About the Book

The first extended piece of literature written by a black South African, Robert Grendon’s Paul Kruger’s Dream, is an extraordinary work. Masterfully written by one of the few black men to have been educated in Latin and Ancient Greek in the nineteenth century. The poem was composed while Grendon was an auxiliary in the British Army during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

The poem details South Africa’s hostile racial relations while beautifully rendering the country’s landscapes. Mixing Greek, Roman, Christian, and African mythologies, the work is entirely unique. The Dream begins with the arrival of the Dutch in southern Africa and tells the story of the birth of the Afrikaner people: their trials with the British and Dingane, and their reestablishment of the Transvaal Republic. The goddess Fortuna then arrives to warn Kruger of his and his people’s fate.

About Robert Grendon

Poet, scholar, botanist, auxiliary soldier, journalist, politician, talented sportsman and grandson of a famous Herero leader, Robert Grendon is one of the most extraordinary people in South African history. What is incredible is that he has been almost entirely forgotten.

Born to an Irish trader and the daughter of Maherero in 1867, Grendon was sent to Cape Town to be educated at Zonnebloem College. There he excelled and became a highly regarded teacher. He was one of the first editors of the ANC’s newspaper, Abantu Batho, but spent much of his life being hounded out of positions by the colonial authorities. He died in poverty, in a small hut in modern-day Eswatini.