The Seed and the Sower The Seed and the Sower The Seed and the Sower is a book by South African writer Laurens van der Post, consisting of three interrelated stories blended into a novel, first published in 1963. The novel was filmed in 1983 as "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence", directed by Nagisa Oshima and starring David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takeshi Kitano. The first story is set in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp in Java during World War II and is a first person account of the relationship between John Lawrence, a British officer, and Sergeant Hara, one of the camp’s
Laurens van der Post 1998. Ingaret died five months after him on 5 May 1997. After his death a number of writers questioned the accuracy of van der Post's claims about his life. His reputation as a "modern sage" and "guru" was questioned, and journalists published examples of van der Post's embellishing the truth in his memoirs and travel books. A rebuttal was published by Christopher Booker (van der Post's "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" biographer and friend). For a complete list see External links. Film adaptations of his books. Laurens van der Post Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE (13 December 1906