Bosman (1905-51) is considered by many to be South Africa's best humorist and short-story writer. This book containing a broad range of his work was published in 2001, in two small volumes.

The first (Starlight on the Veld: Stories) contained 23 pieces, comprising 14 stories featuring the narrator Oom Schalk Lourens and set in the Afrikaner past, 4 stories with multiple narrators and set mainly in the present -- the so-called Voorkamer (Front Room) tales -- and 5 essays written in the author's own voice.

The second (Recognising Blues: Humour) contained 30 works: 4 tales featuring Oom Schalk, 9 Voorkamer tales, 8 essays, 5 other short stories written in the author's own voice, 2 excerpts from Bosman's prison memoir, Cold Stone Jug, 1 poem and 1 piece of ephemera.

Most of the works ranged from 1930, when the author embarked on a professional writing career after release from prison, and 1951, when he died. There were also a few sketches from the early 1920s, which showed mainly a juvenile sense of humor.

Nine of the stories in The Best of Bosman were drawn from the author's famous short-story collection featuring Oom Schalk -- Mafeking Road -- and set in the Groot Marico district of the Transvaal. They were "Makapan's Caves," "The Rooinek," "The Music Maker," "Mafeking Road," "Starlight on the Veld," "In the Withaak's Shade," "Veld Maiden," "The Prophet" and "Splendours from Ramoutsa." At their best, these combined a distinctive narrative voice with humor -- ironic, mocking or bittersweet -- to describe people and events in a highly memorable way. "The Rooinek" in particular impressed for the way it progressed from humor to tragedy, with an outlook suggesting the common humanity of traditional enemies.

There were also several other Oom Schalk tales found here that weren't included in Mafeking Road, including "Marico Moon," the description of a wagon-ride back from a party and human attraction, which recalled Chekhov in its subtlety and ultimate tone of melancholy. And "Unto Dust," in which the common humanity of enemies was found in death.

Among the Voorkamer tales in The Best of Bosman, the standout for this reader was "A Bekkersdal Marathon." Like many of the author's short stories, it seemed mainly to poke fun at proprieties within the Boer community; in it, fervent churchgoers suffered a ridiculous misfortune. The essays included "Old Transvaal Story," a consideration of ways to tell ghost and murder tales, and "Witpoortjie Falls," a humorous description of Boer stubbornness, among other things.

Many of the other pieces in The Best of Bosman, for this reader, served mainly to show the gap that existed between the author's best pieces and the rest. In the Oom Schalk tales, the author created a memorable character with a distinctive voice, in stories that often were masterworks of concision and subtle observation. The Voorkamer tales, by comparison, written late in the author's life, often seemed to lack such focus and control, and the multiple voices weren't always as clear or interesting.

Likewise, most of the essays didn't equal the interest, point or concision of the Oom Schalk tales, except for "A Visit to Shanty Town." This, a description of Bosman's visit to a black slum outside Johannesburg, succeeded in combining levels of irony targeted at himself, the whites and maybe also the inhabitants. Like his best stories, it could be read again and again with interest and a shock of understanding.