Olive Schreiner: Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland

SECOND HAND

Olive Schreiner’s Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland (1897) is the story of one of Cecil John Rhodes’ young troopers lost in Mashonaland and the appearance of a Christ-like figure on a koppie. Alan Paton said of the story that it remains an essential part of South African literature. At times satirical and at times a realist depiction of Rhodes and his Rhodesian policies, it was the work Schreiner wished to be remembered for. The novel is her most overtly political and attempted to debunk the widely-held image of Rhodes as the ‘good imperialist’ who cared for the natives’ well-being.