G.H. Franz’s &lt;i&gt;Modjadji&lt;/i&gt; : archetypes of time and the transcendence of history

L.P Boshego,D.W Lloyd

doi:10.4102/lit.v30i3.92

Abstract

This article examines the Northern Sotho play, “Modjadji”, written by G.H. Franz. The text, about which there is little significant critical literature, presents in mythological terms the quest of the Lobedu rain queen, Modjadji, for secure governance and release from the exigencies of history, both for herself and her people. Through staged ritual, the play evokes archetypes of time to raise a mythic consciousness. This ontology employs a notion of circular time to transcend linearity and its inexorable teleology. Ultimately, the text attempts to extract viable elements of traditional epistemology in order to accommodate its addressees to modernity.

Highlights

Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future And time future contained in time past
In 1926, he became inspector for Bantu Education in the Free State, and in 1930 became chief inspector for Bantu Education in the Transvaal. He spoke six languages fluently and wrote dramas, short stories and novels in Northern Sotho, Afrikaans and English (Franz, 1981: intro.) His main theme is the reconciliation between tradition and modernity, black and white (Franz, 1981:intro.). His English novel Tau, the chieftain’s son (Franz, 1929) and Modjadji are atypical in that both are set in an ahistorical precolonial past where they focus on traditional tribal blacks and the dilemmas they experience
The Northern Sotho would not carry the baggage of apartheid and European condescension nearly as much, even though it was written by a white Afrikaner

Summary

Introduction: the writer

In 1926, he became inspector for Bantu Education in the Free State, and in 1930 became chief inspector for Bantu Education in the Transvaal He spoke six languages fluently and wrote dramas, short stories and novels in Northern Sotho, Afrikaans and English (Franz, 1981: intro.) His main theme is the reconciliation between tradition and modernity, black and white (Franz, 1981:intro.). His English novel Tau, the chieftain’s son (Franz, 1929) and Modjadji are atypical in that both are set in an ahistorical precolonial past where they focus on traditional tribal blacks and the dilemmas they experience. While this may be true of the Afrikaans version, it is one of the aims of this article to show the contrary in the case of the Northern Sotho original

The narrative

Historicity

The archetypes of time and history

Interpretative analysis of Modjadji

Conclusion