Novel
Karikoga Gumiremiseve
Patrick Chakaipa · 1958
Synopsis
Karikoga, a small, solitary and cunning hero drawn from a character of the Shona tales, and the ten arrows that the title attaches to his name, travel through the time of the conflicts that set the Shona against the Ndebele. The novel mingles with this story of war a love story; its hero, idealised in the manner of oral tales, performs feats from folk tales: he leaps onto a lion and clings to its mane until the beast smashes itself against a tree.
Context
The novel appeared in 1958 in Salisbury from Longman, seventy-eight pages, two years after Feso by Solomon Mutswairo. In his 1982 inaugural lecture at the University of Zimbabwe, G. P. Kahari makes it the example of the Shona adventure novel founded on tale and myth, which he contrasts with the social realism of the later novels; in 1972 he had devoted an entire book to the author's novels. Recent studies place it among the Shona texts that speak of the hostilities between Shona and Ndebele, alongside novels of 1991 and 1998.
Who it is for
In Shona, fewer than eighty pages, with no translation. The story keeps the simplicity and the marvellous exploits of tales.
Prizes and reception
The novel that Britannica singles out from its author's work; Kahari classes it among the adventure novels drawn from the folktale.
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