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Schreiner, Olive Emile Albertina (1855-1920)

From Encyclopedia of South Africa
Born on March 24, 1855, in Basutoland (now Lesotho ), Olive Emile Albertina Schreiner emerged as the great South African writer of the late nineteenth century. She is known for her condemnation of imperialism and racism, as well as for her commitment to feminist thinking. Olive Schreiner was born into an impoverished family of missionaries, although she did not absorb the religious beliefs of her German father and British mother. At fifteen, she left home and worked as a governess. Despite lacking a formal education, she was an avid reader who studied the works of prominent eighteenth- and nineteenth-century thinkers. Barely out of her teens, she wrote her first two novels, Undine and The Story of an African Farm. In 1881, Schreiner moved to England to pursue a career in medicine. Though she was not suited for medical training, she found success as a writer. The publication of African Farm in 1883, initially under the pseudonym of Ralph Iron, brought Schreiner international notoriety. …
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Full text Article Schreiner, Olive (Emilie Albertina)

From Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
Schreiner was the first South African novelist to gain a reputation abroad and one of the first to emerge from Britain’s colonies. She is also an important figure in the history of FEMINISM . Her novels cannot be separated from her beliefs. She was reared in a lonely colonial outpost, the daughter…
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Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner was the author of The Story of an African Farm , hailed by many as South Africa's finest novel. She was born of German/English missionary parentage at the Wittenbergen Westeyan mission station, located on the Cape's eastern frontier. Following the death of her…
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Full text Article Schreiner, Olive

From The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography
South African novelist, rationalist, and feminist. She was born at the remote Wittebergen Mission Station, Cape of Good Hope, the sixth of 12 children of an idealistic German Methodist minister and his energetic English wife. She had no formal education, but read widely, loved nature and enjoyed her…
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Born on March 24, 1855, in Basutoland (now Lesotho ), Olive Emile Albertina Schreiner emerged as the great South African writer of the late nineteenth century. She is known for her condemnation of imperialism and racism, as well as for her commitment to feminist thinking. Olive Schreiner was born…
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Full text Article Olive Schreiner 1855–1920

From The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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Full text Article UNDINE

From Brewer's Curious Titles
Undine was a water nymph in the folklore of central Europe. According to the legend, she was created without a soul, but if she marries a mortal and bears his child, she will acquire a soul, along with all the pains and penalties of the human condition. She falls in love and marries the knight…
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Full text Article MEN AND WOMEN

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn’t there the first time you need him, chances are you won’t be needing him again. ADAMS, Scott The Dilbert Principle . The more I know about men the more I like dogs. ALLRED, Gloria Politically Incorrect , 1995. …
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Full text Article Schreiner, Olive (Emilie Albertina)

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born March 24, 1855, Wittebergen, Cape Colony—died Dec. 11, 1920, Cape Town, S.Af.) South African writer. She had no formal education but read widely, developing a powerful intellect and militantly feminist and liberal views. After working as a governess she published (as Ralph Iron) the…
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Full text Article Schreiner, Olive

From Chambers Biographical Dictionary
1855-1920 South African writer and feminist Born in Wittebergen Mission Station, Cape of Good Hope, the daughter of a German Methodist missionary and an English mother, she grew up largely self-educated and at the age of 15 became a governess to a Boer family near the Karoo desert. She later lived…
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Full text Article Schreiner, Olive

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(shrī'nӘr), pseud. Ralph Iron, 1855–1920, South African author and feminist, b. Wittebergen Reserve, Cape Colony. After several years as a governess, she went to England in 1881, taking with her the manuscript of her famous novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883). The novel, which has been…
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