Mhudi (Paperback)

This is arguably the most important work in early South African literature. The first novel in English by a black South African, it was written just before 1920 but is set in the 1830s - a period of decisive conflict between the Ndebele, the Barolong, the Griqua and the Boers. It is not just an historical novel, though, but is deeply political in its exploration of the origins of segregation and its implicit attack on the 1913 Land Act, the basis of territorial apartheid. Stylistically it is a pioneering work that combines the forms of the novel and the epic with African oral traditions. It is also a great love story, and its heroine, Mhudi - a woman of indomitable courage, endurance and humour - is one of the unforgettable characters in African literature. A remarkable work, Mhudi is the creation of an extraordinary man. Writer, journalist, editor, diarist, historian, linguist, translator, and social worker, Sol Plaatje helped to found the South African Native National Congress (later renamed the African National Congress) and served as its first secretary-organiser.;In preparing this edition Professor Tim Couzens, of the Institute for Advanced Social Research at the University of the Witwatersrand, has returned to the author's own typescript, reinstating material that was omitted from the first edition, to produce a version that is closer than any other, it is believed, to Plaatje's original, larger conception. Supplementing the text are extracts from some of Plaatje's other writings and an editorial commentary that will help readers to explore and enjoy this great landmark in Southern African literature.