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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... birth . The beast cannot be de- stroyed ; no one can take it from the young bride . It remains the token of her pro- tection by the home of her ancestors while she dwells in an unfamiliar place . The imbulu is an imaginative character ...
... birth pains . When he at last felt that the pains were especially intense , he went into the ant heap house and gave birth . He gave birth to a girl . . . .4 Her concern is for character , for verisimilitude of character and motivation ...
... birth to me . She bore me at her home of birth . Now , what does my name mean ? It's the reason you gave me a name like that to begin with . You gave me a name that reflected my situation at birth : your daughter had a child while she ...
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
PrologueOrigins | 9 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown