Laurens Van Der Post

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Journey Into Russia

An Anthology of Laurens Van Der Post

Feather Fall

The Voice of the Thunder

In A Province

A Story Like the Wind

Flamingo Feather

A Far Off Place

A Mantis Carol

The Hunter And The Whale

With 'The Great and the Little Memory'

The Lost World of the Kalahari

Venture To The Interior

Yet Being Someone Other

Jung and the Story of Our Time

The Heart Of The Hunter

The Seed and the Sower

The Night Of The New Moon

A Walk with a White Bushman

Penguin Shop: 3 Clothbound Classics for £33

I rank Laurens van der Post with the best writers of English - this book confirms my constant admiration and the nobility of his mind

Bushmen, Africa, the relation of man to animals (beautiful stories about elephants), Japan and Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, the forgiveness of enemies, June, spiritual growth, Churchill, Smuts, Mountbatten... Such a rapid catalogue must omit much of what he talks about, but may give some impression of the book's riches

A deeply thoughtful, engrossing book about his fascinatingly varied life and unusual ideas... Refreshingly unconventional, inspiring, optimistic, wise and true

Overflows with ideas and insights gained during a long and eventful life

No one can write more feelingly of Africa... An experience not to be missed

Explorer, novelist, writer and film-maker, Sir Laurens van der Post was one of the most influential figures of our era. Here, in conversation with Jean-Marc Pottiez, he records his ideas and insights into a wide range of issues and personalities, forged by a lifetime of vast experiences and challenges.

A Walk with a White Bushman offers a tempting preamble to many longer explorations. For those who have, it offers the kind of renewed inspiration of which there can never be too much.

Laurens van der Post was born in Africa in 1906, the thirteenth of fifteen children in a family of Dutch and French Huguenot origins. Most of his adult life was spent his time divided between Africa and England. His professions of writer and farmer were interrupted by ten years of soldiering in the British Army, serving with distinction in the Western Desert, Abyssinia, Burma and the Far East. Taken prisoner by the Japanese, he was held in captivity for three years before returning to active service as a member of Lord Mountbatten's staff in Indonesia and, later, as Military Attache to the British Minister in Java. 
 
After 1949 he undertook several official missions exploring little-known parts of Africa, and his journey in search of the Bushmen in 1957 formed the basis of his famous documentary film and The Lost World of the Kalahari. Other television films include All Africa Within Us and The Story of Carl Gustav Jung, whom he met after the war and grew to know as a personal friend. In 1934 he wrote In a Provice, the first book by a South African to expose the horrors of racism. Other books include Venture to the Interior (1952), The Heart of the Hunter (1961), and A Walk with a White Bushman (1986). The Seed and the Sower was made into a film under the title Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, and, more recently, A Story Like the Wind and A Far-Off Place were combined and made into the film A Far-Off Place. 
 
Sir Laurens van der Post was awarded the CBE in 1947 and received his knighthood in 1981. He died in 1996.

A Walk with a White Bushman

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I rank Laurens van der Post with the best writers of English - this book confirms my constant admiration and the nobility of his mind

A deeply thoughtful, engrossing book about his fascinatingly varied life and unusual ideas... Refreshingly unconventional, inspiring, optimistic, wise and true

Overflows with ideas and insights gained during a long and eventful life

No one can write more feelingly of Africa... An experience not to be missed

About Laurens Van Der Post

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