''Yiza,Thabo!''


Book Description

“I’m sure that you’re up there amongst those stars, Mama,” Then he smiled and sighed happily, “Ehh, Ehh, Life is going to be absolutely wonderful after all, isn’t it, Mama...” This story tells of a boy named Thabo, and later, a young man, who goes through many painful trials and tribulations in his boyhood but who also experiences the love of his father and, ultimately into his young adulthood, the love of his wife. After losing his much loved mother to a long, agonising illness, he is faced with the constant demands to “Yiza, Thabo!” (‘Come here, Thabo!’) by his stepmother and his teacher both of which precipitate a surprisingly resentful reaction to what he feels is his mother’s ‘desertion’ of him. Unusual as feelings of resentment and anger are in the grieving process, the story makes them believable in terms of Thabo’s specific experiences.




Armien's Fishing Trip


Book Description

While visiting his aunt and uncle in the little South African village of Kalk Bay, Armien stows away in his uncle's fishing boat and becomes an unexpected hero.




The Wrath of the Ancestors


Book Description

A Xhosa prince reluctantly leaves the University College of Fort Hate and goes back to the land of his ancestors to take his place as king of the Mpondomise. The clash of his modem ideas and the traditional beliefs of his people mirrors the dash of the western way of life with African custom and tradition -- church-people versus traditionalists, school people versus 'red-ochre people', boarding school activities versus the inkundla or assembly at the royal place. The conclusion, that disaster can be averted only by the willingness of opposing forces to work together for mutual comprehension of the legitimate claims of tradition and modernity, gives a foretaste of the spirit that governed modern South Africa's political transformation. Ingqumbo Yeminyanya -- The Wrath of the Ancestors -- is a classic of Xhosa literature. A C Jordan has a keen eye for detail, a delightful sense of humour and a dramatic style. Literal translations of Xhosa images, idioms and proverbs transport readers to the Tsolo district and conjure up the memorable speeches of the Mpondomise counsellors.




''Yiza,Thabo!''


Book Description

"I'm sure that you're up there amongst those stars, Mama," Then he smiled and sighed happily, "Ehh, Ehh, Life is going to be absolutely wonderful after all, isn't it, Mama " This story tells of a boy named Thabo, and later, a young man, who goes through many painful trials and tribulations in his boyhood but who also experiences the love of his father and, ultimately into his young adulthood, the love of his wife. After losing his much loved mother to a long, agonising illness, he is faced with the constant demands to "Yiza, Thabo!" ( Come here, Thabo!') by his stepmother and his teacher both of which precipitate a surprisingly resentful reaction to what he feels is his mother's desertion' of him. Unusual as feelings of resentment and anger are in the grieving process, the story makes them believable in terms of Thabo's specific experiences.




Why is Nita Upside Down?


Book Description

Nita feels like she's different and doesn't fit in. But when she talks to her friends, she realises everyone is different and that's what makes us special. Your purchase of this book supports Library For All in its mission to make knowledge available to all, equally.




Xhosa Poets and Poetry


Book Description

Xhosa oral poetry has defied the threats to its integrity over two centuries, to take its place in a free South Africa. This volume establishes the background to this poetic re-emergence, preserving and transmitting the voice of the Xhosa poet.







Loud and Yellow Laughter


Book Description

Sindiswa Busuku-Matheses debut collection of poetry Loud and Yellow Laughter, published by Botsotso, was awarded the 2018 Ingrid Jonker prize for poetry. Busuku Matheses entry was described by one judge as completely original: the presentation of family history as a play, in which the narrator is an unreliable character. The poet was praised for the the mix of WW2 history, the narrators dilemmas about being adopted, and the way she manages to weave these together without ever losing her balance or falling into incongruity. Another judge highlighted how Busuku Matheses memoir in the form of a collage offers fragments in several voices, some of them reconstructed. [The collection] movingly reflects the quest of the The Girl Child, as intimate curator of family memory and experience, to integrate the surprising puzzle that is her current self. The original version of this collection was written as part of the poets Masters thesis in Creative Writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A collection of 39 pieces, some mystical and elliptical, some seemingly mundane snatches of prose-poetry that retain a poetic intensity, together they create an atmosphere of nostalgia tinged with a subtle yet matter-of-fact sadness. Accompanied by a series of graphic images, made up of old photographic portraits and scenes of natural beauty.




Song of the Broken String


Book Description

The /Xam Bushmen, hunters, gatherers, some poets among them, were a stone age people who survived nearly 5,000 years in the region now known as the Cape Province of South Africa. By the turn of this century they had completely disappeared, destroyed finally by the murderous European settlement of the interior. Song of the Broken String has its provenance in the oral tradition of this ancient culture. In the 1860s, a German linguist named W. H. Bleek become aware of the genocide in progress. Taking into his service three /Xam Bushmen he found working as convict laborers in a chain gang, he set about preserving a small part of their heritage. After devising a phonetic notation of the /Xam's language, he transcribed the personal narratives, songs, and folktales of these three men and translated them into English. Housed in an archive at the University of Cape Town, the 12,000 pages of the Bleek and Lloyd Collection are all that remains of this people and their language. Stephen Watson, a contemporary South African poet, has explored this archive, "re-translating" Bleek's word-for-word English prose into poems in which something of the power of those original voices lives on, however filtered through the 19th century ethnographer and the 20th century writer. The results not only offer a path into a powerful oral tradition, but also raise questions about the ways in which we listen to and "translate" cultures that are distant or lost. Song of the Broken String does not bring back the /Xam, it is not a collection of artifacts. Something survives here that is almost monumental, certainly beautiful. Stephen Watson, a contemporary South African poet and writer, has explored this archive, "re-translating" Bleek's word- for- word English prose into poems in which the power of these original voices would live on. However filtered through the 19th century ethnographer and the 20th century writer, poetry seemed the obvious form for this dialogue. The results not only offer a way into a powerful oral tradition but also raise questions about the ways in which we listen to and "translate" cultures that are distant or lost, cultures in whose fate we are somehow complicit. Song of the Broken String does not bring back the /Xam, but it makes their ghosts vital presences in our own literary tradition.




Political Marketing


Book Description

A guiding principle in creating Political Marketing has been to examine the ways in which culture, politics, and society interrelate in the field of political marketing. In the course of the book, the editors and contributors consider ‘culture’ as a distinctive concept with transformative capacities that need further and deeper development in the engineering of the political marketing process. This may be introduced and, consequently, lead to broad formulation of a ‘campaign culture’. Indeed, understanding and adapting a broader ‘campaign culture’, political marketing models may be seen as sets of pathways of key resources resulting viability in human assets, forms of influence, class stratification, alternative flows of information or networking and intercultural knowledge – sharing activity. This book consists of 18 chapters which deal with aspects of political marketing and ‘campaign culture.’ Theoretical chapters are found first, followed by two chapters that deal with theoretical issues which became a subject of research. Next presented are the articles that study aspects of electoral behavior, followed by the papers that analyze aspects of nationalism & national identity. Finally, the book concludes with three case studies on various issues in political marketing.