The World and the Word: Tales and Observations from the Xhosa Oral TraditionA master storyteller of the Xhosa people of South Africa, Nongenile Masithathu Zenani gives us an unprecedented view of an oral society from within. Twenty-four of her complex and beautiful tales about birth, puberty, marriage, and work, as told to the renowned collector of African oral tradition, Harold Scheub, are gathered here. Accompanying the stories are Zenani’s detailed commentaries and analyses and Scheub’s striking photographs of her in performance. The combination of these historical and cultural observations with a richly symbolic collection of tales from a single traditional storyteller make The World and the Word a remarkable document. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 45
... bride to eat . And that ox of the bride , which they had driven here , did eat the imbulu skin . At dawn on the next day , it was clear that the bridal party must go and get water and gather firewood . The members of the bridal party ...
... bride's beast whose tail would be plucked whenever the bride was unwell.1 The hair from the tail of this bride's beast would then be put around the bride's neck . The other beast was called the bridal party's beast.2 Early in the ...
... bride was on her side with the members of her own group , those who had come with her in the bridal party . The unveiling ceremony followed - the disclosure of the bride's face . And the master of ceremonies was mocked : as they were ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown