Herman Charles Bosman

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Herman Charles Bosman (1905 - October 14, 1951) was a South African writer and journalist who became famous for capturing the rhythms of backveld Afrikaans speech even though he wrote in English. He is widely regarded as the greatest short story writer to come out of South Africa. Many of his stories have a sting in the tail.

He was born at Kuilsrivier, near Cape Town. While still young, his family moved to Johannesburg where he went to school at Jeppe High School for Boys in Kensington. He was a contributor to the school magazine. When he was sixteen, he started writing amusing short stories for the national Sunday newspaper (the Sunday Times). He attended the University of the Witwatersrand submitting various pieces to student’s literary competitions.

Upon graduating, he accepted a teaching position in the Groot Marico district, in an Afrikaans language school. The area and the people inspired him and provided the background for his best stories; the ones about Oom Schalk Lourens and the Voorkamer sketches. (In Afrikaans, Oom is Uncle and a Voorkamer is literally the Front Room).

During the school holidays in 1926, he returned to visit his family in Johannesburg. During an argument, he fired a rifle at his stepbrother and killed him.

He was sentenced to death and moved to Death row at the Pretoria Central Prison. He was reprieved and sentenced to ten years with hard labour. In 1930, he was released on parole after serving half his sentence. His experiences formed the basis for one of his best known books, Cold Stone Jug.

He then started his own printing press company and was part of a literary set in Johannesburg, associating with poets, journalists and writers. Needing a break, he then toured overseas for nine years, spending most of his time in London. The short stories that he wrote during this period formed the basis for another of his best-known books, Mafeking Road.

At the start of the Second World War, he returned to South Africa and worked as a journalist. He found the time to translate the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam into Afrikaans.

He lamented the fact that Johannesburg never respected its heritage; writing in The Standard Theatre "They will pull down the Standard Theatre like they have pulled down all the old buildings, theatres, gin-palaces, dosshouses, temples, shops, arcades, cafes and joints that were intimately associated with the mining-camp days of Johannesburg. Because I know Johannesburg. And I am satisfied that there is no other city in the world that is so anxious to shake off the memories of its early origins."

He married Ella Manson, and the couple were renowned for their bohemian lifestyle and parties. His parties ended well after midnight with much witty conversation. After a housewarming party he was taken ill with severe chest pains and was taken to Edenvale Hospital. On admission he was asked, "Place of birth?" He replied, "Born Kuilsrivier - Died Edenvale Hospital." He was discharged and collapsed at home a few hours later. He died as he was being rushed to hospital. He is buried in Westpark Cemetery in Westdene, with a triangular headstone that reads "Die Skrywer, The Writer, Herman Charles Bosman, b 3.2.1905, d 14.10.1951 ."

After his death, the rights to his works were auctioned, and purchased by his last wife. Upon her death, those rights were passed to her son, who retains those rights.

Only three of his books were published during his lifetime; Mafeking Road published by Dassie, and Jacaranda in the Night and Cold Stone Jug published by APB.

His biography was written by Valerie Rosenberg and was called Sunflower to the sun ISBN 0-7981-1228-X Human & Rousseau.

Because many of his stories were originally published in long-forgotten magazines and journals, there are a number of anthologies by different collators each containing a different selection. His original books have also been published many times by different publishers, although only in South Africa.

[edit] Books

Some of the ISBNs and publishers below may not be for the original edition.

Mafeking Road & Other Stories (1947) ISBN 0-7981-3902-1 Human & Rousseau
Rubaijat van Omar Khajjam (1948) Colin Reed-McDonald
Cold Stone Jug (1949) ISBN 0-7981-3981-1 Human & Rousseau
Veld-trails and pavements (1949) with Carel Bredell Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel
Cask of Jerepigo (1957) Central News Agency
Unto dust (1963) edited by Lionel Abrahams ISBN 0-7981-1501-7 Anthony Blond
Bosman at his best: a choice of stories and sketches (1965) edited by Lionel Abrahams ISBN 0-7981-0249-7 Human & Rousseau
Bosman's Johannesburg (1986) edited by Stephen Gray ISBN 0-7981-2001-0 Human & Rousseau
Ramoutsa Road (1987) ISBN 0-86852-130-2 Ad. Donker
A Bekkersdal marathon (1971) ISBN 0-7981-0030-3 Human & Rousseau
The Earth is Waiting (1974)
Willemsdorp (1977) ISBN 0-7981-3901-3 Human & Rousseau
Almost Forgotten Stories (1979) ISBN 0-86978-167-7 H. Timmins
Selected Stories (1980) edited by Stephen Gray ISBN 0-7981-1031-7 Human & Rousseau
The Collected Works of Herman Charles Bosman (1981) edited by Lionel Abrahams ISBN 0-86850-029-1 Jonathan Ball
The Bosman I like (1981) edited by Patrick Mynhardt ISBN 0-7981-1179-8 Human & Rousseau
Death Hath Eloquence (1981) ISBN 0-86984-189-0 Christelike Uitgewersmaatskappy
Uncollected essays (1981) ISBN 0-86978-167-7 Timmins
The Illustrated Bosman (1985) ISBN 0-86850-112-3 Jonathan Ball
Makapan's cave and other stories (1987) edited by Stephen Gray ISBN 0-14-009262-5 Penguin Books
A Bosman Treasury (1991) edited by Ian Lusted ISBN 0-7981-2830-5 Human & Rousseau
Jurie Steyn's Post Office (1991) ISBN 0-7981-2903-4 Human & Rousseau
Herman Charles Bosman : the prose juvenilia (1998) collected and introduced by M.C. Andersen ISBN 1-86888-049-4 University of South Africa
Idle talk : voorkamer stories (1999) edited by Craig MacKenzie ISBN 0-7981-3982-X Human & Rousseau
Old Transvaal Stories (2000) edited by Craig MacKenzie ISBN 0-7981-4085-2 Human & Rousseau
The Rooinek and Other Boer War Stories (2000) edited by Craig MacKenzie ISBN 0-7981-4031-3 Human & Rousseau
Jacaranda in the Night (2000) ISBN 0-7981-4084-4 Human & Rousseau
Best of Bosman (2001) edited by Stephen Gray and Craig MacKenzie ISBN 0-7981-4203-0 Human & Rousseau
Seed-Time and Harvest, and Other Stories (2001) edited by Craig MacKenzie ISBN 0-7981-4186-7 Human & Rousseau
Verborge skatte : Herman Charles Bosman in/on Afrikaans (2001) collected by Leon de Kock ISBN 0-7981-4185-9 Human & Rousseau