Trencherman

Eben Venter (trans. Luke Stubbs)

‘This post-apocalyptic successor to Heart of Darkness excavates the traumas of a nation … Trencherman can be read as one of the foundational texts of post-1994 South African speculative fiction.’

Patrick Flanery, Guardian

‘The South Africa [in Trencherman] is a dystopia to rival JM Coetzee’s vision of the country in Disgrace… Eben Venter is a consummate stylist who skillfully conjures a gathering sense of menace.’

Gillian Slovo, FT

View all reviews

'It's a powerful book, a dystopic vision of the future of South Africa.'

J.M. Coetzee

A powerful contemporary retelling of Heart of Darkness.

One rainy night in Australia, Marlouw’s sister phones with the request that he fetch her son ‘from that bloody country’. And Marlouw, with his club foot and hardened spirit, believes it is his fate to carry out this instruction.

Drenched in sweat after an ominous flight, his exodus takes him through a South Africa where poverty is rife, infrastructure has collapsed, AIDs has become widespread, and corruption reigns. He is told: ‘the whites who’ve stayed on, stay because they’re not able to leave’. Yet still he journeys deeper into the unknown — past the suffering masses alongside the road to the outer darkness of the rural areas.

There are rumours that Koert is on the old family farm, now in the possession of the family's former workers. That there, guarded and isolated, he has built himself a powerful empire as the King of Meat. Here, on Ouplaas, at the end of Marlouw’s terrible journey, the heart of terror is cut open …

Patrick Flanery, Guardian

Gillian Slovo, FT

View all reviews

BUY EBOOK

Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:336pp

ISBN (13):9781925321135

RRP:$29.99

Pub date:30 May 2016

Rights Held: World English

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Eben Venter

Eben Venter is the critically acclaimed author of Wolf, Wolf (Scribe, 2015). He was raised on a sheep farm in Eastern Cape, South Africa, and migrated to Australia in 1986. He has won numerous awards for his work, and currently holds an honorary appointment as professional associate in the Institute of English in Africa (ISEA) at Rhodes University.

TRANSLATOR

Luke Stubbs

Wolf, Wolf

Eben Venter

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Feb 2015 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

In Moonland

Miles Allinson

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 31 Aug 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Golden Book

Kate Ryan

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 3 Aug 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Liquid Land

Raphaela Edelbauer

RRP: $32.99 Pub date: 3 Aug 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Orchard Murders

Robert Gott

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 3 Aug 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Newcomer

Laura Elizabeth Woollett

RRP: $32.99 Pub date: 2 Jul 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Snow Line

Tessa McWatt

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Jul 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

All That I Remember About Dean Cola

Tania Chandler

RRP: $32.99 Pub date: 1 Jun 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Union of Synchronised Swimmers

Cristina Sandu

RRP: $24.99 Pub date: 1 Jun 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

Higher Ground

Anke Stelling

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 15 Apr 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

A Room Called Earth

Madeleine Ryan

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Mar 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

How We Are Translated

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Feb 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Beach Caves

Trevor Shearston

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Feb 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Speechwriter

Martin McKenzie-Murray

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 2 Feb 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

Prosopagnosia

Sònia Hernández

RRP: $24.99 Pub date: 5 Jan 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

Repentance

Alison Gibbs

RRP: $32.99 Pub date: 5 Jan 2021 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Eighth Life

Nino Haratischvili

RRP: $26.99 Pub date: 29 Sep 2020 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida

Clarissa Goenawan

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 29 Sep 2020 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Quick view

No Presents Please

Jayant Kaikini

RRP: $27.99 Pub date: 4 Aug 2020 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

Trencherman

Eben Venter (trans. Luke Stubbs)

Related content

TRANSLATOR

AUTHOR

EXTRACT

Events