Daardie Lewe: Karel Schoeman

Karel Schoeman is one of South Africa’s most important writers, known for the quality and scope of his work across genres. In Daardie lewe, Ria Winters draws on new archival, newspaper, and correspondence sources to illuminate his life and work. She examines his autobiographical writing and books, filling in the years after Die laate Afrikaanse boek. The biography situates his life within South African history and includes photographs, endnotes, and a bibliography.

The Dutch historian Ria Winters is affiliated with the University of Amsterdam and lives in Amersfoort. Her interest in Schoeman’s work, as well as the Afrikaans language and literature, began through her correspondence with him from April 2014 to 1 May 2017. Daardie lewe is Winters’s second book on Schoeman. The first was Reise met Schoeman: In die voetspore van die skrywer (Protea Boekhuis, 2020).