Roy Holland

News from Parched Mountain: Tales from the Karoo in the New South Africa Roy Holland

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.