Errol Lincoln Uys

9 Athens Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

March 4, 1991

Mr. James A. Michener

Texas Center for Writers

Perry-Castenada Library

University of Texas

Austin, TX 78713

Dear Jim,

My letters being few and far between, news about friend Uys has a tendency to be dramatic! Let me preface what follows by a quote: "Don't worry about me. – I have breathed the vivifying air of failure many times." (Samuel Becket). This said, be assured my own enthusiasm, courage, persistence have never been stronger.

I've dropped the Columbus/Dias/Gama book. I gave it a valiant shot, some 200,000 words on various versions, with decreasing results as the belief in a contest between the trio dwindled. No question about Dias/Gama, but Columbus? At the outset, the known crossing points in their lives and shared historical background encouraged speculation. The deeper I researched, the more profound my doubts, particularly about Columbus's intent to sail to "India." Specific arguments against this like Vignaud and others and my own gut feeling that the idea of a dynamic rivalry is seriously flawed.

Another might say damn the torpedoes and not let the facts stand in the way of a good yarn: With Columbus, especially at the Quincentenary, unless one was producing an outright fable or anachronistic novel, untrue and ill-founded conjecture will be laughed at. It would be foolish and dishonorable to continue with a half-hearted, doubt-ridden commitment that won't offer my publishers the kind of book they need for 1992. -- I scuttled this leaky ship a week ago, so have yet to learn if my English/German editors will join me on the voyage ahead.

Obviously, I didn't make this decision overnight. Do you remember on our walks in Maryland talking about some individuals who have to learn the hard, slow way…?

There are few good excuses for wasting time, which I certainly appear to have done since 1987. Allowing myself to be led down the wrong path by a medieval knight; a verkrampte Afrikaner; a white-haired Genoese. Of course, no effort is ever totally wasted, even if unwittingly a grim work of elimination, blow by blow…

Taking stock, what struck me above all is that I've spent far too long whining about Brazil's reception in the U.S. I was obsessed and deaf to the world-wide cheers for my achievement, especially those of la belle France . Worse, I threw up a barrier on a road along which a great teacher led me years ago: "There's the path," he said. "Follow it!"

I often look back with fondness to those times spent together on The Covenant . More than anything else, the experience inspired me to do my own thing, not trying to imitate James Michener, but learning from him. Finding the faith to go in search of Brazil.

I let that inner voice be silenced. Of course, it wasn't only whining but true hardship and disappointment. Not only the glorious fight against odds of getting a 1,000-page first novel in print, but a struggle against self and the small voice of the past:   Who was I, an "ex-reporter” from the South African backveld, coming to stand beside giants in America? When I wrote the last word of Brazil , I thought I'd won; little knowing the battle was just beginning.

“Some learn the slow, hard way...' So be it, only by God's grace, when it's time… Learn and accept! Even before I put my pen down on Brazil , I'd started looking at “Africa,” “Indonesia,” “Siberia,” other areas of compelling interest to me, all offering a unique and grand tapestry…. I turned away from such epic subjects because I was afraid. How wrong I was! I need only pick up a copy of Brazil to tell me so.

In between "wasting time,” for years I've brooded over a natural successor to Brazil . I've done the basic reading and have the general outline. Let me quote from my   “Work Book No. 1”:

"March 1, 1991. Made the decision to go ahead with my novel on Mexico. Working title: The Violent Sun . I will allow six months for research to Sept 1, 1991. (Boston/Texas/Mexico). I will write the book in 18 months from September 1, 1991 to March 1993.”

A great challenge, the Mexican labyrinth, but the so was Brazil. I go forward again, with a renewed sense of purpose. And joy.

Or, as they say in the old Transvaal, Voorwaarts ! About two years ago, my sons asked when I though apartheid would be abolished. They showed great surprise when I said within five years. Thusfar, the De Klerk/Mandela team are dragging the ossewa along bravely, still a long, rocky road though, so many factions on opposite sides with sjamboks! I read that if there were to be a “white” election, the true Boers would win handsomely. – Have you seen any interview with Verwoerd's son? Calling for a Boer republic, all white and wonderful, just like his pa promised. – I'm angered sometimes by the niggardly acknowledgement for those Afrikaners leading the revolution. God knows, they've needed courage. And still do,

You're so right about a “mess” in the Gulf. I've stopped talking to friends about it, for I seem so hopelessly out of step with a president, press, people, rejoicing in a victory said to have healed national pride. I feel only fear when I hear talk of our “miraculous” casualty rate. – Silence about tens upon tens of thousands of “I”-raqis slaughtered. A clean, first kill for a new world order? By the time this letter reaches you, Saddam will probably be gone, no great loss, but what will come in his place? The real victor: Iranian fundamentalism? It will be a “mess.” Only greater.

I'll let you know how I am progressing with THE VIOLENT SUN>

Best wishes to Mari.

(sgd Errol)