("Woman and Labour" is a landmark work of feminist literat...)
"Woman and Labour" is a landmark work of feminist literature and deals with historical and societal issues of the role of women and the differences between the sexes.
Olive Schreiner was a South African author, suffragist and political activist. She produced the first great South African novel "The Story of an African Farm" (1883). Her published works and other surviving writings promote implicit values like moderation, friendship and understanding amongst all peoples and avoid the pitfalls of political radicalism which she consciously eschewed.
Background
Olive Schreiner was born on March 24, 1855 in Wittebergen, Cape Colony (present-day Lesotho). She was the ninth of twelve children born to a missionary couple, Gottlob and Rebecca (Lyndall) Schreiner, married in England in 1837. Her German father and English mother, both missionaries in South Africa, provided a household grounded in a strict Calvinist tradition.
She was named after her three older brothers, Oliver (1848-1854), Albert (1843-1843) and Emile (1852-1852), who died before she was born. Her childhood was a harsh one as her father was loving and gentle, though impractical, which led to difficulties for the family; but her mother Rebecca was intent on teaching her children the same restraint and self-discipline that had been a part of her upbringing.
When Olive was six, her father transferred to Healdtown in the Eastern Cape to run the Wesleyan training institute there. As with so many of his other projects, he simply was not up to the task and was expelled in disgrace for trading against missionary regulations. He was forced to make his own living for the first time in his life, and tried a business venture. Again, he failed and was insolvent within a year. The family lived in abject poverty as a result.
However, Olive was not to remain with her parents for long. When her older brother Theophilus (1844-1920) was appointed headmaster in Cradock in 1867, she went to live with him along with two of her siblings.
Education
Olive Schreiner received virtually all of her initial education from her mother, who was well-read and gifted. Olive then attended his school and received a formal education for the first time in Cradock.
Career
Olive was a governess with various families to make a living. She accepted the position of governess at a number of farms, most notably the Fouchés, who provided inspiration for certain aspects of "The Story of an African Farm", which she published under the pseudonym Ralph Iron, as well as a small collection of stories and allegories called "Dream Life and Real Life".
However, Olive's real ambitions did not lie in the direction of writing. She had always wanted to be a doctor, but had never had enough money to pay for the training. From 1874 until 1881, Olive Schreiner went to England, hoping to study medicine. Once there, she was never to realise her dream of becoming a medical practitioner, as her ill-health prevented her from completing any form of training or studying. She was forced to concede that writing would and could be her only work in life. During this time she wrote her semi autobiographical novel "Undine" (published in 1928) and began "From Man to Man" (1926), at which she worked intermittently for 40 years but never finished.
Her "Story of an African Farm" was acclaimed for the manner in which it tackled the issues of its day, ranging from agnosticism to the treatment of women. It was also the cause of one of her most significant and long-lasting friendships, as the renowned sexologist Havelock Ellis wrote to her about her novel. Their relationship soon developed beyond intellectual debate to a genuine source of support for Schreiner. Another friendship that would prove to be influential was with Edward Carpenter, the founder Socialist and gay rights activist.
In 1886, she left England, travelling between Switzerland, France and Italy before returning to England. During this time, she was tremendously productive, working on "From Man to Man" and publishing numerous allegories. She also worked on an introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women".
Later Schreiner chose to return to South Africa, sailing back to Cape Town in 1889. In an attempt to reconnect with her surroundings, she became increasingly involved in local politics and produced a series of articles on the land and people around her, published posthumously as Thoughts on South Africa. Through her work with local politics she became intimate friends with Emily Hobhouse and Elizabeth Maria Molteno, influential women activists with similar opinions on civil and women's rights.
Her involvement with Cape politics led her into an association with Cecil John Rhodes, with whom she would soon become disillusioned and about whom she would write her bitterly satirical allegory "Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland".
In 1898, Schreiner moved to Johannesburg for health reasons. There she tried to persuade South African officials to turn away from the path of war, and, when that failed, wrote "The South African Question by an English South African" in an attempt to open the English public's eyes to the reality of the situation. She also began reworking the "sex book" she had started in England into "Woman and Labour".
The last few years of Schreiner's life were marked by ill-health and an increasing sense of isolation. Despite this, she still engaged in politics and was determined to make her mark on a new constitution, especially through a work like "Closer Union".
When "Woman and Labour" was finally published in 1911, Schreiner was severely ill, her asthma worsened by attacks of angina. Two years later, she sailed alone to England for treatment, but was trapped there by the outbreak of World War I. During this time, she started a book on war, which was abbreviated and published as "The Dawn of Civilisation". This was the last book she was to write. After the war, she returned home to the Cape, where she died in her sleep in a boarding house on December 11, 1920 in Wynberg, South Africa. She was buried later in Kimberley. After the death of her husband, Samuel Cronwright, her body was exhumed, and along with her baby, dog and husband, she was reburied atop Buffelskop mountain, on the farm known as Buffelshoek, near Cradock, in the Eastern Cape.
Although Olive Schreiner may be called a lifelong freethinker, she continued to adhere to the spirit of the Christian Bible and developed a secular version of the worldview of her missionary parents, with mystical elements. Her siblings were very religious, but, like many learned Victorians, Olive had already questioned the Christianity of her parents, and it was the cause of many arguments that she had with her family. Her unusual view of religion was also the cause of personal conflicts with her employers. Her apostasy did not sit well with the traditional farm folk she worked amongst.
Politics
In more recent studies Olive Schreiner has been identified as an advocate for those sidelined by the forces of British Imperialism, such as the Afrikaners, and later other South African groups like Blacks, Jews and Indians - to name but a few. Although she showed interest in socialism, pacifism, vegetarianism and feminism amongst other things, her true views escape restrictive categorisations.
Schreiner eschewed the pitfalls of political radicalism. She belonged to a number of radical discussion groups which brought her into contact with many important socialists of the time.
Upon her return to South Africa in 1889, she became increasingly involved in local politics and produced a series of articles on the land and people around her, published posthumously as "Thoughts on South Africa". Through her work with local politics she became intimate friends with Emily Hobhouse and Elizabeth Maria Molteno, influential women activists with similar opinions on civil and women's rights.
Her involvement with Cape politics led her into an association with Cecil John Rhodes, with whom she would soon become disillusioned and about whom she would write her bitterly satirical allegory "Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland". This disillusionment began with his support of the "strop bill" that would allow black and coloured servants to be flogged for relatively small offences. Her opposition to the "strop bill" also brought her into contact with Samuel Cronwright, a politically active farmer, whom she later married.
Till the last few years of Schreiner's life, she still engaged in politics and was determined to make her mark on a new constitution, especially through a work like Closer Union. In this polemic, she argued for more rights not only for blacks but also for women. She also joined the newly founded Cape Branch of the Women's Enfranchisement League in 1907, becoming its vice-president. However, she refused to lend her support to it any longer when other branches wished to exclude black women from the vote.
Views
Olive Schreiner's published works and other surviving writings promote implicit values like moderation, friendship and understanding amongst all peoples and avoid the pitfalls of political radicalism which she consciously eschewed.
Schreiner also belonged to the Progressive Organisation, a radical group for freethinkers to discuss political and philosophical views. In addition to the Progressive Organisation, she also attended meetings of the Fellowship of the New Life and Karl Pearson's Men and Women's Club, where she was insistent on the critical importance of woman's equality and the need to consider men as well as women when looking at gender relationships.
During the time the outbreak of World War I, her primary interest was in pacifism - she was in contact with Gandhi and other prominent activists like Emily Hobhouse and Elizabeth Maria Molteno.
Quotations:
"The troubles of the young are soon over; they leave no external mark. If you wound the tree in its youth the bark will quickly cover the gash; but when the tree is very old, peeling the bark off, and looking carefully, you will see the scar there still. All that is buried is not dead."
"Perhaps the old monks were right when they tried to root love out; perhaps the poets are right when they try to water it. It is a blood-red flower, with the color of sin; but there is always the scent of a god about it."
"There was never a great man who had not a great mother."
"I suppose there is no man who to-day loves his country who has not perceived that in the life of the nation, as in the life of the individual, the hour of external success may be the hour of irrevocable failure, and that the hour of death, whether to nations or individuals, is often the hour of immortality."
"Now we have no God. We have had two: the old God that our fathers handed down to us, that we hated, and never liked; the new one that we made for ourselves, that we loved; but now he has flitted away from us, and we see what he was made of -- the shadow of our highest ideal, crowned and throned. Now we have no God."
"Men are like the earth and we are the moon; we turn always one side to them, and they think there is no other, because they don't see it - but there is."
"Everything has two sides - the outside that is ridiculous, and the inside that is solemn."
"We were equals once when we lay new-born babes on our nurse's knees. We will be equal again when they tie up our jaws for the last sleep."
"My feeling is that there is nothing in life but refraining from hurting others, and comforting those that are sad."
Membership
Schreiner was a member of the Progressive Organisation, the Fellowship of the New Life and Karl Pearson's Men and Women's Club. She also became a member of the newly founded Cape Branch of the Women's Enfranchisement League in 1907 and was its vice-president. However, she refused to support it any longer when other branches wished to exclude black women from the vote.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Mary Drew: "When Olive Schreiner, aged seventeen, wrote the South African Farm, some among her friends were disappointed she had not called more upon her imagination and described wild and thrilling adventures, as her country might have suggested."
Connections
Schreiner's relationships with men were anything but happy. She had refused a proposal from her doctor, Bryan Donkin, but he was irritatingly persistent in his suit of her. To make matters worse, despite her reservations about Karl Pearson and her intentions just to remain his friend, she soon conceived an attraction for him. He did not reciprocate her feelings, preferring another woman.
Schreiner then fell in love with Samuel Cronwright, a politically active farmer. During a brief visit to England in 1893, she discussed with her friends the possibility of marrying him, although she was concerned that she would find marriage restrictive. She put aside these doubts, however, and they were married in 1894, after which they settled at Cronwright's farm.
The next few years were difficult and unsettled ones for them. Schreiner's worsening health forced the couple to move constantly, while her first and only child, a daughter, died within a day. This loss was worsened by the fact that all her other pregnancies would end in miscarriages.