Laurens Van Der Post
Description:... Professor Frederic I. Carpenter, of the University of California at Berkeley, has divided his book into two parts, Part One: The Man, Part Two: The Books. The division is not a stringent one, since, as Professor Carpenter explains, all of van der Post's books are auto- biographical to some extent and his life and his books have interacted "to create a new kind of autobiographical personality, or literary legend, which may be greater than either his life or his books." The autobiographical personality, says Professor Carpenter, dominates his book, as indeed it dominates all of van der Post's books. The historical background to van der Post's early life and ancestry illuminating to the non-African reader, who knows South Africa mainly as a country of conflict between black and white. Biographical details other than those brought out in his books or connected with the writing and publication of his books are scant, partly due to the obvious limitations of discussing a living author, and partly to the fact that "his writing, like his life, has consisted of a series of journeys of discovery into a series of strange lands and cultures." And these journeys are adequately described in his books. But here again van der Post himself describes and interprets his experiences in his factual and fictional writing in terms of autobiography as well as symbolism and psychological meaning. Professor Carpenter draws no conclusions as to their place in literature. He leaves the reader to make his own decisions about the individual books, but leaves no doubt about his own preferences.
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