I liked this book so much. Aside from enjoying the actual reading of the book (strange sentence), I actually loved the object, the book itself. It has these great pictures in it that I will scan in and show you. And yes - books with pictures in them are still marginally better than books without pictures in them. (Depending on, of course, the book and the pictures.)
This is the copy I have, part of the African Writers Series:
Isn't it beautiful? The first thing someone would say about this book (and it is the first thing I usually say) is that it is the first novel to be written in English by a black South African. Sol Plaatje, the author, was also one of the founders of the South African Native National Congress (today known as the ANC). It was definitely finished by 1920, possibly earlier (many people say 1913) but only published in 1930.
It is an epic historical piece of fiction set in the 1830s and there is a lot going on throughout the whole book. It reminds me of Shakespeare and tells of grand battles and grander love and all of those wonderful things that makes violent human beings so shitty and confusing and fascinating.
I don't feel like I am knowledgable enough to expand fully on this book... Do you mind if I quote from the back of the book? Cheating, I know, but surely that's what they are there for?
"Mhudi, a woman of endurance and courage, saves her future husband Ra-Thaga at a time when Mzilikazi's Matabele soliders raiding the Barolong in Botswana..."
Then Bessie Head says it's a beautiful book and I nod in agreement. But there is (much) more to the story than that. I've never read a novel about South Africa in 1830s that had no English characters. You read about the defeated Barolong tribe, crushed by the Matabele soldiers. But you also read about the Matabele and their king, the ruthless Mzilikazi and somehow Plaatje gets you to empathize with both. You read about the Boers and get a taste of the terrible things yet to come. Interesting and strange dynamics regarding gender, considering the extreme patriarchal set up our heroine, Mhudi, is pretty sassy and incredible. You get a sense of the magnitude of violence and injustice, when thousands of soldiers with spears die simply and quickly from the gunfire of White Europeans.
Despite all of this, you somehow feel good and the end of the story, I really can't say why or how.
I desperately wanted to be clever when writing about this book. And I promise I do have clever thoughts when reading but they go away when I try write about it. Egh. What's the point of a blog, anyway?
Here are some pictures:
(I have searched the entire book and I still don't know when these exquisite pictures were created or who made them... If anyone knows - let me know!)
This is the copy I have, part of the African Writers Series:
Isn't it beautiful? The first thing someone would say about this book (and it is the first thing I usually say) is that it is the first novel to be written in English by a black South African. Sol Plaatje, the author, was also one of the founders of the South African Native National Congress (today known as the ANC). It was definitely finished by 1920, possibly earlier (many people say 1913) but only published in 1930.
It is an epic historical piece of fiction set in the 1830s and there is a lot going on throughout the whole book. It reminds me of Shakespeare and tells of grand battles and grander love and all of those wonderful things that makes violent human beings so shitty and confusing and fascinating.
I don't feel like I am knowledgable enough to expand fully on this book... Do you mind if I quote from the back of the book? Cheating, I know, but surely that's what they are there for?
"Mhudi, a woman of endurance and courage, saves her future husband Ra-Thaga at a time when Mzilikazi's Matabele soliders raiding the Barolong in Botswana..."
Then Bessie Head says it's a beautiful book and I nod in agreement. But there is (much) more to the story than that. I've never read a novel about South Africa in 1830s that had no English characters. You read about the defeated Barolong tribe, crushed by the Matabele soldiers. But you also read about the Matabele and their king, the ruthless Mzilikazi and somehow Plaatje gets you to empathize with both. You read about the Boers and get a taste of the terrible things yet to come. Interesting and strange dynamics regarding gender, considering the extreme patriarchal set up our heroine, Mhudi, is pretty sassy and incredible. You get a sense of the magnitude of violence and injustice, when thousands of soldiers with spears die simply and quickly from the gunfire of White Europeans.
Despite all of this, you somehow feel good and the end of the story, I really can't say why or how.
I desperately wanted to be clever when writing about this book. And I promise I do have clever thoughts when reading but they go away when I try write about it. Egh. What's the point of a blog, anyway?
Here are some pictures:
(I have searched the entire book and I still don't know when these exquisite pictures were created or who made them... If anyone knows - let me know!)
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