It all started with Polly van der Mescht’s English Lit Classes during Standards 9 &10 in 1972 and 1973. Here we were given to read Wilfred Owen’s war poems, set sections from Cry the Beloved Country for critical analysis, and discussed Koosie en sy Cadillac from Die Huisgenoot which had been pinned to the back wall of our classroom. From there on out Robert Welsh, David Stromberg and I would become life-long friends with a deep love of English literature. (Robert became an English teacher and David an architect). Incidentally, we also served on Thurlow’s Diving Team together with a little less success.
I was to pursue English literature only after a career of medical and scientific writing having become a doctor, anaesthetist and scientist via the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town and spent most of my professional career as a Professor of Anesthesiology in America, returning to Cape Town for holidays almost all of the intervening years.
So, it was much later in life that I enrolled in a Masters in Fine Arts degree in creative writing at Carlow University in Pittsburgh. Here I learned how to pursue literature properly, graduating in 2023 with my first novel Immorality Act as the product.
Immorality Act is a historical novel set in 1960’s Cape Town which tells the story of a multiracial love triangle that falls foul of apartheid law.
Its sequel, Truth & Conciliation is also a historical novel set in 1996 in Cape Town and tells the story of an Afrikaner doctor who asks for forgiveness from a Xhosa family. The book will be published by Naledi in South Africa in March 2025.
This brings my friendship with David and Robert full circle. David provided some great ideas for a chapter in Truth & Conciliation entitled ‘Angola, 1980’ and Robert served as a superb developmental reader and critic for the new book.
It all started in Polly van der Mescht’s class more than fifty years ago — but I hope that our love for literature is far from over.
Berend Mets MB ChB, PhD, MFA. January 2025