Oom Schalk's Boer War: Herman Charles Bosman, Afrikaner outsider, writes a wider war

Abstract

After the three long years of the South African War's centenary, which ended in 2002, it is hard to think of anything more to say about the conflict. Even Herman Charles Bosman and the war came in for some literary scrutiny and a clutch of his writings have appeared with new introductions in the last few years or so, commemorating the centenary of his birth in 1905. The publishers Human & Rousseau have produced a suite of attractive anniversary editions of Bosman's major works with informative introductions by Stephen Gray and Craig MacKenzie. Wellknown actor and exponent of Bosman's work, Patrick Mynhardt, has also compiled a centennial anthology. The most important contribution is, however, Stephen Gray'sLife Sentence (2005). Its vivid portrayal of Bosman's life and scholarly reconstruction of his intellectualism has sharpened my own thoughts about Bosman's role as an 'historian' whose 'recording' of Anglo-Boer War (South African War) memories are to be found in the stories that were told by Boers of the Marico. The centenaries of the war and of Bosman's birth therefore provide an occasion to reexamine the connection between the two and to try to articulate the respective literatures.