, staff and students called the Wits Workers' Solidarity Committee (WWSC) was formed to support a worker-initiated campaign against a senior manager, named Ian Armitage, at the Property, Infrastructure and Maintenance Department (PIMD), the division of University management responsible for dealing with outsourced workers on campus, who was accused of threatening workers with violence and hurling racial abuse at them. Under pressure from the WWSC, management agreed to give Armitage a disciplinary hearing, shortly before which he resigned.^[24] The WWSC then broadened its campaign to oppose outsourcing on campus in general. In a report on racism at Wits released in October 2011, the WWSC claims that outsourcing reproduces the apartheid legacy at Wits and that some of the restrictive measures that had been put in place against workers constituted segregation. Wits management has since promised an investigation into the allegations made by the WWSC's report.^[25]

Coat of arms[link]

The current coat of arms of the University was designed by Professor G. E. Pearse, and edited by Professor W. D. Howie to correct heraldic inaccuracies, before being accepted by the State Herald of South Africa in 1972. The design of the coat of arms incorporates a gold background in the upper section of the shield to represent the Witwatersrand gold fields — on which the mining industry that gave rise to the University is based — along with an open book superimposed upon a cogwheel, representing knowledge and industry. The silver wavy bars on the lower section of the shield represent the Vaal and Limpopo rivers which form the northern and southern borders of the Witwatersrand gold fields. Above the shield is the head of a Kudu, an antelope typical of the Witwatersrand and the University's mascot. The University's motto, "Scientia et Labore", meaning "Through Knowledge and Work" in Latin, appears just below the shield.^[26]

The University's coat of arms evolved from the badge of the South African School of Mines. This badge consisted of a diamond with a shield superimposed upon it. A prospector's pick and a sledge hammer overlaid with broken ore and a mill appeared on the shield. The South African School of Mine's motto was the same as the University's current one, and surrounded the shield.^[26]

Governance and administration[link]

Senate House, to the left, is home to the University's Senate, Council, and management.

As set out in the Higher Education Act (Act No. 101 of 1997)^[27] and in the Statute of the University of the Witwatersrand,^[28] the University is governed by Council. The Chancellor of the University is the ceremonial head of the University who, in the name of the University, confers all degrees. The positions of Principal and Vice-Chancellor are merged, with the Vice-Chancellor responsible for the day-to-day running of the University and accountable to Council. Council is responsible for the selection of all Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Deans of Faculty.^[28]

The responsibility for regulating all teaching, research and academic functions of the University falls on Senate. Additionally, the interests of the University's students are represented by the Students' Representative Council (SRC), which also selects representatives to Senate and Council.^[28]

Campuses[link]

The University is divided into five academic campuses. The main administrative campus is East Campus. Across the De Villiers Graaff Motorway lies West Campus. The two are joined by a brick-paved walkway across the highway called the Amic Deck. East and West Campus effectively form a single campus, bordered by Empire Road to the north, Jan Smuts Avenue to the east, Jorrissen Street and Enoch Sontonga Road to the south and Annet Road to the west. The historic East Campus is primarily the home of the faculties of Science and Humanities, as well as the University Council, Senate and management. West Campus houses the faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment, and Commerce, Law and Management. East Campus is home to four residences, namely Men's Res (male), Sunnyside (female), International House (mixed) and Jubilee Hall (female).^[29] West Campus is home to the Barnato and David Webster Halls and West Campus Village (all mixed).^[30]

Wits has three more academic campuses, all located in Parktown. Wits Education Campus (WEC) houses the school of education, within the Faculty of Humanities. WEC boasts three female residences, forming the Highfield cluster, namely Girton, Medhurst and Reith Hall. East of WEC (across York Road), lies Wits Medical Campus which is the administration and academic centre of the Faculty of Health Sciences. West of WEC (across Victoria Avenue) lies the Wits Management Campus, with the Wits Business School. Within the Wits Management Campus are the Ernest Oppenheimer Hall (male residence) and the mixed Parktown Village I.

There are centres that are not academic although referred to by the University as campuses. These are Graduate Lodge, Campus Lodge, South Court and Braamfontein Centre; all in the city district of Braamfontein and all mixed gender. Furthermore there is the Wits Junction (mixed) and the Knockando Halls of Residence (a male residence located on the grounds of a Parktown mansion called Northwards) in Parktown, and the mixed Esselen Street Residence in Hillbrow.

Sites[link]

National heritage sites and objects[link]

The University of the Witwatersrand houses two of South Africa's national heritage sites and two heritage objects. The Great Hall (technically the façade of Central Block in which the Great Hall is located),^[31] and the Dias Cross housed in the William Cullen Library^[32] are both national heritage sites. They were formerly national monuments, until 1999 when the South African Heritage Resource Agency replaced the National Monuments Council with the passage of the National Heritage Resources Act.^[33] The heritage objects are Jan Smuts' study, housed in Jan Smuts House,^[34] and the Paul Loewenstein Collection of rock art.^[35] All of the University's national heritage sites and objects are located on East Campus.

Cradle of Humankind[link]

Wits acquired the Sterkfontein and Swartkrans sites in the 1960s, both of which were rich in fossil remains of early hominids.^[3] In 1999, the area was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as the Cradle of Humankind. As a World Heritage Site, responsibility for the site shifted from the University to the government of Gauteng Province, with the provincial government becoming the designated management authority responsible for developing and protecting the site; aided by the South African Heritage Resources Agency, which has also declared the area a national heritage site.^[36] Nonetheless, despite no longer owning the site, the University's archaeology and palaeontology departments, within the School of Geosciences of the Faculty of Science, continue to play a leading part in excavations of the site; and Wits retains ownership of Sterkfontein's intellectual rights.^[37] In 2010, Professor Lee Berger discovered Australopithecus sediba at the site.^[38]

Museums[link]

The University hosts at least fourteen museums. These include the Adler Museum of Medicine, the Palaeontology Museum and the only Geology Museum in Gauteng Province. The displays include a vast spectra not limited to the Taung skull, various dinosaur fossils and butterflies.

Rock art[link]

The Roberts-Pager Collection of Khoisan rock art copies is located in the Van Riet Lowe building on East Campus.

Johannesburg Planetarium[link]

The Johannesburg Planetarium was the first full-sized planetarium in Africa and the second in the Southern Hemisphere. It was originally bought by the Johannesburg municipality to be set up as part of the celebration of the city's seventieth anniversary. After acquiring a projector from the old Hamburg Planetarium, which was modernised before being shipped to South Africa, the municipality sold the projector to the University for use as both an academic facility for the instruction of students, and as a public amenity. Plans for a new building to house the projector were first drawn up in 1958, and construction began in 1959. The planetarium finally opened on 12 October 1960.^[39] The Johannesburg Planetarium is often consulted by the media, and the public, in order to explain unusual occurrences in the skies over South Africa.^[40][41] In 2010, the Johannesburg Planetarium celebrated its golden jubilee.^[42]

Wits Art Museum[link]

In 1972 the Gertrude Posel Gallery was established on the ground floor of Senate House on East Campus. It was joined in 1992 by the Studio Gallery which formed the "lower gallery" reserved for the display of African art. The galleries' collections grew steadily, with the Studio Gallery becoming renowned for having one of the best collections of African beadwork in the world, and by 2002 it was decided that more space was needed. Thus, the Gertrude Posel Gallery and the Studio Galley were closed. The ground floor of University Corner was selected as the site for the new Wits Art Museum, which will house the collections once it is completed during the course of 2012.^[43] The collection is presently housed in the basement of Senate House and can be visited during weekdays by appointment only.^[44]

Wits Theatre[link]

The Wits Theatre is a performing arts complex within the University, although it also caters for professional companies, dance studios and schools.^[45] It is run by the University's Performing Arts Administration (PAA).^[46] Prior to the opening of the Wits Theatre, the Wits Schools of Dramatic Art and Music had been staging productions in a building on campus called the Nunnery, a former convent. The Nunnery has been retained as a teaching venue.^[47]

Academics[link]

Faculties[link]

The University consists of five faculties: Commerce, Law and Management, Engineering and the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Humanities and Science.

Commerce, Law, and Management[link]

This Faculty currently offers various undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in accountancy, commerce, economics, management, and law. It boasts the acclaimed Wits Business School, as well as a graduate school devoted to public and development management. The faculty participates in the WitsPlus programme, a part time programme for students, and is based in the Commerce, Law and Management Building on West Campus.

Engineering and the Built Environment[link]

This Faculty is made up of 7 schools being: Architecture & Planning, Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Construction Economics & Management, Electrical & Information Engineering, Mechanical, Industrial & Aeronautical Engineering and Mining Engineering. The faculty is based in the Chamber Of Mines Building on West Campus, which houses the faculty office and the Engineering Library. The school of Civil & Environmental Engineering is located in the Hillman Building on the East Campus.

Health Sciences[link]

This Faculty is based on the Wits Medical Campus in Parktown. This Faculty uses the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, the Helen Joseph Hospital, and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital as its teaching hospitals.

Humanities[link]

This Faculty is based in the South West Engineering Building on East Campus^[48] and consists of the schools of Social Sciences, Literature and Language Studies, Human and Community Development, Arts, and Education.^[49]

Science[link]

This Faculty is based in Gate House on East Campus^[50] and consists of the schools of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, Biology And Life Sciences, Chemistry, Computational and Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, Geosciences, Mathematics, Molecular and Cell Biology, Physics, and Statistics and Actuarial Science.^[51]

Libraries[link]

The University of the Witwatersrand Library Service consists of two main libraries, the Warteinweiler and William Cullen libraries on East Campus,^[52] and twelve branch libraries. The Wartenweiler Library primarily serves the Faculty of Humanities. It also contains the Library Administration, Library Computer Services and Technical Services departments as well as the Short Loan collection, the Reference collection, Inter-library Loans department, the Multimedia Library, and the Education and Training department as well as the Electronic Classroom.^[53] The William Cullen Library contains the Africana collection, specialising in social, political and economic history. It also contains the Early and Fine Printed Books collection, which includes the Incunabula (books printed before 1501). Finally, it also contains a collection of Government Publications and journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences.^[54] The branch libraries are:

• The Martienssen Library For The Built Environment, which serves the schools of architecture and construction management within the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. It is located in the John Moffat Building (also known as the Architecture Building) on East Campus.^[55]
• The Biological & Physical Sciences Library which is situated in the Oppenheimer Life Sciences Building on East Campus and serves the Faculty of Science, together with the Geomaths Library.^[56]
• The Commerce Library which, along with the Wits Library of Management, serves the schools of commerce and management. It is located to the west of the Tower of Light on West Campus.^[57]
• The Education Library (also known as the Harold Holmes Library) which is located on Wits Education Campus in Parktown and serves the school of education within the Faculty of Humanities.^[58]
• The Engineering Library, which is located in the Chamber Of Mines Building on West Campus and serves the schools of engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.^[59]
• The GeoMaths Library, which is situated in the basement of Senate House on East Campus and serves a range of schools within the faculties of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment, and Humanities.^[60]
• The Witwatersrand Health Sciences Library (WHSL) which serves the Faculty of Health Sciences. It is divided into four branches, one of which (formerly at Helen Joseph Hospital) is now a "virtual library" available only online. Two of the other branches are at the Wits Medical Campus in Parktown, while the remaining branch is at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.^[61]
• The Wits Library Of Management, which, together with the Commerce Library, serves the schools of commerce and management. It is located in the Donald Gordon Building on the Management Campus in Parktown.^[62]
• The Law Library which serves the school of law within the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management. It is located in the Oliver Schreiner Law Building on West Campus. Unlike the University's other libraries, the Law Library is governed directly by the school of law, rather than by the University of the Witwatersrand Library.^[63]

Reputation and ranking[link]

The 2009 Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings ranked Wits as 250-275 in the world.^[64]

Wits is a member of the Global Business School Network. In its capacity as a business school, the University of Witwatersrand was placed as the 6th best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.^[65] As well as being voted the best MBA in South Africa by the Financial Mail 6 years running.

Student demographics[link]

The removal of the legacy of apartheid is generally considered an important matter in South African socio-political and academic discourse. As such, the University of the Witwatersrand maintains an admission policy that actively seeks to create diversity within the University's student population and bring it in line with the country's demographics, while nonetheless attempting to balance such goals with academic success.^[66]

Racial composition[link]

As of 2010, the racial composition of the University's student population is as follows:^[2]

Gender composition[link]

As of 2010, the gender composition of the University's student population is as follows (note, the total includes students who have not disclosed their gender):^[2]

Notable alumni and academics[link]

Nobel Prize Laureates[link]

• Aaron Klug, 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Nelson Mandela, 1993 Nobel Peace Prize
• Sydney Brenner, 2002 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Books about the university[link]

• The Golden Jubilee of the University of the Witwatersrand 1972 ISBN 0-85494-188-6 (Jubilee Committee, University of the Witwatersrand Press)
• Wits: The Early Years : a History of the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg and its Precursors 1896 - 1936 1982 Bruce Murray ISBN 0-85494-709-4 (University of the Witwatersrand Press)
• Wits Sport: An Illustrated History of Sport at the University of the Witwatersrand 1989 Jonty Winch ISBN 0-620-13806-8 (Windsor)
• Wits: A University in the Apartheid Era 1996 Mervyn Shear ISBN 1-86814-302-3 (University of the Witwatersrand Press)
• Wits: The "Open Years": A History of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1939-1959 1997 Bruce Murray ISBN 1-86814-314-7 (University of the Witwatersrand Press)
• A Vice-Chancellor Remembers: the Memoirs of Professor G.R. Bozzoli 1995 Guerino Bozzoli ISBN 0-620-19369-7 (Alphaprint)
• Wits Library: a Centenary History 1998 Reuben Musiker & Naomi Musiker ISBN 0-620-22754-0 (Scarecrow Books)

See also[link]

• Widdringtonia whytei

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: University of the Witwatersrand

• University Website
• History of Transvaal University College
• Wits Alumni Relations Flickr Gallery

v t e University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg People Chancellor: Dikgang Moseneke · Vice-Chancellor: Loyiso Nongxa · Notable academics · Notable alumni History Transvaal University College · Schmerenbeck Educational Centre for Gifted and Talented Children · Demonstrations · General Assemblies Faculties Commerce, Law and Management · Engineering and the Built Environment · Health Sciences · Humanities · Science Knowledge Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research · Marang Centre for Mathematics and Science Education · South African Institute of International Affairs African Centre for Gene Technologies · Philosophical Papers Campus Life Campuses · Planetarium · Wits Theatre Complex · Wits Vuvuzela · VoW FM · Bidvest Stadium · Wits University F.C. · Varsity Shield Affiliated Hospitals Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital · Helen Joseph Hospital · Johannesburg General Hospital · Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital University · People

v t e FOTIM Members University of Johannesburg University of Limpopo North-West University University of Pretoria University of South Africa Tshwane University of Technology Vaal University of Technology University of Venda University of the Witwatersrand

v t e South African universities University alliances: CHEC · FOTIM · HESA · SERA Traditional universities Cape Town · Fort Hare · Free State · KwaZulu-Natal · Limpopo · Monash · North-West · Pretoria · Rhodes · Stellenbosch · Western Cape · Witwatersrand Comprehensive universities Johannesburg · Nelson Mandela · Unisa · Venda · Walter Sisulu · Zululand Universities of technology Cape Peninsula · Central · Durban · Mangosuthu · Tshwane · Vaal Related DHEAT · SAQA · Chancellors and vice-chancellors · Rankings Category · List

v t e South African business schools Business school alliances: South African Business Schools Association Eastern Cape Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School  · Rhodes Investec Business School - Rhodes University Free State University of the Free State Business School Gauteng CIDA City Campus · Henley Management College, South Africa  · Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) - University of Pretoria · Milpark Business School  · Regenesys Business School · Regent Business School · Southern Business School · Tshwane University of Technology Business School · University of Johannesburg  · Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) - University of South Africa  · Wits Business School - University of the Witwatersrand KwaZulu-Natal University of KwaZulu-Natal  · Management College of Southern Africa Limpopo University of Limpopo North-West Graduate School of Business and Government Leadership - North-West University · Potchefstroom Business School - North-West University Western Cape University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business  · University of Stellenbosch Business School Distance Varsity College School of Business and Technology Rankings

Neil Gaiman
Gaiman and his dog, Cabal
Born	(1960-11-10) 10 November 1960 (age 51) Portchester, Hampshire, England
Occupation	Novelist, graphic novelist and screenwriter
Nationality	British
Period	1980s–present
Genres	Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Dark fantasy
Notable work(s)	The Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens
Spouse(s)	Amanda Palmer (2011–present) Mary McGrath (1985–2007)
Influences Douglas Adams, Alan Moore, Jack Vance, Roger Zelazny,[1] Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, various fairy tales, G. K. Chesterton, James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert A. Heinlein, Shirley Jackson, R. A. Lafferty, C. S. Lewis, Terry Pratchett, H. P. Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock, Clive Barker, Dave Sim, Thorne Smith, J. R. R. Tolkien, Peter S. Beagle, Gene Wolfe, Lewis Carroll,[2] Gilbert and Sullivan,[2] Tori Amos
Influenced Susanna Clarke, Ekaterina Sedia, Guillermo del Toro, Russell Payne, Dave McKean, Tori Amos
neilgaiman.com

Neil Richard Gaiman ( /ˈɡeɪmən/;^[3] born 10 November 1960^[4]) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, Newbery Medal, and Carnegie Medal in Literature. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work.^[5]

Early life[link]

Gaiman's family is of Polish and other Eastern European Jewish origins;^[6] his great-grandfather emigrated from Antwerp before 1914^[7] and his grandfather eventually settled in the Hampshire city of Portsmouth and established a chain of grocery stores.^[8] His father, David Bernard Gaiman,^[9] worked in the same chain of stores;^[8] his mother, Sheila Gaiman (née Goldman), was a pharmacist. He has two younger sisters, Claire and Lizzy.^[10] After living for a period in the nearby town of Portchester, Hampshire, where Neil was born in 1960, the Gaimans moved in 1965 to the West Sussex town of East Grinstead where his parents studied Dianetics at the Scientology centre in the town; one of Gaiman's sisters works for the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. His other sister, Lizzy Calcioli, has said, "Most of our social activities were involved with Scientology or our Jewish family. It would get very confusing when people would ask my religion as a kid. I’d say, 'I’m a Jewish Scientologist.'" Gaiman says that he is not a Scientologist, and that like Judaism, Scientology is his family's religion.^[11]

Gaiman was able to read at the age of four. He said, "I was a reader. I loved reading. Reading things gave me pleasure. I was very good at most subjects in school, not because I had any particular aptitude in them, but because normally on the first day of school they'd hand out schoolbooks, and I'd read them--which would mean that I'd know what was coming up, because I'd read it."^[2] One work that made a particular impression on him was J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings from his school library, although it only had the first two books in the trilogy. He consistently took them out and read them. He would later win the school English prize and the school reading prize, enabling him to finally acquire the third book in the trilogy.^[2]

For his seventh birthday, Gaiman received C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. He later recalled that "I admired his use of parenthetical statements to the reader, where he would just talk to you...I'd think, 'Oh, my gosh, that is so cool! I want to do that! When I become an author, I want to be able to do things in parentheses.' I liked the power of putting things in brackets."^[2] Another childhood favorite was Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which he called "a favourite forever. Alice was default reading to the point where I knew it by heart."^[2] He also enjoyed Batman comics as a child.^[2]

Gaiman was educated at several Church of England schools, includging Fonthill School in East Grinstead,^[12] Ardingly College (1970–74), and Whitgift School in Croydon (1974–77).^[13] His father's position as a public relations official of the Church of Scientology was the cause of the seven-year-old Gaiman being blocked from entering a boys' school, forcing him to remain at the school that he had previously been attending.^[11][14] He lived in East Grinstead for many years, from 1965–1980 and again from 1984–1987.^[12] He met his first wife, Mary McGrath, while she was studying Scientology and living in a house in East Grinstead that was owned by his father. The couple were married in 1985 after having their first child, Michael.^[11]

Journalism, early writings, and literary influences[link]

As a child and a teenager, Gaiman read the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Dunsany and G. K. Chesterton.^[2] He later became a fan of science fiction, reading the works of authors as diverse as Alan Moore,^[15] Samuel R. Delany, Roger Zelazny, Robert A. Heinlein, H. P. Lovecraft, Thorne Smith, and Gene Wolfe.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1980s, Gaiman pursued journalism, conducting interviews and writing book reviews, as a means to learn about the world and to make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published.^[2] He wrote and reviewed extensively for the British Fantasy Society.^[16] His first professional short story publication was "Featherquest", a fantasy story, in Imagine Magazine in May 1984, when he was 24.^[17]

When waiting for a train at Victoria Station in 1984, Gaiman noticed a copy of Swamp Thing written by Alan Moore, and carefully read it. Moore's fresh and vigorous approach to comics had such an impact on Gaiman that he would later write; "that was the final straw, what was left of my resistance crumbled. I proceeded to make regular and frequent visits to London's Forbidden Planet shop to buy comics".^[15]

In 1984, he wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran, as well as Ghastly Beyond Belief, a book of quotations, with Kim Newman.^[2] Even though Gaiman thought he did a terrible job, the book's first edition sold out very quickly. When he went to relinquish his rights to the book, he discovered the publisher had gone bankrupt.^[2][18] After this, he was offered a job by Penthouse. He refused the offer.^[2]

He also wrote interviews and articles for many British magazines, including Knave. As he was writing for different magazines, some of them competing, and "wrote too many articles", he sometimes went by a number of pseudonyms: Gerry Musgrave, Richard Grey, "along with a couple of house names".^[19] Gaiman ended his journalism career in 1987 because British newspapers can "make up anything they want and publish it as fact."^[20][21]

In the late 1980s, he wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion in what he calls a "classic English humour" style.^{[citation needed]} Following on from that he wrote the opening of what would become his collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens, about the impending apocalypse.^[22]

Comics and graphic novels[link]

After forming a friendship with comic book writer Alan Moore,^[15] Gaiman started writing comic books, picking up Marvelman after Moore finished his run on the series. Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham collaborated on several issues of the series before its publisher, Eclipse Comics, collapsed, leaving the series unfinished. His first published comic strips were four short Future Shocks for 2000 AD in 1986–7. He wrote three graphic novels with his favorite collaborator and long-time friend Dave McKean: Violent Cases, Signal to Noise, and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch. Impressed with his work, DC Comics hired him, and he wrote the limited series Black Orchid.^[23] Karen Berger, who later became head of DC Comics's Vertigo, read Black Orchid and offered Gaiman a job: to re-write an old character, The Sandman, but to put his own spin on him.^[2]

The Sandman tells the tale of the ageless, anthropomorphic personification of Dream that is known by many names, including Morpheus. The series began in December 1988 and concluded in March 1996: the 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print (14 if the Death: The High Cost of Living spin-off is taken into account). Artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III, lettering by Todd Klein, colors by Daniel Vozzo, and covers by Dave McKean.^[2]

In 1989, Gaiman published The Books of Magic (collected in 1991), a four-part mini-series that provided a tour of the mythological and magical parts of the DC Universe through a frame story about an English teenager who discovers that he is destined to be the world's greatest wizard. The miniseries was popular, and sired an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber.

In the mid-90s, he also created a number of new characters and a setting that was to be featured in a title published by Tekno Comix. The concepts were then altered and split between three titles set in the same continuity: Lady Justice, Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, and Teknophage.^[24] They were later featured in Phage: Shadow Death and Wheel of Worlds. Although Gaiman's name appeared prominently on all titles, he was not involved in writing of any of the above-mentioned books (though he helped plot the zero issue of Wheel of Worlds).^{[citation needed]}

Gaiman wrote a semi-autobiographical story about a boy's fascination with Michael Moorcock's anti-hero Elric of Melniboné for Ed Kramer's anthology Tales of the White Wolf. In 1996, Gaiman and Ed Kramer co-edited The Sandman: Book of Dreams. Nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the original fiction anthology featured stories and contributions by Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Gene Wolfe, Tad Williams, and others.

Asked why he likes comics more than other forms of storytelling Gaiman said “One of the joys of comics has always been the knowledge that it was, in many ways, untouched ground. It was virgin territory. When I was working on Sandman, I felt a lot of the time that I was actually picking up a machete and heading out into the jungle. I got to write in places and do things that nobody had ever done before. When I’m writing novels I’m painfully aware that I’m working in a medium that people have been writing absolutely jaw-droppingly brilliant things for, you know, three-four thousand years now. You know, you can go back. We have things like The Golden Ass. And you go, well, I don’t know that I’m as good as that and that’s two and a half thousand years old. But with comics I felt like – I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.”^[25]

In 2009, Gaiman wrote a two-part Batman story for DC Comics to follow Batman R.I.P. It is titled "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" a play off of the classic Superman story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore.^[26][27][28] He also contributed a twelve-page Metamorpho story drawn by Mike Allred for Wednesday Comics, a weekly newspaper-style series.^[29]

Novels[link]

Neil Gaiman at the 2007 Scream Awards

In a collaboration with author Terry Pratchett (best known for his series of Discworld novels), Gaiman's first novel Good Omens was published in 1990. In recent years Pratchett has said that while the entire novel was a collaborative effort and most of the ideas could be credited to both of them, Pratchett did a larger portion of writing and editing if for no other reason than Gaiman's scheduled involvement with Sandman.^[30]

The 1996 novelization of Gaiman's teleplay for the BBC mini-series Neverwhere was his first solo novel. The novel was released in tandem with the television series though it presents some notable differences from the television series. In 1999 first printings of his fantasy novel Stardust were released. The novel has been released both as a standard novel and in an illustrated text edition.

American Gods became one of Gaiman's best-selling and multi-award winning novels upon its release in 2001.^[31] A special 10th Anniversary edition was released, with the "author's preferred text" 12,000 words longer than the original mass-market editions. This is identical to the signed and numbered limited edition that was released by Hill House Publishers in 2003. This is also the version released by Headline, Gaiman's publisher in the UK, even before the 10th Anniversary edition. He did an extensive sold-out book tour celebrating the 10th Anniversary and promoting this edition in 2011.

In 2005, his novel Anansi Boys was released worldwide. The book deals with Anansi ('Mr. Nancy'), a supporting character in American Gods. Specifically it traces the relationship of his two sons, one semi-divine and the other an unaware Englishman of American origin, as they explore their common heritage. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[32]

In late 2008, Gaiman released a new children's book, The Graveyard Book. It follows the adventures of a boy named Bod after his family is murdered and he is left to be brought up by a graveyard. It is heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. As of late January 2009^[update], it had been on the New York Times Bestseller children's list for fifteen weeks.^[33]

As of 2008, Gaiman has several books planned. After a tour of China, he decided to write a non-fiction book about his travels and the general mythos of China. Following that, will be a new 'adult' novel (his first since 2005's Anansi Boys). After that, another 'all-ages' book (in the same vein as Coraline and The Graveyard Book). Following that, Gaiman says that he will release another non-fiction book called The Dream Catchers.^[34] In December 2011, Gaiman announced that in January 2012 he would begin work on what is essentially, "American Gods 2."^[35]

Film and screenwriting[link]

Gaiman wrote the 1996 BBC dark fantasy television series Neverwhere. He cowrote the screenplay for the movie MirrorMask with his old friend Dave McKean for McKean to direct. In addition, he wrote the localized English language script to the anime movie Princess Mononoke, based on a translation of the Japanese script.

He cowrote the script for Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf with Roger Avary, a collaboration that has proved productive for both writers.^[36] Gaiman has expressed interest in collaborating on a film adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh.^[37]

He was the only person other than J. Michael Straczynski to write a Babylon 5 script in the last three seasons, contributing the season five episode "Day of the Dead".

Gaiman has also written at least three drafts of a screenplay adaptation of Nicholson Baker's novel The Fermata for director Robert Zemeckis,^[38][39] although the project was stalled while Zemeckis made The Polar Express and the Gaiman-Roger Avary written Beowulf film.

Neil Gaiman was featured in the History Channel documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked.

Several of Gaiman's original works have been optioned or greenlighted for film adaptation, most notably Stardust, which premiered in August 2007 and stars Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes, directed by Matthew Vaughn. A stop-motion version of Coraline was released on 6 February 2009, with Henry Selick directing and Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher in the leading voice-actor roles.^[40]

In 2007, Gaiman announced that after ten years in development, the feature film of Death: The High Cost of Living would finally begin production with a screenplay by Gaiman that he would direct for Warner Independent. Don Murphy and Susan Montford are the producers, and Guillermo del Toro is the film's executive producer.^[41][42]

Seeing Ear Theatre performed two of Gaiman's audio theatre plays, "Snow, Glass, Apples", Gaiman's retelling of Snow White and "Murder Mysteries", a story of heaven before the Fall in which the first crime is committed. Both audio plays were published in the collection Smoke and Mirrors in 1998.^{[citation needed]}

Gaiman's 2009 Newbery Medal winning book The Graveyard Book will be made into a movie, with Neil Jordan being announced as the director during Gaiman's appearance on The Today Show, 27 January 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Gaiman wrote an episode of the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who, broadcast in 2011 during Matt Smith's second series as the Doctor.^[43][44] Shooting began in August 2010 for this story, whose original title was "The House of Nothing"^[45] but has been retitled as "The Doctor's Wife.^[46] In 2011, it was announced that Gaiman would be writing the script to a new film version of Journey to the West.^[47][48]

Blog and Twitter[link]

In February 2001, when Gaiman had completed writing American Gods, his publishers set up a promotional web site featuring a weblog in which Gaiman described the day-to-day process of revising, publishing, and promoting the novel. After the novel was published, the web site evolved into a more general Official Neil Gaiman Website.^[49]

Gaiman generally posts to the blog describing the day-to-day process of being Neil Gaiman and writing, revising, publishing, or promoting whatever the current project is. He also posts reader emails and answers questions, which gives him unusually direct and immediate interaction with fans. One of his answers on why he writes the blog is "because writing is, like death, a lonely business."^[50]

The original American Gods blog was extracted for publication in the NESFA Press collection of Gaiman miscellany, Adventures in the Dream Trade.^[51]

To celebrate the 7th anniversary of the blog, the novel American Gods was provided free of charge online for a month.^[52]

Gaiman is an active user of the social networking site Twitter with over 1.6 million followers as of January 2012, using the username @neilhimself.^[53] Gaiman also runs a Tumblr account on which he primarily answers fan questions.^[54]

Personal life[link]

Home and family[link]

Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer (Vienna 2011)

Gaiman lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.^[55][56][57] and has lived there since 1992. Gaiman moved there to be close to the family of his then-wife, Mary McGrath, with whom he has three children: Michael, Holly, and Madeleine.^[2][58]

Gaiman is married to songwriter and performer Amanda Palmer. The couple publicly announced that they were dating in June 2009,^[59][60] announced their engagement on Twitter on 1 January 2010,^[61] and confirmed their engagement on their respective websites two weeks later.^[62][63] On 16 November 2010, Amanda Palmer hosted a non-legally binding flash mob wedding for Gaiman's birthday in New Orleans.^[64] They were legally married on 2 January 2011.^[65] The wedding took place in the parlour of writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon.^[66]

Friendship with Tori Amos[link]

One of Gaiman's most commented-upon friendships is with the musician Tori Amos, a Sandman fan who became friends with Gaiman after making a reference to "Neil and the Dream King" on her 1991 demo tape, and whom he included as a character (a talking tree) in Stardust.^[67] Amos also mentions Gaiman in her songs, "Tear in Your Hand" ("If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the dream king. Neil says hi by the way"),^[68] "Space Dog" ("Where's Neil when you need him?"),^[69] "Horses" ("But will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?"),^[70] "Carbon" ("Get me Neil on the line, no I can't hold. Have him read, 'Snow, Glass, Apples' where nothing is what it seems"),^[71] "Sweet Dreams" ("You're forgetting to fly, darling, when you sleep"),^[71] and "Not Dying Today" ("Neil is thrilled he can claim he's mammalian, 'but the bad news,' he said, 'girl you're a dandelion'").^[71] He also wrote stories for the tour book of Boys for Pele and Scarlet's Walk, a letter for the tour book of American Doll Posse, and the stories behind each girl in her album Strange Little Girls. Amos penned the introduction for his novel Death: the High Cost of Living, and posed for the cover. She also wrote a song called "Sister Named Desire" based on his Sandman character, which was included on his anthology, Where's Neil When You Need Him?.

Gaiman is godfather to Tori Amos's daughter Tash,^[72] and wrote a poem called "Blueberry Girl" for Tori and Tash.^[73] The poem has been turned into a book by the illustrator Charles Vess.^[74] Gaiman read the poem aloud to an audience at the Sundance Kabuki Theater in San Francisco on 5 October 2008 during his book reading tour for The Graveyard Book.^[75] It was published in March 2009 with the title, Blueberry Girl.

Litigation[link]

In 1993, Gaiman was contracted by Todd McFarlane to write a single issue of Spawn, a popular title at the newly created Image Comics company. McFarlane was promoting his new title by having guest authors Gaiman, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Dave Sim each write a single issue.

In issue #9 of the series, Gaiman introduced the characters Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn. Prior to this issue, Spawn was an assassin who worked for the government and came back as a reluctant agent of Hell but had no direction. In Angela, a cruel and malicious angel, Gaiman introduced a character who threatened Spawn's existence, as well as providing a moral opposite. Cogliostro was introduced as a mentor character for exposition and instruction, providing guidance. Medieval Spawn introduced a history and precedent that not all Spawns were self-serving or evil, giving additional character development to Malebolgia, the demon that creates Hellspawn.

As intended,^[76] all three characters were used repeatedly throughout the next decade by Todd McFarlane within the wider Spawn universe. In papers filed by Gaiman in early 2002, however, he claimed that the characters were jointly owned by their scripter (himself) and artist (McFarlane), not merely by McFarlane in his role as the creator of the series.^[77][78] Disagreement over who owned the rights to a character was the primary motivation for McFarlane and other artists to form Image Comics (although that argument related more towards disagreements between writers and artists as character creators).^[79] As McFarlane used the characters without Gaiman's permission or royalty payments, Gaiman believed his copyrighted work was being infringed upon, which violated their original, oral, agreement. McFarlane initially agreed that Gaiman had not signed away any rights to the characters, and negotiated with Gaiman to effectively 'swap' McFarlane's interest in the character Marvelman^[80] (McFarlane believes he purchased interest in the character when Eclipse Comics was liquidated; Gaiman is interested in being able to continue his aborted run on that title) but later claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane owned all of Gaiman's creations entirely. The presiding judge, however, ruled against their agreement being work for hire, based in large part on the legal requirement that "copyright assignments must be in writing."^[81]

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court ruling in February 2004^[82] granting joint ownership of the characters to Gaiman and McFarlane. On the specific issue of Cogliostro, presiding Judge John Shabaz proclaimed "The expressive work that is the comic-book character Count Nicholas Cogliostro was the joint work of Gaiman and McFarlane—their contributions strike us as quite equal—and both are entitled to ownership of the copyright".^[83] Similar analysis lead to similar results for the other two characters, Angela and Medieval Spawn.

This legal battle was brought by Gaiman and the specifically formed Marvels and Miracles, LLC, which Gaiman created in order to help sort out the legal rights surrounding Marvelman (see the ownership of Marvelman sub-section of the Marvelman article). Gaiman wrote Marvel 1602 in 2003 to help fund this project.^[84] All of Marvel Comics' profits for the original issues of the series went to Marvels and Miracles.^[84] In 2009, Marvel Comics purchased Marvelman.^[85]

Gaiman returned to court over three more Spawn characters, Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany, that are claimed to be "derivative of the three he co-created with McFarlane."^[86] The original three characters, whose first appearance was never reprinted in Spawn trade paperback collections, are just now appearing printed for the first time. The judge ruled that Gaiman was right in his claims and gave McFarlane until the start of September 2010 to settle matters.^[87]

Gaiman is a major supporter and board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.^[88]

Literary allusions[link]

Gaiman's work is known for a high degree of allusiveness.^[89] Meredith Collins, for instance, has commented upon the degree to which his novel Stardust depends on allusions to Victorian fairy tales and culture.^[90] Particularly in The Sandman, literary figures and characters appear often; the character of Fiddler's Green is modelled visually on G. K. Chesterton, both William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer appear as characters, as do several characters from within A Midsummer Night's Dream^[91] and The Tempest. The comic also draws from numerous mythologies and historical periods. Such allusions are not unique to Sandman; Stardust, for example, also has a character called Shakespeare.

Clay Smith has argued that this sort of allusiveness serves to situate Gaiman as a strong authorial presence in his own works, often to the exclusion of his collaborators.^[92] However, Smith's viewpoint is in the minority: to many, if there is a problem with Gaiman scholarship and intertextuality it is that "... his literary merit and vast popularity have propelled him into the nascent comics canon so quickly that there is not yet a basis of critical scholarship about his work."^[93]

David Rudd takes a more generous view in his study of the novel Coraline, where he argues that the work plays and riffs productively on Sigmund Freud's notion of the Uncanny, or the Unheimlich.^[94]

Though Gaiman's work is frequently seen as exemplifying the monomyth structure laid out in Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces,^[95] Gaiman says that he started reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces but refused to finish it: "I think I got about half way through The Hero with a Thousand Faces and found myself thinking if this is true – I don’t want to know. I really would rather not know this stuff. I’d rather do it because it’s true and because I accidentally wind up creating something that falls into this pattern than be told what the pattern is."^[96]

Selected awards and honours[link]

Bibliography[link]

Notes[link]