Hofmeyr - Alan Paton
Hofmeyr - Alan Paton
Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1964 1st Edition
Used - Very Good. 454 unmarked pages, book is beautifully preserved. Ex Library book with limited but expected stamps and pastings. DJ has some edge wear and tear but is now protected with a Cellophane cover.
Hofmeyr, had a strange childhood, a prodigious academic career, the Principalship of University at age 24,; and then the brilliant Administratorship of the Transvaal at 29; then his political career, which made his biography of the story of our times. In Parliament he soon found himself opposed to the prevailing currents of opinion, even within his own party. But he established himself as an incisive, humourous and sometimes devastating speaker; and, when a Cabinet minister, as a brilliant administrator.
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (20 March 1894 – 3 December 1948) was a South African politician and intellectual in the years preceding apartheid. In his lifetime he was regarded as one of the cleverest men in the country, and it was widely expected that he would eventually become Prime Minister of South Africa. He came from a well-known Afrikaner family; his uncle, also Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr but known affectionately as "Onze Jan" among fellow Afrikaners, was a famous figure in the Afrikaans language movement.
Hofmeyr's insight into racial issues was captured in many statements that Hofmeyr made, particularly concerning the rights of non-white people in South Africa. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by the University of Cape Town (D.Sc), Witwatersrand (LLD) and Oxford (D.C.L.).
The University of the Witwatersrand has turned the one-time administrator's house into a museum and restaurant, called Hofmeyr House. His papers are housed at the University of Natal as part of its Alan Paton collection. Paton's seminal novel Cry, the Beloved Country is dedicated to his friend Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr. In 1964, Paton published a Hofmeyr biography. A suburb in the city of Johannesburg, Jan Hofmeyr , was named after him.
