Catalogue
Catalogue
Object Type
Name/Title
Woman and Labour
Primary Maker
Contributor/Publisher
T. Fisher Unwin
Place
Date
1912
Physical Description
Language
English
Level of Current Record
Bib record
Member Object
Subject Category
Provenance Details
"J (or T) G. Russell" hand written in ink on the title page.
Content
Parasitism -- Woman and war -- Sex differences -- Certain objections.
Public Access Text
[Keywords: Women--Economic conditions]
Reprint of the 1911 edition published by T. Fisher Unwin. Includes advertising.
Subject Notes
Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 - 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. 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.
When Woman and Labour was finally published in 1911, Schreiner was severely ill, her asthma worsened by attacks of angina. Two years later, she sailed alone to England for treatment, but was trapped there by the outbreak of World War I. During this time, her primary interest was in pacifism - she was in contact with Gandhi and other prominent activists like Emily Hobhouse and Elizabeth Maria Molteno - and she started a book on war, which was abbreviated and published as The Dawn of Civilisation. This was the last book she was to write. After the war, she returned home to the Cape, where she died in her sleep in a boarding house in 1920.--Wikipedia, retrieved November 2020.
Collection Type
General Collection
Copyright
All rights reserved
Last Update
19 Dec 2023
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