For paid download of the full text, visit the South African Historical Journal website and register.
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| Image copyright SI Brodrick. Journal text copyright SI Brodrick and SAHJ Click on image to enlarge |
13 January 2012
Article In The South African Historical Journal, December 2011
My latest article (published under the name SI Blackbeard) in the South African Historical Journal, is the culmination of research in various places in the Eastern Cape, and interviews of amaPondo and amaXhosa people conducted mostly between 2009 and 2011, with some research dating back to earlier periods.
For paid download of the full text, visit the South African Historical Journal website and register.
For paid download of the full text, visit the South African Historical Journal website and register.
08 November 2010
The Door
My latest novel The Door, with full review by Geoffrey Haresnape below.
Set mostly on the Queenstown/ Grahamstown axis, but also incorporating Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa, The Door is a cleverly written novel dealing with the life and loves of Bing, a young man from a blue-collar family. Bing’s relationship with the drama student, Helen, who comes from an up-market background, is explored. The ways in which the tensions between the two – and their eventual separation - affect Minnie, the daughter and only child from their marriage, is convincingly realized.
Apart from his professional interests as a teacher of English, Bing has a life-long enthusiasm for rock-climbing, a source of bonding with his boyhood friend, Spider. The technical jargon of the hobby is much utilized. Minnie’s eventual ambition to become a cragswoman is an index of her identification with the father [rather than with the mother] figure. The slow degrees by which a second woman, Amanda, enters Bing’s life are outlined.
Although written in the present tense, The Door effectively opens on a vista into the past, showing the reader how even liberal whites were contained in a net of ideological and legal restrictions, making it difficult for them to reach out to fellow black South Africans. To realize the manner in which icons of the present day such as Steve Biko and Nelson Mandela were viewed in the 1970s through white eyes is a mind-bending exercise.
The novel is pleasingly divided into many sections, some of these bearing witty sub-titles. A variety of literary allusions, ranging from Dante to Dhlomo is invoked by these sub-titles. These allusions do not seem forced in the context of Bing and Helen as cultural custodians. The novel’s principal title derives from a passage in Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country in which opening a door creates a consequent need for exploration and advance. S I Brodrick has a fine command of English and a true novelist’s eye for significant detail.
Geoffrey Haresnape July 2010
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| Image copyright SI Brodrick Click on image to enlarge |
Review by Geoffrey Haresnape of SI Brodrick's novel, The Door
Set mostly on the Queenstown/ Grahamstown axis, but also incorporating Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa, The Door is a cleverly written novel dealing with the life and loves of Bing, a young man from a blue-collar family. Bing’s relationship with the drama student, Helen, who comes from an up-market background, is explored. The ways in which the tensions between the two – and their eventual separation - affect Minnie, the daughter and only child from their marriage, is convincingly realized.
Apart from his professional interests as a teacher of English, Bing has a life-long enthusiasm for rock-climbing, a source of bonding with his boyhood friend, Spider. The technical jargon of the hobby is much utilized. Minnie’s eventual ambition to become a cragswoman is an index of her identification with the father [rather than with the mother] figure. The slow degrees by which a second woman, Amanda, enters Bing’s life are outlined.
Although written in the present tense, The Door effectively opens on a vista into the past, showing the reader how even liberal whites were contained in a net of ideological and legal restrictions, making it difficult for them to reach out to fellow black South Africans. To realize the manner in which icons of the present day such as Steve Biko and Nelson Mandela were viewed in the 1970s through white eyes is a mind-bending exercise.
The novel is pleasingly divided into many sections, some of these bearing witty sub-titles. A variety of literary allusions, ranging from Dante to Dhlomo is invoked by these sub-titles. These allusions do not seem forced in the context of Bing and Helen as cultural custodians. The novel’s principal title derives from a passage in Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country in which opening a door creates a consequent need for exploration and advance. S I Brodrick has a fine command of English and a true novelist’s eye for significant detail.
Geoffrey Haresnape July 2010
Article in SA Military Journal
This paper examines a contentious incident in the 9th Frontier War, involving Capt (later Sir) EY Brabant from the East London area, who was then leader of a combined unit under Lieut-Gen FA Thesiger in the operations against the Ngqika near Keiskamahoek in 1878. See the article in the SAMJ 14:6 Dec 2009: 222-229.
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| Images and text copyright SAMJ and SI Brodrick respectively Click on image to enlarge |
29 July 2010
‘Unwanted’ – a novel based on historical events
‘Unwanted’ is written in an unusual genre. It is a series of microhistories woven into a narrative covering three generations of German settlers to the Eastern Cape; their lives, loves, interaction with the Mfengu and the Ninth Frontier War, with an over-arching contemporary story set on the Wild Coast of South Africa, Komgha, the Pirie Forest, Keiskamahoek, and Cape Town. Besides the story, the book (which is over 500 pages) comprises maps, a detailed timeline, endnotes and photos.
Select praise from readers:
‘I really must congratulate you not only on its [Unwanted’s] historical accuracy but on its success in recreating the atmosphere of that time and place.’
Prof. Jeff Peires, E Cape historian
‘Meticulous research . . . a real scholarly labour . . . an excellent accomplishment.’
Dr E Bigalke, UK, former curator,
East London Museum
‘Your book is from their [the settlers’] angle, not just something you got from other books. You have genius: you get right into their hearts – a rare thing. History everybody can write, but you creep into the minds of the settlers and write what they say and think, and you do it in such a realistic and believable way, expressing their hopes and suffering.’
Dr Fritz Haus, ex-Lindenbrück,
Poland
‘I am convinced that Unwanted is the most exciting addition to the lexicon of Eastern Cape Africana. It makes history come grippingly alive.’
Dr Andrew Howe, East London
‘A novel about old and new frontiers. Like Scott-Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, Brodrick focuses on the struggle of human beings to transcend and recreate their pasts. Isabel has a romantic readiness to embrace life, but the current tries to pull her and Rude back as they try to row towards the green light, believing, not only in their personal relationship, but in the future of their country.’
Arthur Thiele, Cape Town
‘You captured the Border idiom very well. When reading the book I could hear it again . . .’
Monica Sauer, daughter of former
Keiskamahoek headmaster
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| Image copyright SI Brodrick Click on image to enlarge |
Select praise from readers:
‘I really must congratulate you not only on its [Unwanted’s] historical accuracy but on its success in recreating the atmosphere of that time and place.’
Prof. Jeff Peires, E Cape historian
‘Meticulous research . . . a real scholarly labour . . . an excellent accomplishment.’
Dr E Bigalke, UK, former curator,
East London Museum
‘Your book is from their [the settlers’] angle, not just something you got from other books. You have genius: you get right into their hearts – a rare thing. History everybody can write, but you creep into the minds of the settlers and write what they say and think, and you do it in such a realistic and believable way, expressing their hopes and suffering.’
Dr Fritz Haus, ex-Lindenbrück,
Poland
‘I am convinced that Unwanted is the most exciting addition to the lexicon of Eastern Cape Africana. It makes history come grippingly alive.’
Dr Andrew Howe, East London
‘A novel about old and new frontiers. Like Scott-Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, Brodrick focuses on the struggle of human beings to transcend and recreate their pasts. Isabel has a romantic readiness to embrace life, but the current tries to pull her and Rude back as they try to row towards the green light, believing, not only in their personal relationship, but in the future of their country.’
Arthur Thiele, Cape Town
‘You captured the Border idiom very well. When reading the book I could hear it again . . .’
Monica Sauer, daughter of former
Keiskamahoek headmaster
28 July 2010
Rock-climbing trilogy
My rock-climbing trilogy for teens comprises the following: 'Rockface', 'Gap' and 'Runout'. They follow the lives of four or five teens who climb in various parts of South Africa and abroad. They also deal with the day-to-day lives and issues of teens in Grades 11 and 12.
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| Image copyright Oxford University Press Southern Africa Click on image to enlarge |
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| Image copyright Oxford University Press Southern Africa Click on image to enlarge |
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| Image copyright Oxford University Press Southern Africa Click on image to enlarge |
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