FAMILIARITY IS THE KINGDOM OF THE LOST

by Dugmore & Barney Simon Boetie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 1969

Dugmore Boetie, a black African who died recently, was the discovery of one Barney Simon, editor of a South African literary magazine, who urged the crippled, ill, but unregenerate transgressor to write his autobiography. In his moving epilogue Simon reviews the story of a strange literary collaboration and wryly points out the blatantly blithe whoppers in Boetie's confession. However, given all the salt you want to take it with, this is a strong and appealing narrative, whether set to jell by Boetie or Simon. Dugmore Boetie was a thief, a convict (many times), part of a jazz combo and a con man extraordinary. Yet in a South Africa where blacks are humiliated, frustrated, deprived of basic human rights, a cynical agility is an edge on crushing destruction. In brutal confinements, queues of forced labor, constant white harassment, the lost cling to what they know--enterprising friends, hiding places in tunnels and sewers, the anonymity of black non-identity. Bitter but never down for long, Boetie outwits and is usually outrun by his victims. Heights in a lowly but lively life--Moll Flanders' spiritual descendant.

Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION