Cold Stone Jug - The Anniversary Edition
4/5
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About this ebook
By turns gruesome and humorous, and bravely wrenched out of his tortured memory, when it was first published in 1949 Cold Stone Jug was greeted as too grim and dubious for polite literary circles, although it proved a reliable seller. Its rise to classic status has been unstoppable, and it is now widely considered the founding text of all South African prison writings. As readable as ever, it is now hailed as Bosman’s masterpiece of irony as well, vivid and unforgettable.
This text of Cold Stone Jug is edited from the original edition, corrected by Bosman himself, with a detailed introduction placing the work in the historical and literary context it served to shape.
“This is really a love story – a story of adolescent love . . . Her eyes were heavily fringed with dark lashes, like barred windows. Her bosom was hard and pure and cold – like a cement floor. And it was a faithful and chaste love. During all those years of my young manhood, in whose arms did I sleep each night, but in hers?”
Herman Charles Bosman
Herman Charles Bosman (1905-51) completed and published his prison memoir, Cold Stone Jug, in early 1949. Fifty years later it is republished here in a restored text following the original edition corrected by him for his publisher, the APB Bookstore in Johannesburg, where it was a fast seller, greeted as an important addition to the work of the post-war new generation of South African English-language writers. As the introduction here shows in a wealth of fresh detail, Cold Stone Jug’s climb to classic status as the foundational text of the country’s prison literature has been slow but sure. It still continues to fascinate new readers. A work that pushed back the boundaries of what was suitable subject matter for literary treatment in South Africa, Cold Stone Jug has remained as shocking – and as grimly humorous – as when it first appeared. This is the closest Bosman came to writing an autobiography, restricted to the years 1926-30 during which he served his term, sentenced for murder. The original edition of Cold Stone Jug was dedicated “to Helena, my wife” and had the following epigraph: A chronicle: being the unimpassioned record of a somewhat lengthy sojourn in prison.
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Reviews for Cold Stone Jug - The Anniversary Edition
15 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gallows humour. Autobiography about the author's incarceration for murder. Perceptive and darkly funny.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"Cold Stone Jug" by Herman Bosman was recommended to me during a trip to South Africa earlier this year. I ended up acquiring the anniversary edition, which finally came a few weeks ago. The book is in the same family as Dostoevsky's "House of the Dead", which similarly fictionalizes a real-life stint behind bars.Like "House of the Dead", "Cold Stone Jug" describes the day-to-day prison experience. The clothes, the routines, all are described in intimate detail. Like "House of the Dead", the narrator moves from a death sentence to a fixed term in prison, to release. Even the reliance on the prison infirmary as a release from the monotony of prison life is duplicated.What makes both works enjoyable is the hopefulness, strained though it is at times. We know that somehow the narrator survives the ordeal, somehow his humor and wit survive. The anniversary edition in particular is enjoyable because it includes prefaces, etc that firmly root the work in the biography of Bosman and in the reality of the penal system he was incarcerated in.Like any good book, this book left me wanting to read more from and about the author. Further reviews of the author's work to follow...
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