known for his sharp wit and gentle manner. He owned an imaginary elephant named Herrie ("Harry") that appeared in many of his stories. He even carved its name onto a boulder next to the N12 highway near Meiringspoort (outside Oudtshoorn) in 1929. This boulder, known as Herrie's Stone ("Herrie se Klip", in Afrikaans), has been declared a provincial heritage site. Legacy The Stellenbosch University Student Center is named after him and is affectionately known as "Die Neelsie" ("The Neelsie"). South African filmmaker Manie van Rensburg made a light-hearted comedic television series based on Langenhoven's work in 1983, titled Sagmoedige Neelsie. To celebrate the centenary of his birth, the South African Post Office issued C.J. Langenhoven stamps in 1973. A suburb in the west of Bloemfontein called Langenhoven Park was named after him. Langenhoven is regarded as one of the most prolific and most versatile Afrikaans writers still today, his Collected Works comprising 16 volumes. He is also fondly remembered and referred to for his quirky personality. The place he and his family lived in, called the Arbeidsgenot, (meaning "the pleasure of work" or "the joy of labour") has been turned into a house museum. They lived there from 1901 until 1950. Nelson Mandela recounts that in 1964 while in prison he read a book by Langenhoven called Shadows of Nazareth about the trial of Jesus Christ that deeply affected him. Mandela describes how in Langenhoven's book Pilate agreed to judge Jesus, then offered the public a choice that freed not Jesus but the zealot Barabbas, and then how he, Pilate, finally ordered Jesus brought into the Roman court. "He gazed upwards and his eyes seemed to pierce through the roof and to see right beyond the stars," wrote Langenhoven. "It became clear that in that courtroom authority was not in me as a judge, but was down below in the dock where the prisoner was." References Notes External links The home of C.J. Langenhoven in Oudtshoorn See also the Afrikaans link from which this translation was originally derived 1873 births 1932 deaths Afrikaans-language poets People from the Western Cape Afrikaner people South African people of German descent South African people of Dutch descent 20th-century South African poets Stellenbosch University alumni National anthem writers Hertzog Prize winners for prose South African politicians South African male poets 20th-century South African male writers South African Freemasons Translators to Afrikaans