South Africa: Volume I

by Anthony Trollope

Always a keen traveler, Anthony Trollope toured South Africa in 1877 and provides a fascinating account of his travels around a still untamed land at a time when British rule was being challenged by the native peoples. Trollope relates an insightful history of the first Dutch and then British colonial rule imposed over the native peoples, as well as vivid descriptions of the people, the architecture, the landscape and the sights and sounds of late 19th-century South Africa. It is in his dealings with the natives that Trollope is at his most fascinating and unusually perceptive. His own views reflect the common opinion of the day that colonial rule could only improve their lives, but at the same time gives an insight into the negative effects of colonialism on the natives and the grievances it created. South Africa is an unrivalled account of the land and all its people by a master writer, and is a fascinating description of a small but vital part of the British Empire during its prime.

Genres: Travel, Classics

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1878

About the author

Anthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.

Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...

Reviews

[Kaoru · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if reading an 1870s travelogue about a country you don't know much about is the most sensible thing to do, but at least I'm learning how it (supposedly) was at the time. However, as much as a smooth read a Trollope fiction can be, his non-fiction can be rather dry. This is the first time where I feel that a book of his is a bit of a slog. However, the occasional episode is interesting to read, and his snarky asides liven the text up, so it's not entirely an endurance test.

Nevertheless, nothing can prepare you for the emotional whiplash when he (being a very progressive person for his time) calls out the racist attitudes of the colonizers and then, on the next page, he himself spits out the most racist remarks you can imagine. In those moments you get the reminder that you're still reading a text written by someone who lived at the height of the British Empire.

Keeping in line with the original publication, this facsimile reprint by the Trollope Society came in two volumes. I'm not sure whether I really have to read the second volume except for fulfilling a completionist desire (and because it had cost me 60€ as a whole), but I need a break either way.