"Writing process, 'Prelude', 'Peter Halket', you can't alter the pictures as they come to you" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/375 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 18 November 1889 |
| Address From | Ceres, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 170 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
When Cronwright-Schreiner prepared The Letters of Olive Schreiner, with few exceptions he then destroyed her originals. However, some people gave him copies and kept the originals or demanded the return of these; and when actual Schreiner letters can be compared with his versions, his have omissions, distortions and bowdlerisations. Where Schreiner originals have survived, these will be found in the relevant collections across the OSLO website. There is however a residue of some 587 items in The Letters for which no originals are extant. They are included here for sake of completeness. However, their relationship to Schreiners actual letters cannot now be gauged, and so they should be read with caution for the reasons given.
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1To Havelock Ellis.
2Ceres, 18th Nov.
3
4It is a beautifully hot day, such heat as is not known in England, hot
5and light. I shall be glad of the sex book and any books. Please write
6at once to Pall Mall office and ask them to send my paper to Mount
7Vernon, Cape Town. I have not seen an English paper, nor heard
8anything of the world, since I left. People in this country are very
9much impressed by An African Farm. Even the man who keeps this little
10place has it on his table and gives me the best room in the house and
11strawberries on its account! It is a bit sad to think it would have
12pleased the little solitary girl who lived in Africa long ago-and now
13what desires I have run in such far other directions! I want one woman
14to be converted. Do you think she ever will? It is the sky that is the
15glory of this country; it is better than I had thought.
16
2Ceres, 18th Nov.
3
4It is a beautifully hot day, such heat as is not known in England, hot
5and light. I shall be glad of the sex book and any books. Please write
6at once to Pall Mall office and ask them to send my paper to Mount
7Vernon, Cape Town. I have not seen an English paper, nor heard
8anything of the world, since I left. People in this country are very
9much impressed by An African Farm. Even the man who keeps this little
10place has it on his table and gives me the best room in the house and
11strawberries on its account! It is a bit sad to think it would have
12pleased the little solitary girl who lived in Africa long ago-and now
13what desires I have run in such far other directions! I want one woman
14to be converted. Do you think she ever will? It is the sky that is the
15glory of this country; it is better than I had thought.
16