Of History and Memory: Re-Reading Selected Stories by Herman Charles Bosman on the Anglo-Boer War

Re-negotiating the past, a predominant concern of contemporary postcolonial literature and criticism, is also a relevant issue in South African literature today. For the most part, emphasis is placed on different interpretations of the past: personal experience and memories of historical events as opposed to available official documentation.1 In the present context, the centenary of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) has raised a considerable amount of speculation and revisitation of documents, monuments, memoirs, and fictional accounts.