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Article: A skilfully translated tale of jungle love.(Life)
- Article from:
- Pretoria News (South Africa)
- Article date:
- July 13, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BYLINE: Ugo Paladini
Equatoria by Tom Dreyer (Translated from Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns) (Aflame Books, R135)
Willis Reed and Guy Nichols are Edwardian explorers appointed by the curators of Antwerp Zoo to capture and bring back alive from the Congo the elusive Okapi, a recently discovered member of the Giraffe family.
The year is 1912. We are on the cusp of World War I, a period characterised by scientific strides, artistic renewal, greedy materialism and social equivocations, all of which our author telescopes into his story.
The search for the Okapi becomes a search for much else: for love, for meaning, for Reed's own identity.
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