Dream Life and Real Life: A Little African Story

Olive Schreiner1893

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Chapters: 4

Summary

Dream Life and Real Life: A Little African Story is an English short-story collection by the South African writer Olive Schreiner, published in 1893. In the dedication the author notes that the earliest of these pieces was written for her brother Fred's school magazine and ranks among her first literary efforts. The volume is brief, comprising three works. The title story, Dream Life and Real Life, follows little Janita, an indentured child herding Angora goats for Boer farmers on the Karoo veld, who falls asleep under the fierce sun and hunger, dreams that her father has come back to life and is taking her home to Denmark, and wakes to the harsh reality of a stolen goat. The Woman's Rose uses a single white rose as its thread to trace a brief but moving bond of admiration between women. "The Policy in Favour of Protection—" centres on a woman writer and a young woman who seeks her help, touching on love, reputation, and the limits of female solidarity. Set against the red sand, thorn bushes, and white milkwood of the Karoo, the stories are restrained in tone and clear in imagery, setting dream against waking to reveal the poverty, racial divisions, and gendered conditions of colonial South Africa. The book is often included in English classics collections and public-domain e-book libraries, offering an accessible entry point into Schreiner's short fiction.

Editor's review

施赖纳最广为人知的是长篇小说《一个非洲农场的故故》（The Story of an African Farm），而这本1893年的小册子更像她写作生涯的一枚切片：三篇短文，字数不多，却已经把她一生关心的东西都放了进去——荒原上的孩子、被制度压低的女性、殖民地里的贫困与不公，以及女性之间那种不必言说的彼此扶助。同名篇目的结构极简：一个女孩在烈日下睡着，梦里是父亲与归乡，醒来是山羊被偷、责罚将至。梦与醒的落差就是全部的力量所在，几乎没有一句多余的抒情。第二篇《The Woman's Rose》用一朵白玫瑰写两位女子在舞会前的短暂交会，写到最后只剩一枚干枯的花，是英语短篇里少见的温柔笔触。第三篇则把镜头转向都市书房，讨论女性之间的援手可以走到哪一步。对读惯了长篇名著的读者来说，这本书的好处是轻：一小时可以读完，却能立刻感受到施赖纳的目力与克制。本版为英文原著，适合作为英语阅读与南非文学专题的补充读物，建议读完后再回到《一个非洲农场的故事》，能看到同一片卡鲁荒原在长短两种篇幅里的不同呈现。

Who it's for

A good fit for

已经读过《一个非洲农场的故事》，想补读施赖纳短篇的读者
把南非文学、殖民时代书写作为阅读专题的文学爱好者
准备英语原版短篇小说阅读、偏好文本短小易完成的读者
关注早期女性写作与女性情谊主题的读者

Not a good fit for

期待完整长篇情节与复杂人物弧线的读者
英语阅读起步、需要大量注释与词汇辅助的初学者
希望读到南非历史系统论述或社会调查的读者

Reading tips

全书三篇篇幅很短，建议一次读完，再回看同名篇目的梦境段落与现实段落如何呼应。
遇到 Kopje、kraal、sluit、stoep 等南非语词汇，可先读文末词汇表再回正文，理解荒原地貌。
把《The Woman's Rose》与同时代英语短篇中的女性友谊书写并读，比较容易看出施赖纳的克制之处。
读完本书可接着读《一个非洲农场的故事》，对照同一片卡鲁荒原在长短两种篇幅中的呈现。

Dream Life and Real Life: A Little African Story
The Woman's Rose
"The Policy in Favour of Protection——"
Notes: Glossary of South African terms such as Kopjes, Kraal, Krantz, Sluit, and Stoep

FAQ

《Dream Life and Real Life》是一部长篇小说吗？

不是。它是1893年出版的英文短篇集，篇幅很短，通常收录《Dream Life and Real Life》《The Woman's Rose》《"The Policy in Favour of Protection——"》三篇作品，一小时左右即可读完。

这本书和《一个非洲农场的故事》是什么关系？

两者作者同为奥利芙·施赖纳，背景同为南非卡鲁荒原，但《一个非洲农场的故事》是长篇小说，本书是短篇集，篇幅与结构完全不同，可以看作同一作者、同一片土地上的另一种写法。

书名中的“Dream Life”指什么？

同名篇目里，牧羊女孩小詹妮塔在烈日下睡去，梦见父亲没有死、要带她回丹麦；醒来后现实依旧严酷。书名指向的就是梦境与现实的这层对照。

这本书适合用来学英语吗？

适合有一定基础、希望尝试原版短篇的读者：篇幅短、句子清晰。但它带有南非荷兰语词汇与19世纪用词，完全零基础读者最好搭配注释版或导读。

为什么市面上多是英文版或电子版？

该书原作出版于1893年，已进入公有领域，因此常以英文原著、电子书或英语名著合集的形式流传，国内独立的中文译本较少见。

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About the author

Olive Schreiner Author

Olive Schreiner holds a distinctive place in the history of South African literature in English, though details of her life remain limited in publicly available sources. The library holds four of her works, all presented in their original English editions, including Dream Life and Real Life: A Little African Story and Dreams. These works show her gift for dreamlike, allegorical narrative shaped by African experience, with concise prose rich in symbolism that reflects on reality and ideals within short forms. Her writing combines literary quality with intellectual depth and is often classed as foreign literature and original-language editions; it has offered some inspiration to later women writers in South Africa and the English-speaking world.