ENGLISH NOVELS AFRICA PULSE OUP SA The Lawsuit of the Twins
Original title: Ityala Lamawele (isiXhosa) Original author: S.E.K. Mqhayi Translator: T. Mabeqa
“I’m laying a charge!” Which of the twins – Babini or Wele – should inherit the homestead when their father dies? This classic tale of a court case among the Xhosa
in precolonial times shows how the law and justice were applied with wisdom and consultation, and the importance of social values in these rulings. With his captivating court poetry and narrative structure, Mqhayi crafts a compelling story that echoes traditional Xhosa oral art forms.
“My first encounter with Ityala Lamawele was when we were political prisoners on Robben Island. In our poetry sessions, two of our comrades recited the forensic arguments in impeccable isiXhosa. Beyond the majestic language, I was intrigued by the tightly woven and compelling arguments in support of the competing claims. In any language, Ityala Lamawele is a classic tale of kinship, power and thoughtful contestation. It will please and teach at once.” – JUSTICE DIKGANG MOSENEKE
Suitable for Grade 12 and adults e-pub
978 0 19 074439 7 978 0 19 073419 0
No Matter When
Original title: Noma Nini (isiZulu) Original author: B.W. Vilakazi Translator: N. Sithole
Against the backdrop of the end of Mpande’s rule and the coming of the missionaries to Natal in the mid 1800s, a love story between Ntsikana and Nomkhosi unfolds. Or will it be
Thomas, who Minister Grout is grooming as a successor, that wins Nomkhosi’s hand, as two cultures intersect: the Kholwa (Believers) and the traditionalists.
“Noma Nini is a foundational text in the history of the African novel, a fact that its welcome translation will definitely impress upon a larger readership. Decades before the nationalist prose of the ‘60s and in an African language and a style that wove orature into its form, Vilakazi courageously and insightfully grappled with the complicated themes that flowed from the encroachments of Christianity, colonialism and industrialisation in South Africa. The narrative is a deft and evocative meditation on the pleasures, tensions and contradictions that confronted African converts and intellectuals. The politics of change, race, culture, gender and identity are front-and-centre in the text and invite further ref lection from contemporary readers.” – PROF BHEKIZIZWE PETERSON
Suitable for Grade 12 and adults e-pub
Don Jadu
Original title: UDon Jadu (isiXhosa) Original author: S.E.K. Mqhayi Translator: T. Mabeqa, N. Mpolweni and T. Ntwana
Mqhayi dreams of the reunification of the Xhosa people under the leadership of Don Jadu, a high-principled black statesman, in this utopian view of what it takes to create a great nation.
“There is no better time than the present to read Don Jadu, as the South African community attempts to restructure itself to regain lost values, in order that it can successfully and rationally live with a caring self in today’s complex world” – PROF NCEDILE SAULE
Suitable for Grade 12 and adults e-pub
978 0 19 073708 5 978 0 19 075088 6
978 0 19 073791 7 978 0 19 073871 6
Home is Nowhere
Original title: Asikho Ndawo Bakithi (isiZulu) Original author: M.J. Mngadi Translator: N. Sibiya
The misery of isiZulu people who are not allowed to own land, and are thus perpetually tenants becomes clear as we follow the Dubazana family and the horrors
they endure just trying to live honestly, in the midst of the political turbulence and faction violence of the mid 1990s in KwaZulu-Natal. Fast-paced but harrowing.
“Justice has been done. The translation of this modern-day isiZulu classic is long overdue. Now, for the first time, the wider world out there will get drawn into the throbbing heart of the unofficial civil war that wrecked South Africa from the mid-1980s right up to the day of the first democratic elections of 1994. By turns tender and furious, this novel will change the way the world sees South Africa.” – FRED KHUMALO, AUTHOR
Suitable for Grade 12 and adults e-pub
978 0 19 075361 0 978 0 19 073792 4
16 Oxford University Press South Africa
OxfordSASchools
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