Narrative
Man of Africa
Nthondo
Samuel Josia Nthara · 1933
Synopsis
An imaginary biography of a man of the Chewa country in the second half of the nineteenth century, which the author bases on oral history. The narrative follows Nthondo from his childhood in a traditional village to a religious crisis. Its English translation presents itself as the story of the life of an African village in Nyasaland.
Context
Written in 1932, the book appeared in Chichewa in 1933 from the Nkhoma Mission Press and won, in the biography category, a competition of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures in London. The missionary Thomas Cullen Young translated it into English under the title Man of Africa, published in 1934 with a preface by Julian Huxley. The Malawi Writers Union weighs it against No Easy Task, by Aubrey Kachingwe, for the title of Malawi's first novel.
Who it is for
For reading one of the first books written in Chichewa, at the threshold of Malawian literature.
Prizes and reception
Julian Huxley saw in it a glimpse of another kind of life and a pure literary quality.