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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... woman wept there by the side of the kraal . She cried , and the sun set . When the sun had set , she went into the house , still crying . And so she remained . Time passed . She wept in the house too , and the next day she was still ...
... woman said , " No ! Leave me alone ! Leave me alone ! Where are you taking me ? " They said , " You're going with us ! " The young woman screamed and kicked , scratching them , biting , try- ing to get away , angrily accusing them of ...
... woman helping the man . Sometimes , the woman may learn how to plough on her own . If her husband happens to be absent from the homestead , the woman will gather her children together and plough the field on her own , without the help ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
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