Verdict: carrot
An unusual article here: a carrot from the Mail & Guardian’s Chris Roper, not necessarily for the writing in popstar singer Steve Hofmeyr’s Mense van my asem, but for the very fact of the book and its contents, which, the reviewer-cum-analyst writes, shed a significant amount of light on the state of white, Afrikaans identity as we cross the threshold of the 21st century’s second decade:
A man like Hofmeyr is particularly suited to grappling with issues of identity. Primarily, this is because, as this book describes, Steve Hofmeyr the public figure is largely a construct of happenstance and commercial imperative, and as with all such cultural memes, at the mercy of whoever chooses to translate it for their own ends.
But also, there’s the strange fact that, for some reason, people habitually misspell his name. Pictures of his various awards, for example, show that many are attributed to Steve “Hofmeyer”. It’s a curious thing, and in its way a trenchant comment on the media and music industries.
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