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. |
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... beginning , in the old times . Such tales go back as far as ancestral time , to the age of the first people . But these works did not resemble what we have in contemporary times . At first , nothing was bought . People ate food very ...
... beginning , it is said , the first human came into being naturally . He achieved form as a human being ; he quite clearly was a person . He came to be regarded as the archetype , the first human being . That was the beginning of what ...
... beginning , people said , " What is the matter with this person , Friends ? She is not like other people . " " What sort of person might she be ? " " This person who is so excitable- " " This person who does not eat- " " This person who ...
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
PrologueOrigins | 9 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Copyright | |
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