News From Parched Mountain

About the Book

In these stories, which make an important contribution to the literary heritage of South Africa, we have a kind of marriage between P G du Plessis and Herman Charles Bosman. The style is eloquent, the picaresque characters unique and typical at the same time. The writer manages, within the limited space of a short story, to print a picture of his characters' physical attributes as well as their personality traits. There are a number of stories that tell why certain people are the way they are. The content and the style of writing give the stories a delightful South African flavour in the evocative use of appropriate figurative language and symbolism. There is a good balance between narration and dialogue. Settings, where necessary, are vividly described, especially the arid landscape, the farms and the vegetation. The stories are all the more interesting and topical for their pithy comment on the ills of modern society and the allusions to problems in the New South Africa. They make compelling reading, for the outcome of each is invariably unexpected.

The author has written a quartette of stories, the other three titles of the quartette being Pivot of Violence: Tales of 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. In 1971 he went to Greece for three years. He and his family lived on the island of Levkas for six months, the Gulf of Corinth for a similar period, and in Corfu for a little over two years. 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. Thereafter he lived in Southern Africa and worked in universities in Zimbabwe, Lebowa and Venda. He was Professor of English at the University of the North, the University of Venda, as well as Dean of the Faculty of Arts in the later 80's. He retired early to write full-time. Recently he has returned to England to settle in Dorset.