Olive Schreiner

Olive Schreiner , pseud. Ralph Iron, 1855-1920, South African author and feminist, b. Wittebergen Reserve, Cape Colony. After several years as a governess, she went to England in 1881, taking with her the manuscript of her famous novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883). The novel, which has been likened to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, is an intense story of two children living in the African veldt; it was controversial because of its feminist and anti-Christian sentiments. Her later works included Dreams (1921), a collection of allegories; Women and Labour (1911); and a significant novel, unfinished, From Man to Man (1926). Her letters were edited (1924) by her husband, S. C. Cronwright-Schreiner, who also wrote her biography (1923, repr. 1973).

Schreiner, Olive Emilie Albertina (1855–1920), born in Cape Colony, the daughter of a missionary. She came to England in 1881. Her best-known novel was The Story of an African Farm (1883), published under the pseudonym ‘Ralph Iron’. Set in the vividly evoked landscape of her childhood, it recounts the lives of two orphaned cousins. This novel won her the friendship of Havelock Ellis. Her other novels, both with feminist themes, From Man to Man (1927) and Undine (1929), appeared posthumously, but during her lifetime she published various other works, including collections of allegories and stories, articles on South African politics, and Woman and Labour (1911). Schreiner has been acknowledged as a pioneer both in her treatment of women and in her fictional use of the African landscape.