Bryce Courtenay (14 August, 1933 -22 November, 2012) died at his home in Canberra of stomach cancer on Thursday, the 22nd. He was 79 years old.
I was first introduced to Courtenay back in 2005, when someone lent me their copy of "The Power of One". I found it a phenomenal read. it offered intelligence, insight, and humor. The story has quite a bit of autobiographical aspects to it. It is about an English-speaking boy who grows up in South Africa during the age when Afrikaners were truly beginning to take over the country, during World War II and immediately afterwards, when apartheid officially became the law of the land. The boy, who is named Peekay, is raised in an orphanage, and grows up as a member of the hated English-speakers, the only English-speaker in an Afrikaner-dominated community. So naturally, he is picked on, and has to endure their torturing him. But he learns to fight, and eventually develops his skills so much, that he eventually makes it his profession. he becomes a standout boxer. In the meantime, he also minds his own education, becoming an exceptional student, and learning to speak Afrikaans (the language of the Afrikaners that originated with Dutch, from whom most of the Afrikaners are descended). It is a story of perseverance and growing strength over time, at once inspiring and enjoyable to read. It is the work for which he is best known, gaining considerable popularity with over eight million copies sold. Bryce Courtenay himself was an English-speaking orphan growing up in South Africa, and learned to be a boxer. He seems to have been picked on and bullied, and had told Radio National (Australia) that books had helped him to survive those early years in the orphanage, as well as his ability to tell stories. Those harsh years are also why he learned to box.
"The Power of One" became his most famous work, and it is the only book of his that was published in the United States (I'm not entirely sure why that is, although it seems grossly unfair, frankly). That book was made into a movie, but it seems that the movie blends that book with the follow up novel, Tandia. The movie starred Morgan Freeman
After reading "The Power of One", I felt that I had to read the follow-up, Tandia. Only problem? It's not published here in the United States. So, I began to acquire, slowly but surely, more and more of Courtenay's works, which are available in his native Australia, as well as other English-speaking nations outside of the United States. Mostly, I got them through Ebay, and eventually managed to amass a decent collection of his works.
Courtenay was born in South Africa and lived in a small village in the Lebombo mountains in Limpopo province. He attended school in England, where he met his wife. They moved to Australia in the 1950's, and Australia was the nation that Bryce Courtenay felt most comfortable calling home.
His writing tended to often deal with the issue of racism, in particular. His writings often addressed, and confronted, the racial attitudes and policies of both South Africa and Australia, with apartheid in one, and "White Australia" in the other. His works also tended to blend history with fiction to personalize history, make it come alive.
Courtenay had a son, Damon, who was born with complications concerning his blood. Damon died of age in his mid-twenties, and Courtenay wrote about that in one of his books, April Fool's Day - a very personal and revealing account.
Courtenay had just gotten his last book, Jack of Diamonds, published just a couple of weeks before his death.
Bryce Courtenay had authored over twenty books during his illustrious career, and having sold over twenty million copies of his works, he had become one of Australia's most successful authors in history. Interestingly, his first book, "The Power of One", which was his most successful book, was published when he was well into his fifties. Since then, he had become one of Australia's most prolific writers.
Here are some links to articles that I used in writing this piece:
http://news.yahoo.com/australian-author-bryce-courtenay-writer-power-one-20-012209522.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20457516
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/vale-bryce-courtenay/4393906
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