Best Stories and Humour of Herman Charles Bosman by Herman Charles Bosman
Best Stories and Humour of Herman Charles Bosman (Second Edition Bosman Compendium, 2013)
Craig MacKenzie's Stories and Stephen Gray's Humour Combined in One Volume by South Africa's Master Storyteller
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Best Stories and Humour of Herman Charles Bosman
- Author: Herman Charles Bosman
- Editor: Craig MacKenzie ; Stephen Gray
- Publisher: Human & Rousseau, Cape Town
- Publication Date: 2013
- ISBN-13: 9780798163705
- Edition Details: Second edition in this form, 2013 (first published 2001 as a two-volume set). Edited by Craig MacKenzie and Stephen Gray.
- Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound, black cover with a sepia tunnel illustration.
- Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback format). Stories selected by Craig MacKenzie, humorous writings selected by Stephen Gray.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
- The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Wraps: The black printed card wrappers with sepia tunnel illustration are clean, with no tears. The spine is clean and legible, with light mottling in the printed design and a slight crease or lean along the spine edge. The back cover is clean. The page block edges are toned and the corners are slightly rounded.
- Interior: The text pages are toned cream, clean and legible, with no markings. The binding is tight and the book opens flat enough for comfortable reading. There is a slight turn or crease to the top corner of one page (p.71).
- The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Historical Value
Best Stories and Humour of Herman Charles Bosman, published by Human & Rousseau in 2013, gathers the best of Bosman's short fiction and humorous writing in a single volume. It combines two earlier books, Starlight on the Veld (stories) and Recognising Blues (humour), which had previously appeared as a two-volume set in 2001.
The first part, selected by Craig MacKenzie, presents the stories, many told in the voice of Oom Schalk Lourens, the Marico farmer whose sly, laconic narration made Bosman's name from the 1940s. It includes favourites such as Mafeking Road and Makapan's Caves. The second part, selected by Stephen Gray, offers Bosman's humorous pieces, among them Voorkamer sketches such as School Concert, along with items not previously collected.
A good-value, readable copy of a central text of South African literature, suited to the reader as much as to the Bosman collector.
Author Profile: Herman Charles Bosman
Herman Charles Bosman (1905-1951) was born at Kuils River near Cape Town. He trained as a teacher, but that career ended abruptly when, home on a visit, he shot and killed his stepbrother. Sentenced to death, he had the sentence commuted to ten years, of which he served four.
He became known in the 1940s for his Oom Schalk Lourens stories, and Mafeking Road, the best-known volume of them, has never been out of print since it first appeared in 1947. His prison memoir, Cold Stone Jug (1949), collects sardonic, comic sketches of prison life. His other works include Jacaranda in the Night, the novel Willemsdorp, and Unto Dust (1963).
Herman Charles Bosman stories · Oom Schalk Lourens stories · Bosman humour collection · Mafeking Road Bosman · Craig MacKenzie Stephen Gray Bosman · Best Stories and Humour of Herman Charles Bosman · South African short stories
