Pivot of Violence

About the Book

In these stories, which make an important contribution to the literary heritage of South Africa, the author brings together the atmosphere of violence and change that broods over the harsh world of the old Apartheid South Africa and which still threatens the stability of the New South Africa. Perspectives of both white and black are explored — perspectives of the victims rather than the oppressors where the victims are from both sides of the cultural divide. But the harsh realities are ameliorated by a vein of sympathetic insight, sometimes by a gentle comedy such as that which portrays a pipe-smoking priest, or by a tongue-in-cheek satire as is found in the tale of a well-to-do white woman who is methodically and meticulously covered by her lover’s semen.

The author has written a quartette of stories, the other three titles of the quartette being News from Parched Mountain: Tales from the Karoo in the new South Africa, Flakes of Dark and Light: Tales From Southern Africa and Elsewhere; and Just a Bit Touched: Tales of Perspective. All make a very vivid and lasting impression.

About the Author

Roy Holland was born in Birmingham. He went to Africa in 1966 to teach in the universities of the Boleswa countries. He wrote full-time until 1974, when he returned to the U.K. and worked on a research project until returning to Africa in 1977. He retired early to write full-time. Recently he has returned to England to settle in Dorset.