Karel Schoeman, one of South Africa's most celebrated writers, is
the author of eighteen novels and numerous historical works. In
1961 he joined the order of the Franciscans in Ireland, but was
released from his vows and turned to library science. Schoeman has
worked as a librarian in Amsterdam and South Africa, and has
translated several world literary classics into Afrikaans. In 1999
he was one of only two living South African writers to be honored
with a State President's Award by Nelson Mandela. His has received
many literary awards including- the Hertzog Prize in 1970, 1986 and
1995; the SAUK Prize for African TV dramas 1990; the Stals Prize
for Cultural History 1997; and the Louis Hiemstra Prize for non
fiction 2002.
Elsa Silke is a translator, editor and lecturer. In 2006, she was
awarded the SATI/Via Afrika Prize for her translation of Karel
Schoeman's This Life. She lives in the Strand, South Africa.
"Schoeman’s prose comes most alive in descriptions of the South
African countryside, tracing light and shadow over the veld. He is
unsparing with his characters, giving them few paths for easy
resolution." — Roy Hoffman, The New York Times
"Mr. Schoeman, in Else Silke’s lucid translation, gives Sussie a
whispering, almost incredulous voice as she sifts through the
evidence from her life, pursuing answers to the mystery of her
childhood. . . One of the author’s most striking skills is his
ability to turn these lethargic figures, so distant from their own
inner lives and needs, into objects of empathy." — The Wall Street
Journal
"Schoeman brings together the threads of mystery, loss, and
progress in a haunting final scene. . . [S]ubtle and sometimes
mysterious, arriving at its most powerful moments unpredictably and
honestly." — Kirkus Reviews
"Translated from Afrikaans, this post–Apartheid novel carries the
reader through four generations of Afrikaners and the value of
memory. The tale of one woman and her deathbed reflections, it is a
convergence of past and present permeated by gothic
tones. This Life lyrically covers fear, violence,
suffering, and other dark pockets of life while also stretching
beyond itself into a modern melodrama about reconciliation." —
World Literature Today
"There is so much I love about this novel. Its rhythm is near
tectonic. It's slow as hell and it makes no apologies about it.
It's profoundly indifferent to its audience, but not in a way that
manifests in grating overt cleverness or narrative tricks. This is
the opposite of that. Schoeman's unnamed narrator has no idea what
an audience even is. She only tells her story from her death bed
because she wants to understand her life. . . By the end (thanks to
a particular narrative turn), I was reminded of The Magic Mountain.
Like Mann's great novel, This Life is a narrative in a kind of
sanatorium. The dramas are small and specific to these people and
this place, and it takes very little, ultimately, to expose the
fragility of it all. Schoeman's narrator, however, unlike Hans
Castorp, doesn't "come of age" in exchange for her time. She learns
some, sure, but it comes much too late." -- Chad Felix,
Bookseller at WORD Brooklyn
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
