RaDical MiDDle - ColdType

162 | denis beckett
Bobby Godsell at anglo american came back glowingly about
the “impact this book will undoubtedly have”. Ton Vosloo at
Nasionale Pers glowed at higher wattage. “You cut through the
hogwash and drivel with the sharpest blade I have ever seen in
action, stripping away all preconceptions which anybody and
everybody, including yours truly, has ever had... ek kan amper
sê ek voel so sterk soos Paulus wie se oë oopgegaan het.” [I can
almost say I feel as strong as Paul whose eyes were opened.]
I asked Murray coombes at Penguin to run it past his
editorial eye. He gave it to John allen, Penguin’s MD, who
offered to publish it. Ton Vosloo had passed it on to Danie van
Niekerk, MD of Tafelberg, who did the same. Danie wanted do
a run of 3,000, by february. february seemed an eternity away
and I had no desire to sit on the thing for another eight months
while the subject matter moved. also Danie wanted me to cut it
down by a quarter, and at the time I thought I’d already cut it to
the bone. John allen talked of more – 8 000 – and sooner – “by
about October”. The “about” bothered me, plus that John was
strong on that I’d have to go on author’s tours and interviews,
which made me shudder. Doug Band at the cNa agreed to
buy 1,000 outright, which assured me of something to pay the
printers with, so I did it myself, thereby scoring yet another
notch on a crowded fuselage of errors.
We had a “function” in august to launch the book – the
first “function” in Frontline’s history. It was a breakfast at the
Blue room in the Johannesburg Station. I liked the symbolism
– the old world battling to come to terms with the new. I also
liked the prices; this venue was far from fashionable. There
were about 30 people – editors and commentators. I earnestly
appealed to them to engage the debate rather than praise the
book. almost to a man, they thereupon went off to praise the
book and ignore the debate. In most cases they praised the
book to the skies, along with my good intentions and sincerity
etc, and wound up by saying in effect, “but forget it, because it’s
totally unrealistic”.
There were exceptions both ways. clem Sunter took most