In the footsteps of Vloog Theron
They say that during volatile times like these, we yearn to anchor ourselves. To find sturdy roots. Our own roots. This is why, at some point, nearly every one of us will try to retrace our steps. Most often such a “journey” would lead to the place of your youth – if not physically, then at least in a way that allows you to think deeply about how that environment shaped the person you became.
In short: our origins are an important part of who we are – or were – and the context in which we grow up determines to a large extent how we view the world. Do we fit in? Do we feel we belong to a larger community? Or, as adults, are we simply overcome – in an unguarded moment – by the nostalgic longing for a place or time or former version of ourselves that is forever gone?
“DO YOU KNOW THE STORY of Father and his horse?” the main character Wille Willemien asks her sister in Anoeschka von Meck’s new novel Die Heelal op My Tong (The Universe on My Tongue), which the author calls a salute to her father, Vloog Theron (11 November 1941 – 29 December 2009).
Wille Willemien proceeds to tell her sister the story, which is based on a true encounter when a group of city youths travelling by car drove into Koringberg and swerved right in front of Vloog riding his horse.
“You!” they shouted mockingly down the main street of the village. “You there on the horse!” The women in
