Willem Anker - Red Dog - A Frontier Novel

See, there he vanishes into the bush now. Did you see? Because that was the last sighting of Coenraad de Buys. But to be dead is not enough. Like molten letters I linger in the gravel without eroding. I am the thistle. The piss in the stone of the Union Buildings. Like a pack of dogs I renew myself constantly. You’ll never be shot of me.

The way you imagined this exceptional man on the basis of often exaggerated accounts turns out, upon meeting him, to be entirely justified. His uncommon height (nearly seven feet), his shapely limbs, his excellent carriage and the confident look of his eye, his high forehead, his whole mien, and a certain dignity in his movements, made a most pleasing impression. So one might want to imagine the heroes of antiquity, a living image of Hercules, a terror to his enemies and a pillar of strength to his friends. What the descriptions had not led us to expect was a certain modesty and reticence in his conversation, a mildness and kindness in his looks and mien, which could not in the least have led you to suspect that the man had for so many years lived among untutored savages, and which, still more than his words, contributed to remove the prejudice we had conceived against him. He willingly gave information concerning the subjects upon which he was questioned, but carefully avoided elaborating upon himself and his relations with the Caffres. This sly reticence was often accompanied with a sort of wry smile, that spoke of the inward consciousness of his own powers, and in which was plainly to be read that his forbearance was not the result of fear; it was rather as if he scorned to satisfy the vapid curiosity of his questioners at the expense of truth, or of his own personal reputation. This rendered him all the more interesting to us, and probably excited our sympathy much more than the relation of his story would have done.

Original German quoted from: Lichtenstein, Hinrich. 1967 (1811). Reisen im südlichen Afrika in den Jahren 1803, 1804, 1805 und 1806 . Volume 1. Stuttgart: Brockhaus/Antiquarium. 344–345.

On the tracks of the historical Buys I consulted, among others, works by the following authors: John Campbell, Max du Preez, Richard Elphick, IH Enklaar, OJO Ferreira, Herman Giliomee, Peter Kallaway, Martin Legassick, MH Lichtenstein, Andrew Manson, Roelf Marx, Noël Mostert, Neil Parsons, Nigel Penn, Gustav Preller, AE Schoeman, JT van der Kemp, PJ van der Merwe and HG Wagner.

As far as other quotations, references and rewritings are concerned: Omni-Buys saw it all, read every word. He eats as he reads. As he plunders mission stations and cattle kraals, so he plunders the texts of others far and wide in order to tell his own tale. Should you then in his retelling stumble across the remains of other authors, notably Samuel Beckett and Cormac McCarthy, regard it as the homage of a scoundrel.

The only revolution here is that between dust and fire, the only equality the levelling of the land by the elements, the only fraternity a function of a common enemy or a shared disgrace. The only liberty the one that comes from surrendering to your fate.

Coenraad de Buys was the most dangerous man around in the Cape of the late seventeen hundreds.

He was a giant, a legend, a polygamist, a swindler and a big talker, the bane of government; father to chieftains and a whole Buysvolk of his own. He restlessly walked the uneasy landscape of southern Africa like the wild dogs who were always at his heels, always in his head – especially the earless red dog who put Buys on his renegade path. He was born in the Langkloof. He died on the banks of the Limpopo. But Buys is not dead.

Dr Willem Anker lectures in creative writing at Stellenbosch University. His debut novel, Siegfried (Kwela, 2007), received the UJ debut prize and the Jan Rabie/Rapport prize. Buys (of which Red Dog is the translation) was published in 2014 and won the WA Hofmeyr, University of Johannesburg, kykNET-Rapport, Helgaard Steyn and Hertzog Prize.

First published in 2018 by Kwela Books,

an imprint of NB Publishers,

a division of Media24 Boeke (Pty) Ltd,

40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001

www.kwela.com

First published in Afrikaans in 2014 as Buys

Copyright © Willem Anker 2018

Translated by Michiel Heyns

All rights reserved.

No part of this electronic book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording, or by any other information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Cover design by Michiel Botha

Cover photography by iStock

E-book design by Wouter Reinders

Available in print:

First edition in 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7957-0851-0

Epub edition:

First edition in 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7957-0852-7 (epub)

Mobi edition:

First edition in 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7957-0853-4 (mobi)