Olive Schreiner

Olive Schreiner (born March 24, 1855, Wittebergen, Cape Colony [now in South Africa]—died Dec. 11, 1920, Cape Town, S.Af.) was a writer who produced the first great South African novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883). She had a powerful intellect, militantly feminist and liberal views on politics and society, and great vitality that was somewhat impaired by asthma and severe depressions. Her brother William Philip Schreiner was prime minister of Cape Colony from 1899 to 1902.

Although Schreiner had no formal education, she read widely and was taught by her formidable mother. From early childhood she had an active fantasy life. From 1874 until 1881 (when she went to England, hoping to study medicine) she earned her living as a governess; during this time she wrote two semiautobiographical novels, Undine (published 1928) and The Story of an African Farm (1883), and began From Man to Man (1926), at which she worked intermittently for 40 years but never finished.

The Story of an African Farm was an immediate success in Europe and North America, bringing its author, though published pseudonymously, many distinguished admirers. It tells the story of a girl on an isolated farm in the veld who struggles for her independence in the face of rigid Boer social conventions. The book’s originality, assured handling of narrative and description, exotic background, and vigorous expression of feminist, anti-Christian views on religion and marriage gave it both notoriety and wide appeal.

Notable among Schreiner’s other works are an attack on the activities of Cecil Rhodes and his associates, Trooper Peter Halkett of Mashonaland (1897), and a widely acclaimed “bible” of the Women’s Movement, Woman and Labour (1911).