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Essays examining isiXhosa oral literature, novels and journalism and the interconnections between them in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Xhosa Literature: Spoken and Printed Words consists of fourteen essays addressing Xhosa literature in three media - the spoken word, newspapers and books. Literary critics tend to focus on Xhosa literature published in books; some attention has been paid to Xhosa oral poetry and tales, but by and large the contribution of newspapers to the development of Xhosa literature has been overlooked. This book explores aspects of Xhosa literature in all three media, and their interconnections.
Six of the essays treat historical narratives (
amabali) and praise poetry (
izibongo), setting out the social and ritual function of poetry and the poet (
imbongi), mapping changes in the
izibongo of three poets as South Africa moved towards democracy in the 1990s, and analysing recordings of two poems recited by S.E.K. Mqhayi. Three essays are devoted to the first Xhosa novel, Mqhayi's
U-Samson (1907), to the publication of the greatest novel in Xhosa, A.C. Jordan's
Ingqumbo yeminyanya (1940), and to the first published poem in praise of Nelson Mandela, D.L.P. Yali-Manisi's 'UNkosi Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela' (1954). There follow accounts of Xhosa literature in the nineteenth century and the appropriation of the press by Xhosa editors towards the end of that century, of Nontsizi Mgqwetho's fiery poetry published in
Umteteli wa Bantu and of poems by Mgqwetho and Mqhayi published in
Abantu-Batho, two Johannesburg newspapers. The volume concludes with an exposition of an imaginative response to David Yali-Manisi and his poetry.
University of KwaZulu-Natal Press: Southern African Development Community
List of contents
Preface
Foreword by Peter T. Mtuze
Prologue
1. Oral tradition, books, newspapers
Oral tradition
2. History as literature
3. Two recorded poems by S.E.K. Mqhayi
4.
Izibongo as invocation
5. The
imbongi as trickster (with P.A. McAllister)
6.
Izibongo on the cusp of change
Books
7. The first Xhosa novel: S.E.K. Mqhayi's
U-Samson (1907)
8. The publication of A.C. Jordan's novel,
Ingqumbo yeminyanya (1940)
9. The earliest published poem on Nelson Mandela (1954)
Newspapers
10. Nineteenth-century Xhosa literature
11. Fighting with the pen
12. The newspaper as empowering medium: the case of Nontsizi Mgqwetho
13.
Abantu-Batho and the Xhosa poets
Epilogue
14. A creative response to
izibongo:
The Dassie and the Hunter (2005)
Bibliography
About the author
Jeff Opland
