My Life and OpinionsAlthough Bosman wrote no formal life history, this collection of his writing contains all the autobiographical pieces he wished to become known u from his Cape childhood and his Johannesburg education as a teacher, through to his career as a freelance journalist in exile in London and back home during and after World War Two. Included from the available historical records is his passionate self-defence from the dock when, in 1926, he was convicted of murder, with several spirited prison souvenirs freshly recovered. A selection of his private letters is also published here for the first time, together with a broadcast confession. Because his commitment to advancing the cause of literature in South Africa was inseparable from his personality, many of his critical pieces expressing his thinking are here as well. These serve to complete the portrait in his own words of South Africa's greatest humorist. |
Common terms and phrases
Afrikaner American humour anti-Semitism Anyway artist asked Beauty Bell Boer brother Bushveld Cape cartridges Charles Bosman course Court culture door Edgar Allan Poe English fact feel felt film Gawie Oosthuizen genius hand happened Henry Eggin Herman Charles Bosman Houghton College human impression Inspector Vermaak Johannesburg kitchen knew Kuils River laugh Library literary literature lived London look Mafeking Mafeking Road Manson Marico Bushveld Mark Twain Melker Merwe murder nation never newspaper night Oscar Wilde piece Pierre Pietersburg Planjé play poet poetry Pretoria Central Prison realised remember rifle Rosser seemed Shakespeare shot Sjambok sort South African English South African Literature South African Opinion spirit story Street Swarts talk things thought told town Transvaal veld walk warders Willemsdorp Witwatersrand University words write wrote Zoutpansberg