Writer, critic, and teacher Dan Jacobson's writing seems haunted, both by his South African origins and by his Jewish heritage. A pioneer in South African fiction, he has written strikingly about his homeland and has received acclaim for his literary craftsmanship. His work enjoys considerable popularity with the public, particularly in Great Britain. His fiction includes twelve novels, one a Literary Guild selection, and six volumes of short stories. He has also written autobiographical and travel works, as well as well-respected critical essays and books on literature, religion, and culture. He is professor emeritus at University College, London, where he has taught literature for more than twenty years.

Jacobson has received the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, the Jewish Chronicle / H. H. Wingate Award, the J. R. Ackerley Prize for autobiography, and the Mary Elinor Smith Poetry Prize. He has also twice...