Searching for the truth behind literary giant

SEARCHING FOR SARAH

MY knowledge of Afrikaans literary giant CJ Langenhoven is rather scant and is in fact limited to knowing that he wrote the lyrics to Die Stem.

But it was this line on the cover of a new book by Dominique Malherbe Searching for Sarah that intrigued me and compelled me to read it: “CJ Langenhoven died suddenly in 1932 at the age of 58. He had named a young Jewish woman, the fiery redhead Sarah Eva Goldblatt, executrix of his extensive literary legacy.”

Added to this the fact that Malherbe is Goldblatt’s great niece. The ingredients for an interesting read were all in place for me.

Langenhoven and Goldblatt had worked together for many years, and she became infatuated with him and the Afrikaans language.

They were said to have had a son together.

“By the time Goldblatt dies in 1975, more than two million copies of Langenhoven’s books had been sold. Sarah had made a significant contribution to Afrikaans literature.” Yet her contribution received scant recognition.

Malherbe knew about Sarah Goldblatt from childhood.

Today a lawyer and an author, she has decided to try and find out the many unknowns about her great aunt and Langenhoven and also to discover what had happened to their son.

Her search for the truth is a mammoth effort of persistence and endurance. Slowly, slowly Malherbe is able to piece together missing pieces of the puzzle. Her research efforts alone would make for an interesting enough read.

But it is Dominique Malherbe’s considerable writing talents that make Searching for Sarah not only interesting, but also at times exciting and in the end, she has delivered a tour de force of a book.

Even readers with no particular interest in CJ Langenhoven will find this book compelling and most rewarding.