"How OS makes bread, the yeast, the sheep tail fat" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/376 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 23 November 1889 |
| Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 170-1; Rive 1987: 162 |
| 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.
2Cape Town, 23rd Nov.
3
4Thank you for the book; it looks interesting, but, as far as I've
5glanced at it, mine I would have been much more profound and original
6and well composed and beautiful. Mine is a work of art! - but it'll
7never be finished now I'm so tired. ... I would like to talk with you,
8even about intellectual things. I have not talked about anything that
9was in any way impersonal since I left England. The people in Africa
10are three hundred years behind the times. I have not seen one man or
11woman (except Will of course) that was within a few hundred miles of
12oneself, except an hotel keeper in Ceres. I got very ill at Ceres and
13have come back here. I have been better since I came back to town. My
14continual illness is a little disheartening; I have not drawn one easy
15breath since I left. My little sister-in-law is very kind to me.
16
2Cape Town, 23rd Nov.
3
4Thank you for the book; it looks interesting, but, as far as I've
5glanced at it, mine I would have been much more profound and original
6and well composed and beautiful. Mine is a work of art! - but it'll
7never be finished now I'm so tired. ... I would like to talk with you,
8even about intellectual things. I have not talked about anything that
9was in any way impersonal since I left England. The people in Africa
10are three hundred years behind the times. I have not seen one man or
11woman (except Will of course) that was within a few hundred miles of
12oneself, except an hotel keeper in Ceres. I got very ill at Ceres and
13have come back here. I have been better since I came back to town. My
14continual illness is a little disheartening; I have not drawn one easy
15breath since I left. My little sister-in-law is very kind to me.
16
Notation
The planned book that was described in fun as ‘a work of art’ is perhaps From Man to Man.
The planned book that was described in fun as ‘a work of art’ is perhaps From Man to Man.