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This is the true story of a standout artist in the field of pop and sentimental song; a star entertainer who rose to fame in Cape Town, South Africa. The world reflected in this book has several genealogical strands reaching back to other histories - to the nineteenth century theatre, to the rise of racism in South Africa, and the ways people were forced to negotiate the contradictions of being human against impossible odds. We encounter a biographer with a subject which is close to him, and which he has meticulously researched over a course of time.
The book offers insights into the musical world of the phonograph, of the global popular culture after the Second World War and how this was absorbed into Cape Town's popular culture.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Author's note
1. Space oddity
2. Send in the clowns
3. We got a good thing going on
4. He ain't heavy, he's my brother
5. Say the last goodbye
About the author
Index
About the author
Llewellin RG Jegels is a lecturer at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His academic focus lies in life-writing (auto/biography), memory/post-memory, the contemporary novel, poetry, post-coloniality, re-narrativisation of history, cultural identity, and legacies. His interests extend to film, media, and visual literacies where his services have been called upon as story consultant. He was also editor-in-chief for the inter-disciplinary UWC Journal, WritingThreeSixty. His commercial publications include Fury, a novel, and Living with Dementia: My mother’s story, a creative non-fiction work exploring his role as an erstwhile caregiver to his mother. In his spare time, Llewellin is an avid Scrabble player who counts winning the South African National championships among his achievements. When he is not playing Scrabble, chess is his alternative pastime.
Summary
The world reflected in this book has several genealogical strands reaching back to other histories – to the nineteenth century theatre, to the rise of racism in South Africa, and the ways people were forced to negotiate the contradictions of being human against impossible odds.
