Herman Charles Bosman - Life

Life

Bosman was born at Kuils River, near Cape Town, to an Afrikaner family. He was raised with English as well as Afrikaans. While Bosman was still young, his family moved to Johannesburg where he went to school at Jeppe High School for Boys in Kensington. While there he contributed to the school magazine. When Bosman was sixteen, he started writing short stories for the national Sunday newspaper (the Sunday Times). He attended the Johannesburg College of Education (which in 2002 was incorporated into the University of the Witwatersrand) and submitted various pieces to student literary competitions.

After graduation, Bosman accepted a teaching position in the Groot Marico district in an Afrikaans-language school. The area and the people inspired him and provided the backdrop for his best-known short stories, the Oom Schalk Lourens series (featuring an older character named "Oom Schalk Lourens"), and the Voorkamer sketches.

Over the school holidays in 1926, Bosman visited his family in Johannesburg. During an argument, he shot and killed his stepbrother. Bosman was sentenced to death for the crime and was sent to Death row at the Pretoria Central Prison. But his sentence was later reduced to ten years with hard labour. In 1930 he was released on parole after serving half his sentence. His prison experiences formed the basis for his semi-autobiographical book, Cold Stone Jug.

Bosman then started his own printing-press company and was part of a literary set in Johannesburg, associating with poets, journalists, and writers, including Aegidius Jean Blignaut. Needing a break, he then toured overseas for nine years, spending most of his time in London. The short stories that he wrote during this period formed the basis for another of his best-known books, Mafeking Road.

At the start of the Second World War, he returned to South Africa and worked as a journalist. During this time he translated the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam into Afrikaans.

Bosman lamented the fact that Johannesburg neglected its heritage. In The Standard Theatre he complained that the city's residents:

"will pull down the Standard Theatre like they have pulled down all the old buildings, theatres, gin-palaces, dosshouses, temples, shops, arcades, cafes and joints that were intimately associated with the mining-camp days of Johannesburg. Because I know Johannesburg. And I am satisfied that there is no other city in the world that is so anxious to shake off the memories of its early origins."

Bosman married Ella Manson. The couple were renowned for their bohemian lifestyle and parties, which featured witty conversation and usually ended well after midnight. After a housewarming party in October 1951 Bosman experienced severe chest pains and was taken to Edenvale Hospital. On admission he was asked for his birthplace. He replied, "Born Kuilsrivier - Died Edenvale Hospital." He was discharged and collapsed at home a few hours later. Bosman died as he was being rushed to hospital. He is buried in Westpark Cemetery in Westdene under a triangular headstone that reads "Die Skrywer, The Writer, Herman Charles Bosman, b 3.2.1905, d 14.10.1951."

After his death, the rights to his works were auctioned and purchased by his last wife. Upon her death, the rights were passed to her son, who retains them.

Only three of his books were published during his lifetime: Mafeking Road published by Dassie, and Jacaranda in the Night and Cold Stone Jug published by APB.

His biography was written several times by Valerie Rosenberg. Her first effort was called Sunflower to the sun ISBN 0-7981-1228-X (Human & Rousseau, 1976), followed by Herman Charles Bosman, a Pictorial Biography ISBN 0-628-02148-8 (Perskor, 1981), and most recently by Herman Charles Bosman: Between the Lines ISBN 1-77007-163-6 (Struik, 2005). The last of these contains much new research and deals in detail with aspects of Bosman's life and parentage that were previously considered taboo.

Because many of his stories were originally published in long-forgotten magazines and journals, there are a number of anthologies by different collators each containing a different selection. His original books have also been published many times by different publishers.