Transvaal Episode
Harry Bloom1981

Harry Bloom's first novel is a rare find-a work in which style and subject, imagination and background blend into a story rich in power and promise. Set in the town of Nelstrom in the Transvaal, Episode is concerned with relations between Africans who live in the town's "Location" and their white neighbors. One day a new man came to live in the location. His name was Walter Mabaso and his arrival was the signal for new currents, new tensions, new emotions to stir in its shabby streets and houses. The location superintendent, Hendrik Du Toit, was a serious and hardworking man who set out not only to please his employers,the Town Council, but the location people too. But he would have been amazed to know that his honest, earnest and elevated motives made him into a tyrant in the location. These two men-Mabaso and Du Toit-are strongly drawn individuals. They are also symbols and are responsible, in some degree, for what follows. From a tiny incident in the incident in the life of the location grows a fire which sweeps the whole town and its inhabitants.