From Man to Man or Perhaps Only—

Olive Schreiner, Dorothy Driver (University of Cape Town)

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English

Oxford University Press
05 February 2026

Series: Oxford World's Classics

""I've lived in so many countries, yet when anything comes to me, it's nearly always AfricaDLAfrica that sets it.""

Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man or Perhaps Only—, unfinished at the time of her death and posthumously published in 1926, tells the story of two white women born into the racist, society of mid-nineteenth-century South Africa. One sister remains in the British Cape Colony and finds a way to deal with her husband's infidelities. The other raped at age 15, is hounded out of her insular white South African community, and becomes a kept woman in London's East End. Addressing the ill-effects of a male-dominated imperial capitalism, and positing an equivalence between marriage and prostitution in a society where women's function is primarily sexual, the novel foregrounds the perspective of a young black girl in order to place before its readers the vision of what Schreiner called an ""expanded and enlarged humanity"".

Edited by Dorothy Driver, and based partly on manuscript amendments by Schreiner, reproduces two alternative endings, one apparently told to her husband-editor, and summarised by him, and the other she wrote in a letter to a friend. Driver also provides literary, historical, and linguistic context through an in-depth introduction and expansive notes. This edition includes extracts from Schreiner's letters and journals that cast light on the genesis, composition, and final abandonment of the novel.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around theglobe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of othervaluable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies forfurther study, and much more.

By: Olive Schreiner
Volume editor: Dorothy Driver (University of Cape Town)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 195mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 403g
ISBN: 9780192883056
ISBN 10: 0192883054
Series: Oxford World's Classics
Pages: 560
Publication Date: 05 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dorothy Driver is Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town, and an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her literary-critical research is primarily in the field of Southern African literature written in English, with a special focus on the intersections of gender and race, and on writing by women. She has produced several journal essays, book chapters and booklets on Olive Schreiner, primarily on From Man to Man.