Novel
The Story of an African Farm
Olive Schreiner · 1883
Opening lines
The full African moon poured down its light from the blue sky into the wide, lonely plain.
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
On an isolated farm in the Karoo, Em, stepdaughter of the Boer Tant' Sannie, her orphaned cousin Lyndall, and Waldo, son of Otto, the German overseer, grow up together. An adventurer, Bonaparte Blenkins, schemes to take Otto's place and has him dismissed, before being driven out in his turn. Grown up, Em becomes engaged to Gregory Rose, who is drawn to Lyndall; Lyndall, a freethinker, refuses marriage, and Waldo moves from his father's faith to doubt.
Context
The author wrote it in 1874 and 1875, years when she earned her living as a governess, and at first thought of calling it Mirage; Lyndall bears her mother's name. The novel appeared in 1883 in two volumes, under the male pseudonym Ralph Iron. Its ideas on faith and on marriage caused a scandal as much as they won it readers, and it is counted among the first feminist novels; recent criticism also reproaches it for leaving Black people at the margin. David Lister brought it to the screen in 2004.
Who it is for
A novel of medium length, in English, with a loose and often fragmentary narrative, which readily dwells on faith, doubt and the condition of women.
Prizes and reception
An immediate success in Europe and North America, despite the controversy that greeted its publication.
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