cover image TELLER OF MANY TALES: The Lives of Laurens van der Post

TELLER OF MANY TALES: The Lives of Laurens van der Post

J. D. F. Jones, . . Carroll & Graf, $28 (528pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-1031-7

Once, when departing South African Bushman country, Laurens van der Post (1906–1996) wrote, "I am sad to leave this land of my childhood." Jones adds immediately that the area "had nothing to do with Laurens's childhood." So goes this curious life of the novelist, travel writer, adviser to Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles, and self-styled celebrity who was also, as it turned out, an obsessive fabricator who "lived off half-truths and fictional facts." When van der Post, the author of such celebrated books as Venture to the Interior, A Far-Off Place, Journey into Russia and The Lost World of the Kalahari, died, a doctor who knew him too well, when asked the cause of his death, suggested that "he had become weary of sustaining so many lies." In fact, according to Jones, almost nothing he wrote or said about his life stands up to biographical scrutiny. Although van der Post was an authentic adventurer and survivor of a Japanese prison camp in Java, he also parlayed his immense charm—and the editorial skills of his put-upon second wife—into "nonfiction" bestsellers that embellished his experiences in exotic locales he actually visited only briefly. Jones, a journalist and novelist (The Buchan Papers), cuts a path through the camouflage and distortion at which the author so excelled. Though there are some longueurs to overcome (especially the plot summaries of van der Post's many books), Jones's exposé, often surprisingly generous to its slippery subject, is admirably researched and difficult to put down—though lovers of van der Post's work may be shocked. 16 pages of b&w photos. (July)