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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | 'The Burden of Empathy': John X. Merriman, F.S. Malan and Phyllis Lewsen's Quest for Biographical Authenticity |
| Author: | Mouton, F.A. |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Periodical: | South African Historical Journal |
| Issue: | 55 |
| Pages: | 125-141 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | biography politicians History and Exploration |
| About persons: | John Xavier Merriman (1841-1926) François Stephanus Malan (1871-1941) Phyllis Lewsen |
| External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582470609464934 |
| Abstract: | In her lifetime, and on her death in 2001, Phyllis Lewsen was praised as one of South Africa's outstanding historians. Her 'magnum opus' on John X. Merriman (1841-1926), the Cape colonial politician and premier, entitled 'John X. Merriman: paradoxical South African statesman' (1982), is an intellectual 'tour de force'. But 'Merriman' also serves as a warning of how empathy for a subject can influence a first-rate biographer. It may even encourage the unintentional slanting of events and conclusions. In 'Merriman', Lewsen maintains a perfect balance, until she gets to Merriman's bitter disappointment when General Louis Botha becomes South Africa's first premier in 1910. In dealing with this setback, Lewsen, who sees the premiership as her subject's due, becomes distinctly partisan. To vindicate Merriman, she unintentionally misrepresents the personality and actions of F.S. Malan (1871-1941), a leading Cape Afrikaner politician. Lewsen believes that Malan's machinations played a crucial role in denying her subject the Union premiership. The present article reflects upon the complexity and ambiguity of the events surrounding Malan's failure to support Merriman for the premiership and indicates a number of Lewsen's factual mistakes. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
