Lewis Nkosi
Encyclopedia
Lewis Nkosi was a South African writer and essayist. He was a multifaceted personality, and attempted every literary genre, literary criticism, poetry, drama, and novels.
for the magazine Ilanga lase Natal and in Johannesburg
for Drum.
and the Publications and Entertainment Act passed in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1961, he received a scholarship to study at Harvard, and he began his life in exile.
He was an editor for The New African in London
, and the NET in the United States. He became a Professor of Literature and held positions at the University of Wyoming
and the University of California-Irvine
, as well as at universities in Zambia
and Warsaw
, Poland
.
Mating Birds
'Mating Birds' is the narration of a South African Black educated native called Ndi Sibiya. He narrates the story from prison awaiting death sentence. As a jobless youth Sibiya wanders the city of Durban and reaches the segregated beach. There he finds a White girl on the other side of the fence (on the White side of the beach). They silently exchange looks and enter into a muted affair. They were well aware that race laws in South Africa would sentence them to imprisonment if caught. The White girl intentionally allows her naked body to be seen by Sibiya. He takes the entire episode as a love affair between the White girl and himself. The girl with her regular appearances on the beach and seeming interest dupes Sibiya into believing her.
After several silent meetings on the beach, Sibiya follows her to her bungalow, finds her lonely and willing, and enters into sexual copulation. But they are discovered by neighbours and the White girl accuses Sibiya of rape. A trail by White Judges begins. In the court the White girl Veronica denies any knowledge of Sibiya and reiterates the charge of rape against him. The court finds Sibiya guilty and sentences him to death.
The novel generated a controversy and received critical attention. The novel was awarded Macmillan Silver pen Prize in 1986 and New York Times declared it as one of the best hundred books in 1986.
Underground People
Nkosi’s second novel 'Underground People' is a political thriller. In this novel he moved away from the theme of inter racial sexual relations and centered the story on the armed struggle in South Africa.
Cornelius Molapo is a language teacher and a member of the National Liberation Movement, an organization waging armed war against the racist White minority government. He is a poet, a great orator, hungry reader of many books, and even plays cricket. He often criticizes the policy of the Central Committee and irks its members. To counter him, the Central Committee draws a strategy.The Central Committee of the Organization advises Cornelius to go to a remote part of the country called Tabanyane and to participate in peasants’ uprisings. The Central Committee plans to make use of his absence from mainstream life into an act of abduction by the Government. At first he hesitates, but reluctantly agrees. After reaching Tabanyane, Cornelius organizes the poor illiterate jobless country men into revolutionary men and leads them. In this task, he enlists the support of Princess Madi, who is a daughter of the deposed chief of Tabanyane. During the clandestine operations, he takes two White hostages into his custody; however he is unwilling to execute the unarmed civilians.
Meanwhile the Central Committee starts a big propaganda about the disappearance of Cornelius from duties and blames it on the South African police, who deny any knowledge of him. National Liberation Movement brings the matter to international organizations like United Nations and Human Rights International, and the latter sends its official Anthony Ferguson, who was born in South Africa and immigrated to England, to investigate the matter. Anthony’s sister and mother are still living in South Africa. After some rest he undertakes to search for Cornelius unsuccessfully.
The Central Committee members plagued by jealousy for his success as a revolutionary want to use the issue of White hostages for the release of their leader from prison, engage in talks with the Government and to observe ceasefire. But contrary to the expectations of the Central Committee, Cornelius defies and conducts attacks on the police stations and other locations. To escape police persecution, Cornelius leaves his hideout, and allows the White hostages to go unharmed. The White hostages reach police and recognize Cornelius’s photo and confirm his active presence in the fight.
Naturally police suspect the intentions of Anthony Ferguson and ask him to go to Tabanyane, to convince Cornelius for the surrender. He takes the help of a member of Central Committee and reaches Tabanyane. But Cornelius refuses to surrender and ditch the people for whom he had been fighting. Eventually police firing follows and he dies.
Mandela's Ego
Nkosi’s most recent and third novel ‘Mandela’s Ego’ (2006) has a strange story to tell. Dumisani Gumede is teenaged boy who has come of age in a Zulu village and runs after every girl and woman to satiate his newly acquired power. His uncle Simon tells him many stories about Nelson Mandela and makes him a follower of the great leader. In the story telling, Uncle Simon invents stories with lies and half-truths. He also tells Dumisani that Madela is a great pursuer of women. Taking cue from the real life of Mandela Dumisa goes unstopped in his conquests. In his village every girl falls to his charms except Nobuhle, a beautiful orphaned girl. His admiration for Mandela goes to the extent of starting a football club, with Dumisa as its chairman. He even goes to the city of Pietermartizburg to see Mandela, who comes there to address a convention demanding equal rights for all races and a dialogue among all the races.
After his schooling Dumisani joins a tourist company as a guide. Dumisani’s friend Sofa Sonke, driver of the tourist bus brings every day a newspaper from Durban for him. After many attempts to win Nobuhle, Dumisani finally succeeds and gets accepted by her. She invites him to meet her on the river bank. On the same day Dumisani receives the news of Mandela’s arrest. The news shocks him and takes his nerve away. When Dumisani tries to unite with Nobuhle his body fails. He tries again but fails. His sexual energy deserts him. Nobuhle leaves in tears.
Dumisani consults many, witch doctors, tribal doctors and conventional doctors in hospitals. But nothing fails to cure him. He leaves his home, wanders the country aimlessly. He reaches the middle age, one day he hears the news of Mandela’s release. He attends the first public address of Mandela after the release. He rejoices. In his joy he huddles a woman next to him and his lost sexual urge returns. His life is restored.
As opposed to apartheid, Nkosi's work explores themes of politics, relationships, and sexuality. His works, possessing great depth, received less recognition than they had actually deserved. In the post-apartheid era, his works are gaining critical attention across the third world. Interestingly, Nkosi joined forces with African powerhouse authors Chinua Achebe
and Wole Soyinka
in an interview in the third chapter of Bernth Lindfors' Conversations With Chinua Achebe. In 1978, Nkosi and composer Stanley Glasser
wrote a collection of six Zulu
-style songs called "Lalela Zulu" for The King's Singers, a group of six white British, male a cappella
singers.
Important Quotations of Lewis Nkosi
On the situation in South Africa during apartheid
Africans have learned that if they are remaining sane at all it is pointless to try to live within the law. In a country where the Government has legislated against sex, drinks, employment, free movement and many other things, which are taken for granted in the Western world, it would take a monumental kind of patience to keep up with the demands of the law. A man’s sanity may even be in question by the time he reaches the ripe age of twenty-five ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 22)
On black writers and their literature
black South Africans did not produce on elite which was alienated form the black masses or even from the conditions of everyday life under which our people laboured. In South Africa we were saved from the emergence of Black Bourgeoisie by the leveling effect of apartheid ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 32)
On his Exile
A writer needs his roots; he needs his people perhaps more than they need him in order that they should corroborate the vision he has of them, or at least, to dispute the statements he may make about their lives ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 93)
On the writers and commitment
…whether we consider ourselves revolutionaries or not, are playing a marginal role. We may be good for propaganda; we may raise some money and build up contacts for the people of South Africa-but there is no such thing as a revolution fought in exile, without a base among the oppressed masses of the country for which the change is desired ( Nkosi: On South Africa 286-292)
His observation of the history on the post apartheid South Africa far surpasses the meticulous historian:
“Ambushed by history, deprived of the moral and material support of the socialist camp by the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, a negotiated peace, between a lame government and weary liberation movements was probably the next best thing… The negotiated peace enacted what Doris Somer, writing about the South Africa, described as a “premature end of a history. ( The Republic of Letters: Mandela’s Republic)
Later life
Nkosi in his early twenties came to Johannesburg and joined a news paper. He worked for many years in DurbanDurban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
for the magazine Ilanga lase Natal and in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
for Drum.
Literary career in South Africa
He contributed essays to many magazines and news papers. His essays criticised apartheid and the racist state, as a result the South African Government banned his works.Life as an exile
Nkosi's works were banned under Suppression of Communism Act and he faced severe restrictions as a writer. At the sametime he received a Neiman scholarship from Harvard university United States to pursue his studies. When applied for permission to go to United States, he was granted a one-way exit permit to leave South Africa, thus barred from returning. Nkosi faced severe restrictions on his writing due to the publishing regulations found in the Suppression of Communism ActSuppression of Communism Act
The Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950 was legislation of the national government in South Africa, passed on June 26 of that year , which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed the ideology of communism, defined by the government as any scheme that aimed "at...
and the Publications and Entertainment Act passed in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1961, he received a scholarship to study at Harvard, and he began his life in exile.
He was an editor for The New African in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the NET in the United States. He became a Professor of Literature and held positions at the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
and the University of California-Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, as well as at universities in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Return to South Africa
Lewis Nkosi returned to South Africa in 2001 after a gap of nearly four decades.Novels
Though Nkosi started his literary career in 1960's, he entered the realm of fiction much later than his Drum colleagues. His first novel 'Mating Birds' was published in 1983. His next novel in 2002 and his third and recent novel in 2006.Mating Birds
'Mating Birds' is the narration of a South African Black educated native called Ndi Sibiya. He narrates the story from prison awaiting death sentence. As a jobless youth Sibiya wanders the city of Durban and reaches the segregated beach. There he finds a White girl on the other side of the fence (on the White side of the beach). They silently exchange looks and enter into a muted affair. They were well aware that race laws in South Africa would sentence them to imprisonment if caught. The White girl intentionally allows her naked body to be seen by Sibiya. He takes the entire episode as a love affair between the White girl and himself. The girl with her regular appearances on the beach and seeming interest dupes Sibiya into believing her.
After several silent meetings on the beach, Sibiya follows her to her bungalow, finds her lonely and willing, and enters into sexual copulation. But they are discovered by neighbours and the White girl accuses Sibiya of rape. A trail by White Judges begins. In the court the White girl Veronica denies any knowledge of Sibiya and reiterates the charge of rape against him. The court finds Sibiya guilty and sentences him to death.
The novel generated a controversy and received critical attention. The novel was awarded Macmillan Silver pen Prize in 1986 and New York Times declared it as one of the best hundred books in 1986.
Underground People
Nkosi’s second novel 'Underground People' is a political thriller. In this novel he moved away from the theme of inter racial sexual relations and centered the story on the armed struggle in South Africa.
Cornelius Molapo is a language teacher and a member of the National Liberation Movement, an organization waging armed war against the racist White minority government. He is a poet, a great orator, hungry reader of many books, and even plays cricket. He often criticizes the policy of the Central Committee and irks its members. To counter him, the Central Committee draws a strategy.The Central Committee of the Organization advises Cornelius to go to a remote part of the country called Tabanyane and to participate in peasants’ uprisings. The Central Committee plans to make use of his absence from mainstream life into an act of abduction by the Government. At first he hesitates, but reluctantly agrees. After reaching Tabanyane, Cornelius organizes the poor illiterate jobless country men into revolutionary men and leads them. In this task, he enlists the support of Princess Madi, who is a daughter of the deposed chief of Tabanyane. During the clandestine operations, he takes two White hostages into his custody; however he is unwilling to execute the unarmed civilians.
Meanwhile the Central Committee starts a big propaganda about the disappearance of Cornelius from duties and blames it on the South African police, who deny any knowledge of him. National Liberation Movement brings the matter to international organizations like United Nations and Human Rights International, and the latter sends its official Anthony Ferguson, who was born in South Africa and immigrated to England, to investigate the matter. Anthony’s sister and mother are still living in South Africa. After some rest he undertakes to search for Cornelius unsuccessfully.
The Central Committee members plagued by jealousy for his success as a revolutionary want to use the issue of White hostages for the release of their leader from prison, engage in talks with the Government and to observe ceasefire. But contrary to the expectations of the Central Committee, Cornelius defies and conducts attacks on the police stations and other locations. To escape police persecution, Cornelius leaves his hideout, and allows the White hostages to go unharmed. The White hostages reach police and recognize Cornelius’s photo and confirm his active presence in the fight.
Naturally police suspect the intentions of Anthony Ferguson and ask him to go to Tabanyane, to convince Cornelius for the surrender. He takes the help of a member of Central Committee and reaches Tabanyane. But Cornelius refuses to surrender and ditch the people for whom he had been fighting. Eventually police firing follows and he dies.
Mandela's Ego
Nkosi’s most recent and third novel ‘Mandela’s Ego’ (2006) has a strange story to tell. Dumisani Gumede is teenaged boy who has come of age in a Zulu village and runs after every girl and woman to satiate his newly acquired power. His uncle Simon tells him many stories about Nelson Mandela and makes him a follower of the great leader. In the story telling, Uncle Simon invents stories with lies and half-truths. He also tells Dumisani that Madela is a great pursuer of women. Taking cue from the real life of Mandela Dumisa goes unstopped in his conquests. In his village every girl falls to his charms except Nobuhle, a beautiful orphaned girl. His admiration for Mandela goes to the extent of starting a football club, with Dumisa as its chairman. He even goes to the city of Pietermartizburg to see Mandela, who comes there to address a convention demanding equal rights for all races and a dialogue among all the races.
After his schooling Dumisani joins a tourist company as a guide. Dumisani’s friend Sofa Sonke, driver of the tourist bus brings every day a newspaper from Durban for him. After many attempts to win Nobuhle, Dumisani finally succeeds and gets accepted by her. She invites him to meet her on the river bank. On the same day Dumisani receives the news of Mandela’s arrest. The news shocks him and takes his nerve away. When Dumisani tries to unite with Nobuhle his body fails. He tries again but fails. His sexual energy deserts him. Nobuhle leaves in tears.
Dumisani consults many, witch doctors, tribal doctors and conventional doctors in hospitals. But nothing fails to cure him. He leaves his home, wanders the country aimlessly. He reaches the middle age, one day he hears the news of Mandela’s release. He attends the first public address of Mandela after the release. He rejoices. In his joy he huddles a woman next to him and his lost sexual urge returns. His life is restored.
As opposed to apartheid, Nkosi's work explores themes of politics, relationships, and sexuality. His works, possessing great depth, received less recognition than they had actually deserved. In the post-apartheid era, his works are gaining critical attention across the third world. Interestingly, Nkosi joined forces with African powerhouse authors Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...
and Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
in an interview in the third chapter of Bernth Lindfors' Conversations With Chinua Achebe. In 1978, Nkosi and composer Stanley Glasser
Stanley Glasser
Stanley Glasser , is a South African-born composer and academic who studied with Matyas Seiber at Cambridge. His concert music is deeply influenced by his ethnomusicological investigations of native African music...
wrote a collection of six Zulu
Zulu music
The Zulu are a South African ethnic group. Many Zulu musicians have become a major part of South African music. A number of Zulu-folk derived styles have also become well-known across South Africa and abroad.-Mbube and Isicathamiya:...
-style songs called "Lalela Zulu" for The King's Singers, a group of six white British, male a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
singers.
Literary critcism
He wrote critical essyas on many issues including politics, history, culture African Affairs American culture and civilization. No other critic touches upon such diversified themes. His critical works include Home and Exile(1965) The Transplanted Heart(1975) and The Tasks and Masks (1981). His essays and other works were published over four decades in America, England and Africa.Works about Lewis Nkosi
First comprehensive and critical review on Nkosi appeared in 2006 edited by Profeesor Lindy Steibel and Professor Liz Gunner entitled 'Still Beating the Drum' published by Wits University Press.Important Quotations of Lewis Nkosi
On the situation in South Africa during apartheid
Africans have learned that if they are remaining sane at all it is pointless to try to live within the law. In a country where the Government has legislated against sex, drinks, employment, free movement and many other things, which are taken for granted in the Western world, it would take a monumental kind of patience to keep up with the demands of the law. A man’s sanity may even be in question by the time he reaches the ripe age of twenty-five ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 22)
On black writers and their literature
black South Africans did not produce on elite which was alienated form the black masses or even from the conditions of everyday life under which our people laboured. In South Africa we were saved from the emergence of Black Bourgeoisie by the leveling effect of apartheid ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 32)
On his Exile
A writer needs his roots; he needs his people perhaps more than they need him in order that they should corroborate the vision he has of them, or at least, to dispute the statements he may make about their lives ( Nkosi: Home and Exile 93)
On the writers and commitment
…whether we consider ourselves revolutionaries or not, are playing a marginal role. We may be good for propaganda; we may raise some money and build up contacts for the people of South Africa-but there is no such thing as a revolution fought in exile, without a base among the oppressed masses of the country for which the change is desired ( Nkosi: On South Africa 286-292)
His observation of the history on the post apartheid South Africa far surpasses the meticulous historian:
“Ambushed by history, deprived of the moral and material support of the socialist camp by the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, a negotiated peace, between a lame government and weary liberation movements was probably the next best thing… The negotiated peace enacted what Doris Somer, writing about the South Africa, described as a “premature end of a history. ( The Republic of Letters: Mandela’s Republic)
Collections of essays
- Home and Exile, Longman, 1965
- Home and exile and other selections, Longman, 1983, ISBN 0-58-264406-2
- The Transplanted Heart: Essays on South Africa 1975
- Tasks and Masks: Themes and Styles of African Literature, Longman, 1981, ISBN 0-58-264145-4
Novels
- Mating Birds, Constable, 1986, ISBN 0-09-467240-7 (Winner of the Macmillan Pen prize)
- Underground People, Kwela, 2002, ISBN 0-79-570150-0, originally published in Dutch in 1994
- Mandela's Ego, Struik, 2006, ISBN 1-41-520007-6
Films
- He shared the writing credits on Come Back, AfricaCome Back, AfricaCome Back, Africa is the second feature-length film written, produced, and directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. The film had a profound effect on African Cinema, and remains of great historical and cultural importance as a document preserving the unique heritage of the...
, a film filmed mainly in Sophiatown.