The Unexploded Boer - Rautenbach, Erich

Erich Rautenbach's autobiographical account covers a few years in his life immediately after he left school in the early 1970s. Evading his call-up for national service, Erich begins a wandering existence as a dagga dealer, drifting between his supplier in KwaZulu and his outlets in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Eventually he is apprehended, and, after a time in John Vorster Square and The Fort in Johannesburg, he is sent to Sterkfontein Sanatorium for 28 days' observation and testing to determine his sanity. But Erich has other ideas and plans to escape. This title recreates the subculture of Johannesburg and Cape Town and provides a commentary on the paranoia and neurosis of the apartheid state. But the particular value of this story is in the way it is told. In its zany, unconventional way of reporting reality, it is reminiscent of the American Beat Generation of the 1950s. The Unexploded Boer is a valuable contribution to our literature and is destined to attract a cult following.

Softcover. English. Zebra Press. 2011. ISBN: 9781770221659. 241pp. Good condition. Book No: 2500413