Mhudi: An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago is a South African novel by Sol Plaatje first published in 1930, and the first novel by a Black African published in English. The novel was republished many times subsequently, including in the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.

The novel is a political historical novel which explores the development of the Traansval kingdom, led by Matabeleland.[1] The novel was originally finished in 1920, but Plaatje was unable to get the novel published.[2] The novel re-invisions the standard Euro-centric narrative of history, which supported Apartheid and its racist infrastructure.[2]

Plaatje described the novel as a romance, comparing it to Zulu novels of H. Rider Haggard.[1]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b Chennells, Anthony (1 May 1997). "Plotting South African History: Narrative in Sol Plaatje's "Mhudi"". English in Africa. 24 (1): 37–58. ISSN 0376-8902. JSTOR 40238835.
  2. ^ a b Sanders, Mark (25 December 2002). "Sol T Plaatje:The Essential Interpreter". Complicities: The Intellectual and Apartheid. Duke University Press. pp. 40–60. ISBN 978-0822329985. R. R. R. Dhlomo's novella An African Tragedy (1928) consequently preceded it in publication.

See also


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