Storyteller: The Many Lives of Laurens Van Der Post - Hardcover

J. D. F. Jones

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719555809 ISBN 13: 9780719555800

Publisher: John Murray, 2001

Synopsis

When he died in 1996, Laurens Van der Post had won renown in an astounding range of roles: as war hero, writer, explorer, mystic, environmentalist, Jungian, behind-the-scenes diplomat, and friend and confidant of the great - famously including both Mrs Thatcher and Prince Charles. He seemed to be one of the most remarkable men the 20th century had produced. His conversation influenced thousands, his ideas millions. But he discouraged biographers in his lifetime on the grounds that in his many books he had told his story himself.;After his death doubts soon began to spread, however, as to whether this story presented a true picture. Was his knowledge of the Kalahari Bushmen, as extensive as he led us to believe, and did the Bushman stories he so loved to tell come mainly from books? His standing as some kind of secular saint certainly suffered with the emergence of an illegitimate daughter whose mother he had seduced when she was 15. And his claim to have effectively brokered the Lancaster House agreement on Zimbabwean independence was deflated by those who had actually been there. Nor was that all.;Sir Laurens's famly authorized this biography, giving J.D.F. Jones exclusive access to the Van der Post papers and allowing him complete freedom. A completely different man from that portrayed by the media is presented. This biography looks behind the facade that Sir Laurens so skilfully created and suggests that he became to some extent a prisoner of it. The love he inspired was genuine, but the account of his life that he presented was in the end just another of his wonderful stories.

About this title

Review:

'A bold, brilliantly researched and fascinating book' -- Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph

'At every page of this huge, hilarious book, one is tempted to mutter: Whatever next?' -- Economist

'JDF Jones has performed a difficult task with masterly care and, it has to be said, with a deep and virtuous respect for the truth' -- J.W.M. Thompson, Literary Review

'Jones has succeeded brilliantly. [Storyteller] reads like a thriller and a Gothic romance in one...It is an unputdownably good read' -- A.C. Grayling, Financial Times

'Riveting ... JDF Jones does for van der Post what Michael Crick did for Jeffrey Archer' -- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Daily Mail

Book Description:

Using the private papers of Laurens Van der Post, this biography looks behind the facade that he built for himself - that of war hero, writer, explorer, mystic, environmentalist, Jungian, and behind-the-scenes diplomat - and suggests that he became to some extent a prisoner of it.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0719555809
• ISBN 13: 9780719555800
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 505