The world and the word: tales and observations from the Xhosa oral tradition

Abstract

A master storyteller of the Xhosa people of South Africa, Nongenile Masithathu Zenani gives us an unprecedented view of an oral society from within. 24 of her 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 with Scheub's striking photographs of her in performance. text gives a combination of historical and cultural observations with a symbolic collection of tales from a single traditional storyteller. author presents to us the entire world of the the Xhosa people, how they first came to be, the origins of their customs, how they order their world and deal with transgressors, how they manage all of life's transitions from birth to death. She depicts both the world as it exists and as it is shaped in the words of the storyteller. Inheriting tales from the Xhosa tradition, Zenani has transformed them into imaginative new stories marked by her artistry. Scheub's introduction to The World and the Word discusses Xhosa oral tradition and Zenani's particular characteristics as an artist within that tradition; Zhenani's personal history and her work as both a storyteller and a healer; and Scheub's friendship with her and his role in recording her legacy.