Die Son Struikel
Die Son Struikel is an Afrikaans novel by Dolf van Niekerk (1929-)
The novel
The novel explores the trauma of war, from the Boer Rebellion of 1914 to the violent Rand miners' strike of 1922, vseen from the viewpoint of Diederik Versveld, a total outsider. Originally published by Dagbreek Pers in 1960, the book was regularly set as prescribed reading for South African schools and universities in ensuing years.
Dramatized versions of the novel
Because it was a setwork, it was on occasion dramatized and performed for schools as an educational theatre presentation.
On 1975 Die Son Struikel was performed and taken to Schools in the Transvaal by PACT's youth company, along with a similar dramatization of the novel Bart Nel (J. Van Melle) and the play Moeder Hanna (Bartho Smit). After they had visited 63 schools with the plays, the Transvaal Education Department decided to cancel the productions - no reasons being given.
