Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Michaels, maryland in may 1978, i came up with the idea of showing the effects of apartheid on the lives of south african citizens with six vignettes from birth to death. Michener, the pulitzer prizewinning master of the historical saga, returns to his beloved spain with this magical novel of seville at easter time, a season of splendid pageantry, thrilling bullfights, deep pietyand the possibility of m. Michener s novel of south africa s beginnings contains, to the letter, the exact reasons why i chose to leave the country of my birth. Micheners numerous bestselling novels also included the source, centennial, texas, hawaii, and chesapeake. The destruction of both the english and afrikaans languages, by joining the two to form an awful cape slang, was the most disgraceful. James albert michener was an american writer, educationist, and philanthropist. Michener 19071997 was an american author of historical fiction and nonfiction. The bestselling book was adapted into the popular musical and film, south pacific. Id read many of his other books, but even then his story of south africa had stood out as particularly gripping. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents. Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that james a.
The authors visit to south africa with commentary on the country and its influences on his book. It tells the story of that land from the early settlements by the dutch, through the expansion of it by english. Michener, a fine first edition first printing in the dust jacket. In 1948, michener divorced koon and married vange nord. From the javaborn van doorn family tree springs two great branches. Michener michener in 1991 born 19070203 february 3, 1907 doylestown, bucks county, pennsylvania, u.
Michener s masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. Michener, the pulitzer prizewinning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. An analysis of micheners novel on the history of south africa, the covenant, can help answer this question. Shore duty on the solomon islands in the pacific gave him the background for tales of the south pacific 1947, his first book, which won him a pulitzer prize but only modest sales until richard. A wealth of fascinating materialand michener does his best to balance boer.
Albert michener, born around 1907, won the pulitzer prize for his first fiction, tales of the south pacific. During our core plotting sessions at michener s house in st. Like most of michener s books, however, the covenant gives us some insight into the people and places that make up south africa. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name.
Michener understood that and defended the sort of abrup tfiz zle of some of his endings that way. Michener in his notes on the manuscript of the covenant, jim has this to say about our sessions together. Best known for his novels, he wrote epic and detailed works classified as fictional documentaries. Africa has banned the book, the nonwhite side of things never becomes humanly specific. His experiences there provided the basis for his first novel, tales of the south pacific 1947, which won the pulitzer for fiction in 1948 and was adapted by rodgers and hammerstein for the stage, under the title south pacific. The covenant is another michener tale that, like history, goes on and on and on. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 1240 pages and is available in paperback format. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers. The research done for this fictional novel was truly amazing. Michener s masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents, who carve an empire out of. James michener, american novelist and shortstory writer who, perhaps more than any other single author, made foreign environments accessible to americans through fiction. Michener had numerous bestsellers and works selected for book of the month. All i can say is, more than any book on this list, i fell in love with south africa and south africans, from afrikaaner to zulu and all the alphabet inbetween.
We even saw rock paintings on a friends farm in namibia and we felt. Errol lincoln uys, an author and the former editorinchief of readers digest south africa, has an excellent online remembrance of his stint as michener s chief researcher on the covenant. Michener my lost mexico 1stdj first edition stated 1st printing my lost mexico. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were lengthy, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. James was born on february 3, 1907 in new york, united states. If you are going to south africa and are a reader, i cannot recommend this book enough. Notes on apartheid in james michener s novel, the covenant. Free download or read online the covenant pdf epub book.
February 3, 1907 october 16, 1997 was an american author. And one somehow ends this huge volume with little feel for historical continuity or for the physical setting a surprising lapse from michener. Legacya novel by michener, james a copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. But, despite a chapter devoted to apartheid horrors so. Michener, as he is popularly known as, is a well known novelist, philanthropist and story writer from pennsylvania, united states. He is wellknown for the amount of research that went into his work in addition to the length of his novels 900 pages was a short novel for him. Michener s masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents, who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. Im rooting for them in the world, and its michener s doing. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Michener died in 1997 of kidney failure at the age of 90. Many many years ago, when i still had the stamina to read books of a thousand and more pages, and way before id ever shed any thought to living in south africa one day, i read the covenant by james a. Michener became a published author in 1948 with the short story collection tales of the south pacific.
The first edition of the novel was published in january 1st 1980, and was written by james a. His first novel was the fires of spring, which was published in 1949. The best and worst of two continents carve an empire out of the vast wilderness that is to become south africa. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of. Most of his works were translated into several languages worldwide. Iberia is michener s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. The king of the bestsellers talks about friends and enemies, getting older, television and of course texas, his new novel of the lone star state. The covenant is a historical novel by american author james a. Michener s numerous bestselling novels also included the source, centennial, texas, hawaii, and chesapeake.
Id arrived with a carload of books from my library that offered a broad, popular and objective background to historical and contemporary south african figures and issues, as well as a ready reference for the many topics we would cover. Reconsidering the astonishing literary legacy of james. The novel is set in south africa, home to five distinct populations. Is this 900page south africa saga much more spotty and illshaped than. A prodigious author of prodigiously long novels hawaii, centennial, the source michener s covenant is yet another blockbuster a near 900page novel on south africa. The covenant all study of south africa leads any outsider with sensibility to be appalled by the horrific institution of apartheid, which in. It tells the story of that land from the early settlements by the dutch, through the expansion of it by english immigrants and others, to the south africa of the apartheid age, shortly before it was eliminated. Michener s books in order of when they were first released. He is most famous for writing the multigeneration historical and fictional stories. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best. Michener was one of the worlds most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the pulitzer prizewinning tales of the south pacific, the bestselling novels the source, hawaii, alaska, chesapeake, centennial, texas, caribbean, and caravans, and the memoir the world is my home.
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