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
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... initiate graduates at about the beginning of the ploughing season . At the first ploughing , the plots are cultivated by the initiates ; no woman may approach them . The seed is sent to the initiates in the fields , carried by the girls ...
... initiates go to the home of the chief initiate , and that lodge in which they have been living is set on fire . The circumcised youth will be told , “ You must not look back and see the lodge burning ! " If an initiate should look back ...
... initiate was cared for ; that initiate was cared for . At dawn , a beast was slaughtered for the initiate . The beast of the ritual- entry - into - the - initiation - house was slaughtered ; then the beast of the sec- ond stage of the ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
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