Novel · A way to begin
Chaka
Thomas Mofolo · 1925
Synopsis
Chaka is born out of wedlock to Nandi, whom the chief Senzangakhona abandons, and the child grows up rejected and persecuted. In a vision, the king of the Deep Pool announces his greatness to him in verses of praise. The diviner Isanusi then offers him power in exchange for absolute obedience. Chaka accepts, takes the lead of his people at his father's death, inherits a second kingdom at the death of Dingiswayo, then reforms the army and builds a nation, at the price of what the diviner demands of him.
Context
Mofolo wrote it from 1907 to 1910. The mission press, which was supported by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, hesitated for fifteen years, troubled that the author did not condemn the old customs, and the author, discouraged, stopped writing; the book appeared in December 1925. F. H. Dutton translated it into English in 1931, Daniel P. Kunene gave a new version in 1981, and the missionary Victor Ellenberger translated it into French for Gallimard; it also exists in German, Afrikaans, Swahili, Italian and Spanish. Critics compare its tragic hero to Macbeth.
Who it is for
A short, dark novel, easy to read; Victor Ellenberger's translation has been reissued with a preface by J. M. G. Le Clézio.
Prizes and reception
In 2002, it was selected among the twelve best African books of the twentieth century.
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