The dark stream: The story of Eugène Marais - Leon Rousseau

The Dark Stream not only offers a fascinating insight into one of the most complex and outstanding Afrikaners who ever lived but is at the same time a panorama of South African history.

Rousseau’s account of the life of Eugène Marais begins in the early days of Pretoria (1871) and ends three years after Hitler's rise to power. Between these two dates are sandwiched many of the great events of Afrikaner and South African history: the British occupation of Pretoria, the beginning of the Afrikaans language movement, the Jameson raid, the “naughty nineties” (when Marais was in London), the Boer War and its aftermath, World War I, and the rise of Afrikaner nationalism.

Against this changing canvas, Rousseau introduces the reader to Marais in all his complexity – the angry young journalist writing during Kruger’s term as president, the champion of his language, the poet, the prose writer. He explores Marais’s talents as naturalist, hypnotist, doctor, and psychologist. He gives us an insight into Marais as an advocate, citizen of the world, magician and as the author of The Soul of the White Ant and The Soul of the Ape. He also takes us into Marais’s life as the widower, the lover and the tragic morphine addict.

Despite its length and scope, the book never fails to grip the reader. There is tragedy there, is warmth and there is humour. Parts of the book are deeply moving, parts are shocking, but no one who has read this book will ever forget it.