Olive Schreiner

Her parents, Gottlob Schreiner and Rebecca (née Lyndall), married in England in 1837.

Her eldest brother, Frederick Samuel (1841–1901), obtained a BA at London University and founded New College in Eastbourne in 1877.

When her older brother, Theophilus (1844–1920), was appointed as headmaster in Cradock in 1867, Schreiner and two of their siblings went to live with him.

She also attended his school, where she received formal education for the first time.

But she was no happier in Cradock than she had been in Wittebergen or Healdtown.

She was named after her three older brothers, Oliver (1848–1854), Albert (1843–1843) and Emile (1852–1852), each of whom died before she was born.

Her childhood was a harsh one: 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.

Olive received virtually all of her initial education from her mother, who was well-read and gifted.

Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual.

She died at seventeen months (1864-1865).

Schreiner dedicated the 'Prelude' of From Man to Man to Ellie, as well as to her own daughter, who died shortly after her birth.

In a number of letters, Schreiner discusses Ellie's death as a key turning point in her life.

She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm (1883), which has been highly acclaimed.

It deals boldly with such contemporary issues as agnosticism, existential independence, individualism, the professional aspirations of women, and the elemental nature of life on the colonial frontier.

Since the late 20th century, scholars have also credited Schreiner as an advocate for the Afrikaners, and other South African groups who were excluded from political power for decades, such as indigenous blacks, Jews, and Indians.

Although she showed interest in socialism, pacifism, vegetarianism, and feminism amongst other topics, her views escaped restrictive categorisations.

Her published works and other surviving writings promote implicit values such as moderation, friendship, and understanding amongst all peoples, and avoid the pitfalls of political radicalism, which she consciously eschewed.

Called a lifelong freethinker, she also 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.

In a letter to John T. Lloyd of 1892, for instance, Schreiner commented:

"'I think I first had this feeling with regard to death clearly when my favourite little sister died when I was nine years old. I slept with her little body until it was buried, & after that, I used to sit for hours by her grave It & it was as impossible for me then, as it is impossible for me now, to accept the ordinary doctrine that she was living on somewhere without a body'."

He remained as headmaster until late 1897, but continued to run the junior school until 1901.

He died in 1901 at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne and was interred in the town.

When Olive was six, her father Gottlob transferred to Healdtown in the Eastern Cape to run the Wesleyan training institute there.

As with so many of his other projects, he could not manage the responsibility 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.

When Schreiner was nine, her sister Helen ("Ellie") died, and this had a profound effect on the survivor's outlook.

Ellie was the twelfth and last child.

"From a chronological viewpoint, Olive Schreiner's life shows an interesting pattern. After she spent the first twenty-five thereof in South Africa ... she was in England for more than seven years, and also lived during this time in Europe. After this, she lived in South Africa for twenty-four years, the time of her friendship with Rhodes, the Anglo-Boer war, and her growing involvement in issues like racism and the lot of women, after which another exile followed in England for seven years; it was only shortly before her death in 1920 that she returned to South Africa. (Olive Schreiner: A Life in South Africa 1855–1881, Human & Rousseau, Cape Town, 1989)"

Olive Emily Albertina Schreiner was the ninth of twelve children born to a missionary couple at the Wesleyan Missionary Society station at Wittebergen in the Eastern Cape, near Herschel in South Africa.

Schreiner is also known for her later novel, From Man To Man Or Perhaps Only (1926), published posthumously.

She had not completed its revisions before her death.

The first edition was produced by her husband, Samuel Cronwright-Schreiner.

It was re-edited and published by the University of Cape Town Press (edited and introduced by Dorothy Driver).

This edition corrects previous errors and provides another ending to the novel, in Schreiner's own words, in addition to her husband's summary.

From Man to Man or Perhaps Only was said by Schreiner to be her favourite among her novels.

From exploring white women's confinement to domestic life in colonial-era South Africa, the novel eventually expands its gaze to include black women and girls, whose presence gradually informs the central character's struggle to re-create herself and educate her children against the racism and sexism of the period.

Karel Schoeman, a historian, and authority on Schreiner in South Africa, wrote that she was an outstanding figure in a South African context.

He summarises the basic pattern of her life as follows, noting her periods of living out of the country: