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From Man to Man: Enriched edition. Challenging Gender Norms in 19th Century South Africa
Olive Schreiner's novel 'From Man to Man' is a powerful critique of social and gender norms in late 19th century South Africa. Schreiner's prose is marked by its poetic lyricism and introspective storytelling, delving into the complexities of human relationships and societal structures. The novel is a groundbreaking work of feminist literature, challenging prevailing ideas of masculinity and femininity. Through vivid descriptions and thought-provoking dialogue, Schreiner paints a vivid portrait of the struggles faced by women in a patriarchal society. 'From Man to Man' stands as a masterpiece of early feminist writing, inviting readers to re-examine their beliefs and assumptions about gender roles and societal expectations.
528 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1926
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320 people want to read
About the author
Olive Schreiner
189 books88 followersOlive Schreiner (24 March 1855 - December 11, 1920), was a South African author, pacifist and political activist. She is best known for her novel The Story of an African Farm, which has been acclaimed for the manner it tackled the issues of its day, ranging from agnosticism to the treatment of women.
From Wikipedia:
Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner (1855-1920) was named after her three older brothers, Oliver (1848-1854), Albert (1843-1843) and Emile (1852-1852), who died before she was born. She was the ninth of twelve children born to a missionary couple, Gottlob Schreiner and Rebecca Lyndall at the Wesleyan Missionary Society station at Wittebergen in the Eastern Cape, near Herschel in South Africa. Her childhood was a harsh one: her father was loving and gentle, though unpractical; but her mother Rebecca was intent on teaching her children the same restraint and self-discipline that had been a part of her upbringing. Olive received virtually all her initial education from her mother who was well-read and gifted.[clarification needed] Her eldest brother Fred (1840-1901) was educated in England and became headmaster of a school in Eastbourne.
When Olive was six, Gottlob transferred to Healdtown in the Eastern Cape to run the Wesleyan training institute there. As with so many of his other projects, he simply was not up to the task and was expelled in disgrace for trading against missionary regulations. He was forced to make his own living for the first time in his life, and tried a business venture. Again, he failed and was insolvent within a year. The family lived in abject poverty as a result.
However, Olive was not to remain with her parents for long. When her older brother Theophilus (1844-1920) was appointed headmaster in Cradock in 1867, she went to live with him along with two of her siblings. She also attended his school and received a formal education for the first time. Despite that, she was no happier in Cradock than she had been in Wittebergen or Healdtown. Her siblings were very religious, but Olive had already rejected the Christianity of her parents as baseless and it was the cause of many arguments with her family.
Therefore, when Theo and her brother left Cradock for the diamond fields of Griqualand West, Olive chose to become a governess . On the way to her first post at Barkly East, she met Willie Bertram, who shared her views of religion and who lent her a copy of Herbert Spencer’s First Principles. This text was to have a profound impact on her. While rejecting religious creeds and doctrine, Spencer also argued for a belief in an Absolute that lay beyond the scope of human knowledge and conception. This belief was founded in the unity of nature and a teleological universe, both of which Olive was to appropriate for herself in her attempts to create a morality free of organized religion.
After this meeting, Olive travelled from place to place, accepting posts as a governess with various families and leaving them because of the sexual predation of her male employers in many cases. During this time she met Julius Gau, to whom she became engaged under doubtful circumstances. For whatever reason, their engagement did not last long and she returned to live with her parents and then with her brothers. She read widely and began writing seriously. She started Undine at this time.
However, her brothers’ financial situation soon deteriorated, as diamonds became increasingly difficult to find. Olive had no choice but to resume her transient lifestyle, moving between various households and towns, until she returned briefly to her parents in 1874. It was there that she had the first of the asthma attacks that would plague her for the rest of her life. Since her parents were no more financially secure than before and because of her ill-health, Olive was forced to resume working in order to support them.
From Wikipedia:
Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner (1855-1920) was named after her three older brothers, Oliver (1848-1854), Albert (1843-1843) and Emile (1852-1852), who died before she was born. She was the ninth of twelve children born to a missionary couple, Gottlob Schreiner and Rebecca Lyndall at the Wesleyan Missionary Society station at Wittebergen in the Eastern Cape, near Herschel in South Africa. Her childhood was a harsh one: her father was loving and gentle, though unpractical; but her mother Rebecca was intent on teaching her children the same restraint and self-discipline that had been a part of her upbringing. Olive received virtually all her initial education from her mother who was well-read and gifted.[clarification needed] Her eldest brother Fred (1840-1901) was educated in England and became headmaster of a school in Eastbourne.
When Olive was six, Gottlob transferred to Healdtown in the Eastern Cape to run the Wesleyan training institute there. As with so many of his other projects, he simply was not up to the task and was expelled in disgrace for trading against missionary regulations. He was forced to make his own living for the first time in his life, and tried a business venture. Again, he failed and was insolvent within a year. The family lived in abject poverty as a result.
However, Olive was not to remain with her parents for long. When her older brother Theophilus (1844-1920) was appointed headmaster in Cradock in 1867, she went to live with him along with two of her siblings. She also attended his school and received a formal education for the first time. Despite that, she was no happier in Cradock than she had been in Wittebergen or Healdtown. Her siblings were very religious, but Olive had already rejected the Christianity of her parents as baseless and it was the cause of many arguments with her family.
Therefore, when Theo and her brother left Cradock for the diamond fields of Griqualand West, Olive chose to become a governess . On the way to her first post at Barkly East, she met Willie Bertram, who shared her views of religion and who lent her a copy of Herbert Spencer’s First Principles. This text was to have a profound impact on her. While rejecting religious creeds and doctrine, Spencer also argued for a belief in an Absolute that lay beyond the scope of human knowledge and conception. This belief was founded in the unity of nature and a teleological universe, both of which Olive was to appropriate for herself in her attempts to create a morality free of organized religion.
After this meeting, Olive travelled from place to place, accepting posts as a governess with various families and leaving them because of the sexual predation of her male employers in many cases. During this time she met Julius Gau, to whom she became engaged under doubtful circumstances. For whatever reason, their engagement did not last long and she returned to live with her parents and then with her brothers. She read widely and began writing seriously. She started Undine at this time.
However, her brothers’ financial situation soon deteriorated, as diamonds became increasingly difficult to find. Olive had no choice but to resume her transient lifestyle, moving between various households and towns, until she returned briefly to her parents in 1874. It was there that she had the first of the asthma attacks that would plague her for the rest of her life. Since her parents were no more financially secure than before and because of her ill-health, Olive was forced to resume working in order to support them.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 6, 2015
A wonderful book, though tragically unfinished, which, to my mind, successfully marries the tradition of the semi-melodramatic tale and that of the political essay. I found it a real page-turner, in the old style, as well as a deeply moving record of an intelligent and passionate woman's thoughts.
The following was written (and forms part of a section of the novel detailing the internal debates and thoughts of the primary female character) sometime between 1890 and 1920. This is, at the very least, 10 years before A Room of One's Own:
"Lies are so easy to us because age after age the lying and subtle and insincere have conquered and crushed the individuals in whom sincerity and openness were budding. It is so difficult for us to consider others justly and impartially if they have terribly injured us, because age after age the individuals striking most mercilessly at whatever limited their pleasure, without consideration of justice or sympathy, have killed out and suppressed those in whom generosity and justice were beginning to dawn. Lust, divided from all love and inborn self-forgetfulness, is so dominant within thousands of us (making the world of sexual relations, which in our ideals are the highest, often the lowest, in life), because age after age the most brutally lustful has perpetuated himself, where the less lustful and brutal has failed to rape and force the woman or kill the opposing males. Because, age after age, the individual tendency to expend force in the direction of impersonal intellectual activity has again and again fallen victim to the individual more concentrated on personal aim, we to-day find the complex intellectual gift of the thinker and artistic creator so rare and so heavily conflicted with by the lower opponents. Because the stronger sex has so perpetually attempted to crush the physically smaller, the individuals who attempted to resist force by force being at once wiped out, sex has acquired almost as a secondary sexual characteristic a subtleness and power of finesse to which it now flies almost as instinctively as a crab to the water when it sees danger approaching, the struggles against which being the sternest that sex has to carry off within itself if it would attain moral emancipation. Because the larger male has so long and so mercilessly suppressed the weaker and exterminated those who refused to submit while the servile survived, we find perhaps that lowest of all human qualities, the material tendency to truckle before success and power, which in some humans seems instinctive and in them at least is ineradicable....
...For it is not alone through the physical destruction and annihilation of the weaker by the brutally stronger that we have suffered. What has humanity not lost by the suppression and subjection of the weaker sex by the muscularly stronger sex alone? We have a Shakespeare; but what of the possible Shakespeares we might have had, who passed their life from youth upward brewing currant wine and making pastries for fat country squires to eat, with no glimpse of the freedom of life and action, necessary even to poach on deer in the green forests, stifled out without one line written, simply because, being of the weaker sex, life gave no room for action and grasp on life? Here and there, where queens have been born as rulers, the vast powers for governance and the keen insight the sex possesses have been shown; but what of the millions of the race in all ages whose vast powers of intellect and insight and creation have been lost to us because they were physically the weaker sex, whose line of life was rigidly apportioned to them at the will of the stronger, which governed the structure of their societies? What statesmen, what rulers and leaders, what creative intelligences have been lost to humanity, because there has been no free trade in the powers and gifts of the muscularly smaller and weaker sex?...
...You say that, with your guns shooting so many shots a minute, you can destroy any race of men armed only with spears; but how does that prove your superiority, except as the superiority of the crocodile is proved when it eats a human baby, because it has long teeth and baby has none? You say the fact that you can command the labor of so many of your fellow men and gratify your desires proves that you are higher than they; it proves that your belly is large and your power of filling it great; but what, in these matters, are even you compared to the old saurians with their vast claws and paws and rough tongues, who could have licked you off the face of the earth in a moment? The theory that humanity can be perfected on earth only by the stronger jawed, longer clawed, biggest bellied preying on the smaller is a devil's doctrine bred in the head of a fool."
The following was written (and forms part of a section of the novel detailing the internal debates and thoughts of the primary female character) sometime between 1890 and 1920. This is, at the very least, 10 years before A Room of One's Own:
"Lies are so easy to us because age after age the lying and subtle and insincere have conquered and crushed the individuals in whom sincerity and openness were budding. It is so difficult for us to consider others justly and impartially if they have terribly injured us, because age after age the individuals striking most mercilessly at whatever limited their pleasure, without consideration of justice or sympathy, have killed out and suppressed those in whom generosity and justice were beginning to dawn. Lust, divided from all love and inborn self-forgetfulness, is so dominant within thousands of us (making the world of sexual relations, which in our ideals are the highest, often the lowest, in life), because age after age the most brutally lustful has perpetuated himself, where the less lustful and brutal has failed to rape and force the woman or kill the opposing males. Because, age after age, the individual tendency to expend force in the direction of impersonal intellectual activity has again and again fallen victim to the individual more concentrated on personal aim, we to-day find the complex intellectual gift of the thinker and artistic creator so rare and so heavily conflicted with by the lower opponents. Because the stronger sex has so perpetually attempted to crush the physically smaller, the individuals who attempted to resist force by force being at once wiped out, sex has acquired almost as a secondary sexual characteristic a subtleness and power of finesse to which it now flies almost as instinctively as a crab to the water when it sees danger approaching, the struggles against which being the sternest that sex has to carry off within itself if it would attain moral emancipation. Because the larger male has so long and so mercilessly suppressed the weaker and exterminated those who refused to submit while the servile survived, we find perhaps that lowest of all human qualities, the material tendency to truckle before success and power, which in some humans seems instinctive and in them at least is ineradicable....
...For it is not alone through the physical destruction and annihilation of the weaker by the brutally stronger that we have suffered. What has humanity not lost by the suppression and subjection of the weaker sex by the muscularly stronger sex alone? We have a Shakespeare; but what of the possible Shakespeares we might have had, who passed their life from youth upward brewing currant wine and making pastries for fat country squires to eat, with no glimpse of the freedom of life and action, necessary even to poach on deer in the green forests, stifled out without one line written, simply because, being of the weaker sex, life gave no room for action and grasp on life? Here and there, where queens have been born as rulers, the vast powers for governance and the keen insight the sex possesses have been shown; but what of the millions of the race in all ages whose vast powers of intellect and insight and creation have been lost to us because they were physically the weaker sex, whose line of life was rigidly apportioned to them at the will of the stronger, which governed the structure of their societies? What statesmen, what rulers and leaders, what creative intelligences have been lost to humanity, because there has been no free trade in the powers and gifts of the muscularly smaller and weaker sex?...
...You say that, with your guns shooting so many shots a minute, you can destroy any race of men armed only with spears; but how does that prove your superiority, except as the superiority of the crocodile is proved when it eats a human baby, because it has long teeth and baby has none? You say the fact that you can command the labor of so many of your fellow men and gratify your desires proves that you are higher than they; it proves that your belly is large and your power of filling it great; but what, in these matters, are even you compared to the old saurians with their vast claws and paws and rough tongues, who could have licked you off the face of the earth in a moment? The theory that humanity can be perfected on earth only by the stronger jawed, longer clawed, biggest bellied preying on the smaller is a devil's doctrine bred in the head of a fool."
April 14, 2025
He disfrutado mucho esta narración sencilla, realista, feminista pero tradicional y victoriana muy de su época, protagonizada por dos hermanas que crecen en la ciudad de El Cabo:
Rebekah, la mayor, nos muestra a través de sus escritos, de sus debates internos y de su forma de educar a sus hijos, el pensamiento de la autora, muy crítica con los roles de género (en 1873, antes que el cuarto propio de Virginia Wolf), en el devenir de un matrimonio tradicional que va superando hasta encontrar a un compañero ideal e igual en un final que no llegó a dejar escrito.
Bertie, la hermana pequeña, sufre un acto impuro en su adolescencia para condena y vergüenza propia y de su familia, y es obligada a huir de hombre en hombre, y acabar en un prostíbulo con la intención de la autora de que muriera víctima de una grave enfermedad en un final que no llegó a escribir.
Una idea trascendental en la novela, aunque muy forzada en su introducción, a través del planteamiento de Rebekah, es su visión de un mundo de seres libres e iguales sin ningún tipo de sometimiento entre personas, en relación no solo a hombres y mujeres sino respecto al colonialismo, abrazando una herencia cultural más amplia que la occidental.
Los moldes de ambas protagonistas me han encantado, Rebekah fuerte, inteligente, independiente, y Bertie tan diligente y apasionada. Uno de los mejores logros de la narración es el acoso velado que sufre esta última por la estricta moralidad protestante.
Coetzee, soberbio como siempre, se atreve a escribir un final con un futuro factible para Bertie. También añade en la edición un posfacio en el que aclara su aportación como editor de la obra, tomándose la libertad de mejorar la prosa de Schreiner allí donde le parecía ¡pedestre!, con una versión abreviada, revisada y, en ocasiones, reescrita.
El propio Coetzee se encarga de introducir en el posfacio unas críticas contundentes al estilo de la obra para justificar su revisión.
Una narración lenta, monótona, y repetitiva. Especialmente llamativo es su puritanismo, pese a tratarse de una novela sobre prostitución no hay ni una mínima referencia sexual.
Rebekah, la mayor, nos muestra a través de sus escritos, de sus debates internos y de su forma de educar a sus hijos, el pensamiento de la autora, muy crítica con los roles de género (en 1873, antes que el cuarto propio de Virginia Wolf), en el devenir de un matrimonio tradicional que va superando hasta encontrar a un compañero ideal e igual en un final que no llegó a dejar escrito.
Bertie, la hermana pequeña, sufre un acto impuro en su adolescencia para condena y vergüenza propia y de su familia, y es obligada a huir de hombre en hombre, y acabar en un prostíbulo con la intención de la autora de que muriera víctima de una grave enfermedad en un final que no llegó a escribir.
Una idea trascendental en la novela, aunque muy forzada en su introducción, a través del planteamiento de Rebekah, es su visión de un mundo de seres libres e iguales sin ningún tipo de sometimiento entre personas, en relación no solo a hombres y mujeres sino respecto al colonialismo, abrazando una herencia cultural más amplia que la occidental.
Los moldes de ambas protagonistas me han encantado, Rebekah fuerte, inteligente, independiente, y Bertie tan diligente y apasionada. Uno de los mejores logros de la narración es el acoso velado que sufre esta última por la estricta moralidad protestante.
Coetzee, soberbio como siempre, se atreve a escribir un final con un futuro factible para Bertie. También añade en la edición un posfacio en el que aclara su aportación como editor de la obra, tomándose la libertad de mejorar la prosa de Schreiner allí donde le parecía ¡pedestre!, con una versión abreviada, revisada y, en ocasiones, reescrita.
El propio Coetzee se encarga de introducir en el posfacio unas críticas contundentes al estilo de la obra para justificar su revisión.
Una narración lenta, monótona, y repetitiva. Especialmente llamativo es su puritanismo, pese a tratarse de una novela sobre prostitución no hay ni una mínima referencia sexual.
April 27, 2010
Just beautiful. And sadly, tantalizingly, unfinished. The cover blurb, about the two sisters' betrayal by their sexuality, is only half the story. The beauty of this book lies in its lyrical treatment of a woman's intellect, scientific, literary, aesthetic, and the suggestion at the end that she has found a like mind... but the book trails off here, unfinished. I know how *I* want it to end.
September 14, 2016
What a beautiful book eloquently saying everything I feel about patriarchy.
February 8, 2023
Schreiner wrote parts of this novel throughout her career and did not complete it before she died. Parts of it (especially the first six chapters) are brilliantly done—interconnected short stories, told in beautiful language, about two sisters raised in isolation on a South African farm at the turn of the 20th century. Schreiner develops her characters so that it is hard not to fall in love with both Rebecca and her younger sister Bertie. But early on, we sense that their hearts will be broken. At the same time, Schreiner touches on racism, sexism, and the oppressiveness of Christianity. Where she runs into problems is in chapter 7 which becomes a long-winded manifesto written by Rebecca (but is really Schreiner’s philosophy)—totally unnecessary given the precision of the narrator’s voice in the previous chapters. Another long dialog about Art at the end of the book is equally jarring. When Bertie flees to England later in the book, we enter a dark Grimm’s Brothers fairy tale about female vulnerability, but the anti-Semitism is really hard to get through, especially given her other more progressive ideas. This section is engrossing, but seems to come from a different book altogether. This novel could have been a major work of feminism and anti-colonialism if Schreiner had had a chance to heavily edit and re-write it so that it reads with a single voice. What we have still contains some amazingly powerful writing.
January 25, 2017
This book really struck a chord with me, what with the women's matches and all the unrest in our world right now. It made me ponder about how far we have come since then, and how some things remain the same. (The relationships between men and women, how society views women: maiden, mother, whore; and race relations).
Alas, this book was never finished and we can only guess on some of the questions it leaves behind.
Heartbreaking story!
Alas, this book was never finished and we can only guess on some of the questions it leaves behind.
Heartbreaking story!
January 5, 2026
Olive Schreiner, nacida en Sudáfrica a mediados del siglo XIX, es una de las grandes y más desconocidas escritoras del continente africano. Autodidacta, activista política y pionera feminista en la región, la autora cuenta con obras de renombre como su famosa Historia de una granja africana, o Mil novecientos noventa y nueve, mi primer acercamiento a la autora del que hace poco pude hablaros.
De hombre en hombre, narra la relación de dos hermanas y su vida en una pequeña granja africana en Ciudad del Cabo. Cada hermana es tan diferente como diferente su vida, más si cabe cuando circunstancias externas o pequeños errores pueden encauzar su destino. La historia contrapone la correcta vida de casada de una con la deshonra de la otra, una dicotomía moral-inmoral, que convierte la novela en un fiel reflejo de los dos roles femeninos de la época y de la fuerte mentalidad victoriana imperante.
De hombre en hombre es una novela inconclusa, que la autora no pudo o más bien no quiso finalizar en vida. Publicada seis años después de su muerte, a través de una edición elaborada por su marido con los materiales que la autora dejó, esta edición que hoy os acerco cuenta además, con un capítulo adicional y un postfacio de la mano de Coetze.
Ya de primeras chirría el asunto, dos hombres intentando finalizar el trabajo de una mujer, y un trabajo que dejó claro que no quería publicar. Cierto es que el trabajo de Coetze es impecable, el capítulo adicional cuaja completamente con el resto de la historia, el estilo narrativo se adapta a la perfección y no sería un mal final si no fuese por el hecho de que no era el que ella hubiese querido. Del postfacio sí tengo mucho que decir, huele a hombría y a presunción por todos lados, llegando a desprestigiar por momentos el trabajo de la autora. Menudo patinazo amigo Coetze.
En conclusión, una novela sencilla, costumbrista y con tintes autobiográficos, que aunque carece de grandes tramas activistas o políticas, sí incorpora pequeñas divagaciones de índole filosófica y menciones al colonialismo, que sirven como elementos reivindicativos del pensar de Schreiner. Obra no representativa de la autora, pero muy interesante de explorar.
De hombre en hombre, narra la relación de dos hermanas y su vida en una pequeña granja africana en Ciudad del Cabo. Cada hermana es tan diferente como diferente su vida, más si cabe cuando circunstancias externas o pequeños errores pueden encauzar su destino. La historia contrapone la correcta vida de casada de una con la deshonra de la otra, una dicotomía moral-inmoral, que convierte la novela en un fiel reflejo de los dos roles femeninos de la época y de la fuerte mentalidad victoriana imperante.
De hombre en hombre es una novela inconclusa, que la autora no pudo o más bien no quiso finalizar en vida. Publicada seis años después de su muerte, a través de una edición elaborada por su marido con los materiales que la autora dejó, esta edición que hoy os acerco cuenta además, con un capítulo adicional y un postfacio de la mano de Coetze.
Ya de primeras chirría el asunto, dos hombres intentando finalizar el trabajo de una mujer, y un trabajo que dejó claro que no quería publicar. Cierto es que el trabajo de Coetze es impecable, el capítulo adicional cuaja completamente con el resto de la historia, el estilo narrativo se adapta a la perfección y no sería un mal final si no fuese por el hecho de que no era el que ella hubiese querido. Del postfacio sí tengo mucho que decir, huele a hombría y a presunción por todos lados, llegando a desprestigiar por momentos el trabajo de la autora. Menudo patinazo amigo Coetze.
En conclusión, una novela sencilla, costumbrista y con tintes autobiográficos, que aunque carece de grandes tramas activistas o políticas, sí incorpora pequeñas divagaciones de índole filosófica y menciones al colonialismo, que sirven como elementos reivindicativos del pensar de Schreiner. Obra no representativa de la autora, pero muy interesante de explorar.
July 13, 2023
This was a disappointment for me to read. And I had to read 481 pages of it, only to find out afterwards that it’s an unfinished book – I wish I had known that before I embarked on reading it. Had I known that at the outset, I may well have not started in on it. The person who wrote the Introduction to the book, Paul Foot, feels that the author did finish it, and that what the reader read was the completed version. But it wasn’t published in her lifetime...it was published 6 years after she died. She had been working on it for 47 years off and on...she started when she was 18 and she was working on it up to her death when she was 65.
Synopsis of book from 1982 Virago Modern Classics re-issue:
• This is the story of two sisters, Rebekah and Bertie, brought up in isolation on a tree-covered farm, tucked away among the ribs of a mountain in the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). We see Rebekah marry and become the mother of three sons, constantly humiliated by her philandering husband, while Bertie, the younger and more beautiful sister drifts from youthful seduction to life as a prostitute in London. Both women are betrayed through their sexuality, but this is a powerful novel with many themes, remarkable for its celebration of sisterhood and female creativity and its impassioned plea for greater love and understanding between women and men.
It’s clear to me after reading part of this journal article — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/... — as well as the reviews below that a good deal of the book was over my head. I would consider it more of a high-brow book than a middle-brow book which is more my style. So rather than me gripe about the novel I’ll just say it was not my cup of tea. From what I can read of Olive Schreiner’s biography, she is a well-respected South African author of the late 19th century.
This is interesting but I can’t gain access to the entire journal article ... it speaks to the fact that this is an unfinished novel and why that might be so: “Writer’s block” in Olive Schreiner’s ‘From Man to Man or Perhaps Only’ by Finuala Dowling. Here is the Abstract (synopsis) of the article:
• A new edition in 2015 by Dorothy Driver of the unfinished novel, From Man to Man or Perhaps Only –, and the accessibility of Liz Stanley’s Olive Schreiner Letters Online (OSLO) have made it possible to speculate on reasons for Olive Schreiner’s apparent “writer’s block” in not completing the novel that she felt so passionately about and worked on intermittently for forty-seven years. I argue that Schreiner’s progress was impeded by several factors: her fixation on a rare flash of “illumination” which produced the novel’s exquisite Prelude; her conflating of the ending of the novel with her own end; her commitment to “baking bread” for her country; and her inclusion, near the end of the novel as it now stands, of a scene in which two characters express the agony and anxiety associated with publication.
This link lists all the articles in that particular issue of the journal https://www.ajol.info/index.php/eia/i... )— it appears the entire issue is devoted to Olive Schreiner and her works. The editor for the issue is Dorothy Driver who wrote a re-issue of ‘From Man to Man’ [University of Cape Town Press, 2015} and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. From Wikipedia: This edition (edited and introduced by Dorothy Driver) corrects previous errors and provides another ending to the novel, in Schreiner's own words, in addition to her husband's summary.
I’d like to read that alternative ending to the novel, but I can’t find the re-edited book by Dorothy Driver online (i.e., Abebooks)... 😕 🙁
Reviews and miscellaneous about the book and author and re-issues:
• https://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-24-0...
• https://digitalcollections.lib.uct.ac...
Synopsis of book from 1982 Virago Modern Classics re-issue:
• This is the story of two sisters, Rebekah and Bertie, brought up in isolation on a tree-covered farm, tucked away among the ribs of a mountain in the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). We see Rebekah marry and become the mother of three sons, constantly humiliated by her philandering husband, while Bertie, the younger and more beautiful sister drifts from youthful seduction to life as a prostitute in London. Both women are betrayed through their sexuality, but this is a powerful novel with many themes, remarkable for its celebration of sisterhood and female creativity and its impassioned plea for greater love and understanding between women and men.
It’s clear to me after reading part of this journal article — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/... — as well as the reviews below that a good deal of the book was over my head. I would consider it more of a high-brow book than a middle-brow book which is more my style. So rather than me gripe about the novel I’ll just say it was not my cup of tea. From what I can read of Olive Schreiner’s biography, she is a well-respected South African author of the late 19th century.
This is interesting but I can’t gain access to the entire journal article ... it speaks to the fact that this is an unfinished novel and why that might be so: “Writer’s block” in Olive Schreiner’s ‘From Man to Man or Perhaps Only’ by Finuala Dowling. Here is the Abstract (synopsis) of the article:
• A new edition in 2015 by Dorothy Driver of the unfinished novel, From Man to Man or Perhaps Only –, and the accessibility of Liz Stanley’s Olive Schreiner Letters Online (OSLO) have made it possible to speculate on reasons for Olive Schreiner’s apparent “writer’s block” in not completing the novel that she felt so passionately about and worked on intermittently for forty-seven years. I argue that Schreiner’s progress was impeded by several factors: her fixation on a rare flash of “illumination” which produced the novel’s exquisite Prelude; her conflating of the ending of the novel with her own end; her commitment to “baking bread” for her country; and her inclusion, near the end of the novel as it now stands, of a scene in which two characters express the agony and anxiety associated with publication.
This link lists all the articles in that particular issue of the journal https://www.ajol.info/index.php/eia/i... )— it appears the entire issue is devoted to Olive Schreiner and her works. The editor for the issue is Dorothy Driver who wrote a re-issue of ‘From Man to Man’ [University of Cape Town Press, 2015} and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. From Wikipedia: This edition (edited and introduced by Dorothy Driver) corrects previous errors and provides another ending to the novel, in Schreiner's own words, in addition to her husband's summary.
I’d like to read that alternative ending to the novel, but I can’t find the re-edited book by Dorothy Driver online (i.e., Abebooks)... 😕 🙁
Reviews and miscellaneous about the book and author and re-issues:
• https://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-24-0...
• https://digitalcollections.lib.uct.ac...
November 26, 2024
Olive Schreiner creó en el siglo XIX una novela que arrasaría con el machismo de aquella época si hubiera salido a la luz.
Gracias a J.M Coetzee, hoy podemos leer esta obra de arte que ha editado y a la que le ha añadido un final que la autora dejó sin escribir.
Dos hermanas, Rebekah y Bertie, viven dos vidas completamente diferentes. Por un lado, Rebekah se casa y tiene hijos, todo lo que una mujer de aquella época "debía" desear. Por otro lado, Bertie cometió un "error" a los quince años, siendo una niña, y se le juzga y machaca hasta el punto de hacerle la vida imposible conduciéndole al ostracismo y, cuando se asienta en otro lugar, se le vuelve a dar de lado.
Una de las hermanas, tendrá una vida idílica (o lo que se consideraba idílico en el siglo XIX *hay que recordar cuándo fue escrito) para muchas. La otra, en cambio, un martirio.
La trama, llena de descripciones y de narración, me ha encantado, aunque sé que no a todo el mundo le gusta porque hace que desconecten. Personalmente, pienso que le ha dado un buen toque al libro haciendo que nos adentremos más en África y en sus pueblos. Además, la manera en la que está escrita es genial, súper bonita.
Quiero recalcar la importancia de las ideas de Olive que, por aquel entonces, probablemente no serian muchas las personas feministas y antirracistas. Enseña fragmentos en los que la mujer debe ocuparse de los hijos, la casa y el marido, por contra, los hombres hacen lo demás. Pero Rebekah quiere destacar en la ciencia y compartir sus conocimientos, además su curiosidad le empuja a informarse y a la lectura. Qué alegría me daba leer todo lo que pensaba ella y todo lo que podría lograr con su pensamiento revolucionario.
Por otro lado, Bertie sufre muchos abusos que la escritora no detalla, pero deja a nuestra imaginación. Ella quiere ser libre, haber nacido en otra época en la que la mujer no era juzgada por cualquier nimiedad y podía hacer con su cuerpo lo que quisiese. Que no hubiera ninguna esclava sexual ni ningún hombre aprovechado.
De hombre en hombre detalla todo lo que las mujeres han sufrido durante años (y por desgracia muchas siguen sufriendo) mediante dos protagonistas fuertes y valientes. Una historia pausada, pero para deleitarse con cada palabra.
Os dejo un fragmento especial dentro de la trama:
"Ya no te tengo miedo. Ya no soy una mujer que le habla a su dueño, que tiembla en su presencia. Somos dos almas libres frente a frente. Si no piensas leer esta carta, entonces me oirás hablar".
Me ha parecido un libro increíble... directo a las mejores lecturas que he tenido la suerte de leer este año.
Gracias a J.M Coetzee, hoy podemos leer esta obra de arte que ha editado y a la que le ha añadido un final que la autora dejó sin escribir.
Dos hermanas, Rebekah y Bertie, viven dos vidas completamente diferentes. Por un lado, Rebekah se casa y tiene hijos, todo lo que una mujer de aquella época "debía" desear. Por otro lado, Bertie cometió un "error" a los quince años, siendo una niña, y se le juzga y machaca hasta el punto de hacerle la vida imposible conduciéndole al ostracismo y, cuando se asienta en otro lugar, se le vuelve a dar de lado.
Una de las hermanas, tendrá una vida idílica (o lo que se consideraba idílico en el siglo XIX *hay que recordar cuándo fue escrito) para muchas. La otra, en cambio, un martirio.
La trama, llena de descripciones y de narración, me ha encantado, aunque sé que no a todo el mundo le gusta porque hace que desconecten. Personalmente, pienso que le ha dado un buen toque al libro haciendo que nos adentremos más en África y en sus pueblos. Además, la manera en la que está escrita es genial, súper bonita.
Quiero recalcar la importancia de las ideas de Olive que, por aquel entonces, probablemente no serian muchas las personas feministas y antirracistas. Enseña fragmentos en los que la mujer debe ocuparse de los hijos, la casa y el marido, por contra, los hombres hacen lo demás. Pero Rebekah quiere destacar en la ciencia y compartir sus conocimientos, además su curiosidad le empuja a informarse y a la lectura. Qué alegría me daba leer todo lo que pensaba ella y todo lo que podría lograr con su pensamiento revolucionario.
Por otro lado, Bertie sufre muchos abusos que la escritora no detalla, pero deja a nuestra imaginación. Ella quiere ser libre, haber nacido en otra época en la que la mujer no era juzgada por cualquier nimiedad y podía hacer con su cuerpo lo que quisiese. Que no hubiera ninguna esclava sexual ni ningún hombre aprovechado.
De hombre en hombre detalla todo lo que las mujeres han sufrido durante años (y por desgracia muchas siguen sufriendo) mediante dos protagonistas fuertes y valientes. Una historia pausada, pero para deleitarse con cada palabra.
Os dejo un fragmento especial dentro de la trama:
"Ya no te tengo miedo. Ya no soy una mujer que le habla a su dueño, que tiembla en su presencia. Somos dos almas libres frente a frente. Si no piensas leer esta carta, entonces me oirás hablar".
Me ha parecido un libro increíble... directo a las mejores lecturas que he tenido la suerte de leer este año.
December 10, 2024
«Sintió como si el mundo entero fuera desenfrenada mente malo»
Bueno, bueno…, vamos allá. Es una narrativa lenta, pero con una alta tensión para el lector. Una obra que denuncia el desamparo de la mujer en la Sudáfrica colonial del siglo XIX, desde dos perfiles diferentes. Rebekah es la hermana mayor, tiene una personalidad fuerte, no se ajusta a lo que se espera de una mujer de su tiempo, elige con quién y cuándo quiere casarse, representa a la mujer que busca su identidad y exige la igualdad en el matrimonio, el marido debe pasar tiempo en el hogar y participar de la crianza. En el oro extremo, Bestie, la hermana pequeña, criada para ser una mujer complaciente, servicial y dispuesta, ya lo dijo la vieja aya, harían de ella todo lo contrario que con la mayor, una mujer como es debido. Tras sufrir abusos a los quince años por su tutor, Bestie, se encerrará en su mundo, es una mujer marcada, sin honra y buscará el único lugar donde podían desaparecer y sobrevivir.
Una lectura donde cuentan los detalles, sin llegar a desarrollar la idea o señalarla en profundidad, la autora marca que la educación afecta, causa-efecto. Si no queréis esos efectos para vuestras hijas, si deseáis una mujer resolutiva, no provoquéis las causas. Rebekah representa algo como, si buscas mi respeto, trátame con consideración y no me taches de loca. Y con esta idea nos pone delante dos mujeres, Verónica Grey y la señora Drummond, villanas, tienen vidas muy dignas, pero ojalá se preocuparan más por sus actitudes, y estoy deseando durante toda la lectura que les llegue su San Martín.
¡Feliz lectura!
Bueno, bueno…, vamos allá. Es una narrativa lenta, pero con una alta tensión para el lector. Una obra que denuncia el desamparo de la mujer en la Sudáfrica colonial del siglo XIX, desde dos perfiles diferentes. Rebekah es la hermana mayor, tiene una personalidad fuerte, no se ajusta a lo que se espera de una mujer de su tiempo, elige con quién y cuándo quiere casarse, representa a la mujer que busca su identidad y exige la igualdad en el matrimonio, el marido debe pasar tiempo en el hogar y participar de la crianza. En el oro extremo, Bestie, la hermana pequeña, criada para ser una mujer complaciente, servicial y dispuesta, ya lo dijo la vieja aya, harían de ella todo lo contrario que con la mayor, una mujer como es debido. Tras sufrir abusos a los quince años por su tutor, Bestie, se encerrará en su mundo, es una mujer marcada, sin honra y buscará el único lugar donde podían desaparecer y sobrevivir.
Una lectura donde cuentan los detalles, sin llegar a desarrollar la idea o señalarla en profundidad, la autora marca que la educación afecta, causa-efecto. Si no queréis esos efectos para vuestras hijas, si deseáis una mujer resolutiva, no provoquéis las causas. Rebekah representa algo como, si buscas mi respeto, trátame con consideración y no me taches de loca. Y con esta idea nos pone delante dos mujeres, Verónica Grey y la señora Drummond, villanas, tienen vidas muy dignas, pero ojalá se preocuparan más por sus actitudes, y estoy deseando durante toda la lectura que les llegue su San Martín.
¡Feliz lectura!
Read
April 4, 2025Uma novela de grande insensibidade, de "hombre en hombre" de mulheres à mulheres. Algo devastador e cortante, pois é um sofrer silencioso e invisível.
A 9bra é póstuma de uma escritora dita feminista na literatura sul- africana, que retrata a vida de duas irmãs nascidas e criadas numa fazenda colonial na Era vitoriana. Isolamento,segregação, outros tantas separações e carências que são limitantes para oo florescer de uma pessoa, porém considerado normal para mulheres. A escritora viveu em Londres como governata por um período e acredito que tenho lido obras como Tess de Hardy e A inquilina de Wildfell Hall,de Anne Bronte, do qual se pode fazer paralelos ,o fato de ser uma novela que não foi concluída, aumenta o dissabor.
Aqui ela mostra todas as incoerência nas dinâmicas de gênero do modelo vitoriano de educação,família,casamento e identidade individual, sobretudo a sobrecarga na saúde mental das suas protagonistas e perpetuado mundo afora até hoje. Triste.
A 9bra é póstuma de uma escritora dita feminista na literatura sul- africana, que retrata a vida de duas irmãs nascidas e criadas numa fazenda colonial na Era vitoriana. Isolamento,segregação, outros tantas separações e carências que são limitantes para oo florescer de uma pessoa, porém considerado normal para mulheres. A escritora viveu em Londres como governata por um período e acredito que tenho lido obras como Tess de Hardy e A inquilina de Wildfell Hall,de Anne Bronte, do qual se pode fazer paralelos ,o fato de ser uma novela que não foi concluída, aumenta o dissabor.
Aqui ela mostra todas as incoerência nas dinâmicas de gênero do modelo vitoriano de educação,família,casamento e identidade individual, sobretudo a sobrecarga na saúde mental das suas protagonistas e perpetuado mundo afora até hoje. Triste.
October 23, 2025
Me ha recordado un poco a sentido y sensibilidad, con las dos hermanas con caracteres diferentes y que la autora utiliza para mostrar diferentes realidades de la época.
La forma de escribir de Schreiner es particular, y también lenta, pero no es un libro difícil de leer y cuenta con muchos aspectos a analizar durante toda la historia, que van desde el machismo, pasando por el clasismo, hasta el racismo. Con este libro, la autora abre debates que aún hoy siguen vigentes.
La forma de escribir de Schreiner es particular, y también lenta, pero no es un libro difícil de leer y cuenta con muchos aspectos a analizar durante toda la historia, que van desde el machismo, pasando por el clasismo, hasta el racismo. Con este libro, la autora abre debates que aún hoy siguen vigentes.
did-not-finish
September 29, 2020I wanted to like it but couldn’t get into it. Life is too short so I am moving on to another book.
November 22, 2023
Crime against humanity that this was never finished
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews