Stuart Cloete

(1)

Maes-Jelinek, Hena: Stuart Cloete. In Vinson, James (ed.).

Contemporary

Novelists. London: St. James Press, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972,

pp.

276-279.

CLOETE. (Edwurd Fairly) St1llll1 (Gralmm). South African (bom British), Born in Paris, 23 July 1897_ Educated at Bilton Grange, Rugby: Lancing Co!lcgc, Su>scx. Married

Florence Eileen Horsman in 1918 {d1vnrccd, I 94()): Mi!dred Elizabeth !Tiny) Ellison, 1941.

Servtld in the Kmg's Ov.-n Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1914-17, and in the Coldstream Guards, 1917 until h1s retiremem b~cauoc of wounds, !925. Fanner and Rancher in South Arrica, 1926-37,

1949

5J. Trustee, South Afncan FotmdHtion. Recipient: National Institute of /\rts and Letters Fellr)wship, 1957. Address: Box 164. Hermanus, South Afric-J.

PusucABONS

'\lovcls

276

The Tunu'n? Wheels. London, Collms, and Boston, Hougbton Miffiin, 1937-Wmch for the Dawn. London. Co!!ins, and Boston, Hough ton Miffiin, ]9)9. The Hill of Doves. Boston, Hough ton Miffim,

194!;

London, Collins, 1942. Christmas in Matabeleland. New York, Doublcday, 1942.

Cong(1 Song. London, Co!Jins, and Boston, lloughton Mifllin, 1943.

The Curve and the Tu.1k. A Novel of Changl! amonx Elephants and Men. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1952; London, Collin~. 1953_

Mamba. Boston. lloughton \1iffiin. 1956; London, Collins, 1957. The Mask. Boston, Houghton M11Hin, 1957; London, Collins, 1958. Ga:ella. London, Col!ins,and Boston, lloughton Miftlm, 1958.

The Fiercest Hear!. Boston, Houghton Mifllin, 1960; London, Co!hns. I%!. RarfsO/Giorv. London, Co!lins. and New York, Doublcday, 1963.

The Thausand and One Nights of Jean Macaque. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1965.

The Abduerors. New York, Simon and &huster. 1966: London, Collin~. 1970. How You11g They Dted. London, Col!ins. 1969.

Short Stories

The So/diu.•' Pmcht!~ and Orher Ajham Swries. London, Collins, and Boston, Houghton M1ftlin, 1959.

Thl' .S'ilver Trumpet and Other Ajm"an Storir.!. London, Col! ins, 1961. The Looking Glass and 0£her A(rkan Stories. London, Collins,

1963.

The Jfoney Bird and 01fler Afru:an Swm:.>. London, Collins.

1964.

(2)

CONTEIAPOIURY NOVELIS'r$

Tile Writ in!! on the Wall and Other African Swries. London. Coli ins. 1967. Thre1• White Smln.f tmd Othrr Stories. London, Collins. 1971.

Uncollected Short Story

"My F1iend Wflliam", in Tonkees A dam (Durban), 1970.

Verse

Th< Ytwng Men and tlti! 0/J. Boston. Houghton M

itllin

.

1

94

1.

Other

Y

esterday

I~

Dead

(sociology}. New York, Smith ~nd DurreJI, 1940.

CLOIITE

Again.!/ Theu Title<': A Biogmphy of J>oul Kr~~gn. Cedl Rhodes. cmd Lob~•la. Lo~r

Killg of the Mawbele. Boston, Houghton

M

iffl

i

n

.

1945;

as

African PortrafiS: A Dfagroph_~ of Paul Krur;er. Cecil Rhctks, and Lobengula, LetS/ King ofth<' Mowlx!le, London, Collins,

1

946 .

The Third Wuy (socioiO!,'Y), Boston, Houghton Milllin. 1947.

The A/rltvn Giom · The Smry of a Journt)'· Boston. HoughLOn Milflin, 1955; London, Collins.

19

56.

Storm e~•~r l{fric<1: A Stu.t(y of tire l>fou Muu Rebellion, h< Cttu!;•s. £ff«IS. and l mpllro-tioltl in Africa South of tiUi Salmro. Cape Town, Culemborg, 1956.

We.<t with the Sun. London, Collins. and N~-w York., Doublcday. 1

962 .

South A.fricu: TlwLond, Jt.< l'eopleand Acllle>'t!ment.r. Johannesburg, Da Gama,

1969

.

A Vi~tnr/au Son (autobiography). London. Collins,

1

9

7

1 ,

Manuscrip1 Collection: Boston University Library.

Swan

C

l

oe

1 e

comments:

Most of my work deals

Wlth

Africa south of the Sahara. The non-fiction

is

reporting and commemary.

In fiction my aim

ha

s

been 10 entertain sinoe I sec the novelist ns pnmarily a story teller in the old traditio11, the tradjtion of the campfire and the spinner of yams. My only novel with

a theme was

Th

e

Abductors- an effort to arouse people to the fact U1at a world-wide traffic

m

women

con6nue~ to exist.

In

a

world

tom a

pan

by

ha

tred

and

dissension,

i

t

see

ms to

me tbat

a

novel

should provide

an

escape

from tht present and

uan

spon

the reader into other situations. where he ca.n. fora while at least.lo:;e himself and forga hiS worries.

I am not porticularly intellectual or literary. HaVIng left school at 17 and gone $1raight into the anny and war, such education as J have has been through my association with men. women and events, being like every other man a product

o

r

what I

have

seen and

l

iv

ed

through. A writer only differs from

other

people in hi•

sc

11siti

v

i

ty

10 such

ex

per

_

ie

r

>ee

s.

These sensations fi ltcnod through the mind become stories over which the author often enough has wry little real control. Minor ehuracters take major and unforeseen parts. as occurred with

Elsie in Rllg

.r

of Glory.

Though I am a writer, l should have preferred to be a painter. particularly of horses, women. and flowers. That is to soy.

or

beaut

y.

Again, as in my writing, an escape

rrorn

the sordid and

u

gly

into

wh

a

t mnn

y

w

o

u

l

d

call i he

sen

t

i

men

tal

and banal.

My

joys have come

277

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CLOBTB CONTEMPORARY !<OVBLISTS

from women and animals- horses, dogs, and cats. in particular-and this shows in my work. I was brought up to be)jeve in heroes, to believe in love, in beauty- all very old-fashioned today. I like stories with

a

beginning,

a

middle and an end. I believe with Freud that sex. or

sublimated sex. is the driving force of Jjfe. I

Jin.d

it

difficult to believe in any established religion or dogma, or in the existence of a benevolent God, but remain aware of a power that transcends man's comprehension.

In

much of what

I

have written about Africa in T~ A/ri<'<m Gwm and about world co n-ditions in Yesterday Is D~ad and The Third Way. I have unfortunately been proved right on

most counts, though the events I foretold came •no re swirtly than I expected.

Finally, as a man I am very happy, but as

.

a

human being I am in despair, as I see no answer to overpopulation or pollution. These views

are.

I think,

a

ll

apparent in my work .

•

Stuart Cloete is

a

prolific novelist

and

an indefatigable story-teller,

M

ost

of his novels take place in Africa, which he knows extremely well and to which he

is

deeply attached. At various stages

i

n

his

caree

r

he wrote historical novels about the Boers of South Africa.

Together these novels form a vast cric retracing the country's history from 18!5to the end of

the

Boer

War,

chronicled in his most :~mt>itious work Rags of Glory. They explain to some extent the complex tensions in contemporary South Africa. Thougb not blind to their short· comings. CJ.oetc is very sympathetic to the Boers. their fierce individualism aod courage. Stimulated by their fanatical love of independence to withdraw from hardly conquered land

or to fight the English, who

harassed

from the S.outh, meeting with the resistance of Africans

who were pressing down from the North, they suffered such hardships individually from one generation to another tbat hatred

was

inevitable. Though Africans

are

seldom present in his novels

as

individuals, Cloete's view of history is, on the whole. unprejudiced. He presents the

wars

fought by

the

Boers

as in

eluctab~ clashes of cultures with the Africans on the ooo hand and the English

on

the other, in many ways similar to the wars fought by the American pioneers.

Most of Cloete's novels are built on a similar pattern. and the psychology of his characters is fairly simple. The males are led by two ruling motives: love in its different guises and the need to assen their virility through courage or violence; the females are exclusively concerned with the fulfilment of their womanhood. For this reason the charnclers in the South African novels lend to be stereotyped, all the more so as their virtues and vices are shown to be

largely hereditary. Yet tbey are also memorable because they are llesh and blood people

living through extraordinary adventures. Good and evil are seen as relative notions; not

justice but blind chance rules the world, and the best human bcin~ can do is to fulfil

them-selves according to their nature. In this respect, men are not so different from animals as they are witJing to acknowledge, while the latter often pro,·e more capable of J!-'")IChological

subtlety than is generally assumed. A masterly illustration of this view is to

be

found in

TM Cur11e ond the Tusk. a novel about elephant hunting in Mozambique.

A prominent documental)' trend ~uppom Cloi'W's vi$iQn of life as an endless cycle of

reproduction and destruetion in which man's p.articipation

is

only relative. All life, whether human, animaL vegetable or mineral, is interdependent; everything is part of everything else, and all things merge imperceptibly into each otber. Though Cloete shows tbat civilization cannot be halted. bis African novels suggest that, except in cities, the white man basso far made no real impact south of the Sahara. He has destroyed much and attempted to leave

his

stamp on the African continent, but most of it remains untamed and

is

perhaps un

-tarnable. Cloete's descriptions of the multifaced and mysterious "African giant'' are among the best parts of bis fiction.

Only a

few

of Stuart Cloete's novels are purely imaginary. Among his latest works Holl'

Young

They Died is a story of initiation into warfare and lo\le in the First World War, while