Magersfontein, o Magersfontein!

by Etienne Leroux

Afrikaans

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Etienne Leroux was an influential Afrikaans author and a key member of the South African Sestigers literary movement. His full name is Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux, son of S.P. Le Roux, a South African Minister of Agriculture.

His works gained critical acclaim and were translated into many languages.

Reviews

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hierdie is 'n satire wat afspeel by die Slagveld van Magersfontein as 'n groep akteurs met 'n filmspan die Slag van Magersfontein kom verfilm. Le Roux spot met die bestel van die Nasionale Afrikaners in die bloeityd van apartheid. Die verkeersman Le Grange met sy lang handskoene en 'n verskeidenheid van uniforms, die logistikus Shipmaster, die twee leiers van die ekspidisie, Lords Sudden en - Seldom, en so gaan dit aan. In die hoogtepunt van die krisis is die manne van Waterwese, met hulle helikopters in die agtergrond, besig om die watervlakke van die vloed te monitor.

Dit is 'n totale absurde verhaal, maar ek dit baie geniet. Die terugbring van die historiese feite rondom die historiese Slag van Magersfontein was baie interessant. Dit was aan die begin van die oorlog, toe "The Age of Chivalry" nog bestaan het. Soveel so dat die Boere gehelp het met die gewonde Skotte, voordat hulle (die Boere) die slagveld verlaat het. Die beroemde gebruik van loopgrawe deur genl de la Rey word goed belig.

Die sketse van baie van die karakters bring 'n tyd van die verlede terug, wat genadiglik vir goed verby is (nie dat ons huidige politieke karakters veel anders is nie!). Wie sal ooit die safaripakke en Grasshoppers kan vergeet?

[Jim Elkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in the English translation by Ninon Roets (Hutchinson, 1983), which is not listed in LibraryThing.[return][return]It's an excellent satire, full of sharp, angry sarcasm, and some very funny half-page portraits of people: a narcissistic Greek author; a prudish traffic policeman; two Lords, Sudden and Seldom; a poor Boer man -- and about twenty others, very well drawn. Leroux doesn't waste a single line: he's savage and accurate -- a wonderfully good writer. This is satire as it should be written, by someone nearly apoplectic with hatred and impatience, and yet also infused by an irrepressible desire to laugh at everyone. It was banned in South Africa, as documented in the book "the Muzzled Muse: Literature and Censorship in South Africa."[return][return]Beyond satire, and piercing description, it isn't much, but I will be reading other books by Leroux.