The abductors - Softcover

Stuart Cloete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006147690 ISBN 13: 9780006147695

Publisher: Fontana, 1977

Synopsis

Edward Fairly Stuart Graham Cloete (23 July 1897 - 19 March 1976) was a South African novelist, essayist, biographer and short story writer. He published his first novel, Turning Wheels, in 1937: it became a best-seller, selling more than two million copies. Importation of the book was subsequently banned in South Africa, owing to its commentary on the Great Trek, the event in which the book is set. Many of his 14 novels and most of his short stories are historically based fictional adventures, set against the backdrop of major African, and, in particular, South African historical events. Apart from Turning Wheels, another prominent novel, 1963's Rags of Glory, is set during the Boer war (with, according to its foreword, much of the historical information based on Rayne Kruger's Goodbye Dolly Gray.) Two of his novels were turned into movies: The Fiercest Heart (1961) is based on his 1955 novel of the same name, and Majuba, released in 1968, is based on his 1941 novel The Hill of the Doves. Film producer Albert R. Broccoli attempted to film Rags of Glory in the mid-1960s with David Lean directing, but Lean subsequently - despite his initial interest in the book which he called "very good in an awful sort of way" and its subject matter - rebuffed the offer.[2] By 1974 Broccoli still intended to film the book.[3] His short stories are also much-acclaimed. He published at least eight volumes in his lifetime. In addition to producing South-African related works, Cloete was among the pioneers of the by-now voluminous literary sub-genre depicting the aftermath of nuclear war. His 1947 novelette The Blast is written as the diary of a survivor living in the ruins of New York (published in 6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction, ed. Groff Conklin, 1954).

About this edition

• Publisher: Fontana
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0006147690
• ISBN 13: 9780006147695
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 479