Stargazer by Jan van Tonder

Stargazer (Collectible English Translation of Roepman)

A Durban Railway Camp Boyhood in 1960s Apartheid South Africa, Translated from the Afrikaans Novel Roepman

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Stargazer
• Author: Jan van Tonder
• Publisher: Human & Rousseau, Cape Town ; Pretoria
• Publication Date: 2006
• ISBN-13: 9780798146821
• ISBN-10: 0798146826
• Edition Details: English edition, first published in 2006. Translated from the Afrikaans by Elsa Silke.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback format), 208 pages.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Wraps: Illustrated card wrappers. The front cover is clean with no obvious marks. The spine shows some light creasing and wear, with the publisher's logo stamp at the base and a yellow dot sticker near the foot. The back cover has a dark smudge or mark at the lower left edge.
• Interior: The pages are cream and clean where checked. The page block edges show light toning and a few small spots along the fore-edge and top edge. The binding is tight.
• Provenance: No inscriptions, bookplates or ownership marks. A yellow dot sticker on the foot of the spine.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Stargazer is the English edition of Jan van Tonder's Afrikaans novel Roepman, translated by Elsa Silke and published by Human & Rousseau in 2006. The story is set in a working-class railway neighbourhood in Durban in the 1960s, in the apartheid years.

The narrator is thirteen-year-old Timus Rademan, whose imagination keeps blurring into reality. Through his eyes we meet his large family and their neighbours, in a narrative that mixes humour, pathos and the hardships of everyday life.

The Afrikaans original was shortlisted in 2005 for the ATKV, University of Johannesburg and M-Net book prizes. A film version was later made, with the author co-writing the script. This copy suits collectors of modern South African fiction and of Afrikaans literature in translation.

Author Profile: Jan van Tonder

Jan van Tonder was born in Sabie on 29 August 1954 and is a journalist, author and playwright. He took a BA in Afrikaans, Psychology and Criminology at the University of Pretoria in 1978. He began writing while working for the prison service and became a full-time author in 1988.

His debut novel was Wit vis (1983), followed by the short stories Aandenking vir 'n vry man (1984) and the novel Is Sagie (1987), which later received a sequel, Is weer Sagie (2013). Die Kind won the ATKV prose prize in 1990 and the FAK prize in 1991. He also co-wrote Keeping and Breeding Birds: a Guide for South Africa (1993).