Schreiner, Olive
Entry updated 30 December 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1855-1920) South African social theorist and author who remains best known for her first novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883) as by Ralph Iron, which casts a clear unfavourable light on the role of Religion in cementing Imperialist claims to ethical superiority over conquered civilizations. Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland (1897), with its reportedly censured frontispiece showing a lynched black man, is even more explicit about the ultimate failure of imperialism. Much of her later work, variously assembled and presented, was vigorously Feminist, and advocated sexual freedom for women.
None of Schreiner's work can be thought of as sf traditionally conceived, though the visions assembled in Three Dreams in a Desert (1887 Fortnightly Review; 1888 chap), Dreams (coll 1891), which includes the previous title, and Stories, Dreams and Allegories (coll 1923) clearly traverse inscapes of Fantastika. Three Dreams contains an allegorized vision of a Utopian future fit for women; other stories, like "In a Far-Off World" in Dreams, convey her allegorical visions to other planets. [JC]
Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner
born Wittebergen, Cape Colony, British Empire: 24 March 1855
died Cape Town, South Africa: 10 December 1920
works (selected)
- The Story of an African Farm (London: Chapman and Hall, 1883) as by Ralph Iron [published in two volumes: hb/uncredited]
- Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland (London: T Fisher Unwin, 1897) [hb/]
collections and stories
- Three Dreams in a Desert (Boston, Massachusetts: Sarah E Holmes, 1888) [story: chap: first appeared 1887 Fortnightly Review: pb/]
- Dreams (London: T Fisher Unwin, dated 1891 but 1890) [coll: hb/]
- Stories, Dreams and Allegories (London: T Fisher Unwin, 1923) [coll: hb/]
links
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