Circles In A Forest
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Deep in the ancient Knysna Forest of South Africa's Garden Route, a man and an elephant are bound together by a destiny neither can escape — this is the heart of Dalene Matthee's magnificent Circles in a Forest. The novel chronicles the life of Saul Barnard, a woodcutter whose profound, almost mystical bond with a great bull elephant named Old Foot draws him into an ever-deepening conflict with the colonial forces of progress, commerce, and destruction that threaten to consume the primeval forest he calls home. Set in the late nineteenth century, the narrative unfolds with the urgency of a thriller and the quiet reverence of a nature hymn, pitting one man's fierce, solitary conscience against the relentless march of an industrialising world. Matthee writes with a lyrical intensity rooted in her deep affinity for the Knysna landscape, crafting a novel that stands as both an ecological elegy and a timeless meditation on humanity's fraught relationship with the natural world. Her prose carries the earthy weight of the forest floor itself — dense, alive, and shot through with moments of breathtaking beauty. Celebrated as one of the great works of South African literature, Circles in a Forest raises questions about belonging, stewardship, and the cost of civilisation that resonate long after the final page — leaving the reader to wonder whether Saul's world, and perhaps our own, can ever truly be saved.
Author: Dalene Matthee
Format: Hardback
Published: 1984, Viking
Genre: Fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Deep in the ancient Knysna Forest of South Africa's Garden Route, a man and an elephant are bound together by a destiny neither can escape — this is the heart of Dalene Matthee's magnificent Circles in a Forest. The novel chronicles the life of Saul Barnard, a woodcutter whose profound, almost mystical bond with a great bull elephant named Old Foot draws him into an ever-deepening conflict with the colonial forces of progress, commerce, and destruction that threaten to consume the primeval forest he calls home. Set in the late nineteenth century, the narrative unfolds with the urgency of a thriller and the quiet reverence of a nature hymn, pitting one man's fierce, solitary conscience against the relentless march of an industrialising world. Matthee writes with a lyrical intensity rooted in her deep affinity for the Knysna landscape, crafting a novel that stands as both an ecological elegy and a timeless meditation on humanity's fraught relationship with the natural world. Her prose carries the earthy weight of the forest floor itself — dense, alive, and shot through with moments of breathtaking beauty. Celebrated as one of the great works of South African literature, Circles in a Forest raises questions about belonging, stewardship, and the cost of civilisation that resonate long after the final page — leaving the reader to wonder whether Saul's world, and perhaps our own, can ever truly be saved.