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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... Never have we seen such a bridegroom ! " " This is an extraordinary groom . " He was quiet ; he did not speak again . He was taken to a dirty house . It had manure in it ; there were fleas and bedbugs in it . The calves were sleeping ...
... never say anything contrary to this child . I'd never tell her something that contradicts what you have already told her . Yes , her hus- band should take another wife , because my daughter hasn't given birth to a male child . That is a ...
... never been dis- charged ! You have the brazenness to attempt to drive these cattle away ! " The young man confronted his senior mother ; they quarreled , as she contested his insistence that the cattle were his . Then she went and laid ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
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