Conundrums and other personal essays (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781779285324)

Soga Mlandu is a rare talent in South African letters. Having expressed himself through almost all genres and also being bilingual (swiftly moving between isiXhosa and English), he has been writing from the perspective of the African child whose constituency and sanctuary is the rural populace. So is the subject and theme of Conundrums And Other Essays, the volume I have edited. We do need to challenge the ethnographic nature of African letters where the white gazer is the appropriator of African culture and the black subject being the pathological informant. Quoting the widely circulated African idiom, 'until the lion learns how to write every story will glorify the hunter'. In simple terms this means that we must tell and own our stories, and not the other way around.

Sithembele Isaac Xhegwana Amazwi South African National Literature Museum 2025