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African-language Literatures
New Perspectives on IsiZulu Fiction and Popular Black Television Series
By Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi, Jennifer Stacey Wits University Press
Copyright © 2015 Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-86814-577-5
CHAPTER 1
Proverbs in narratives: Seeing the contemporary through archaic gazes in Aphelile Agambaqa and Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini
The modern approach to the study of folklore has created a discursive terrain that allows for the reconsideration of the role of folklore material in contemporary society (Thosago, 2004: 13). This approach rejects conventional conceptions of folklore as 'antediluvian', 'backward', 'illiterate' and 'primitive' and instead seeks to regenerate folklore. Thosago's perspective highlights the interrelation between folklore and postmodernity and how technical spaces such as the broadcast media can be exploited for the rejuvenation of folklore, an aspect I explore in the last three chapters of the book. However his views on this matter are not new. Since the inception of isiZulu literature in colonial times, writers have made use of a syncretic admixture of traditional knowledge and Western civilisation when writing about modernity. This has since become a convention of creative writing in isiZulu. Therefore at the conceptual level, re-narrating contemporary experiences entails a need to revisit this ancient tradition, thus creating a hybridised continuity, complex as it might be, between the idyllic, unattainable past and the self-conscious writings that typify post-modern textuality (Obiechina, 1972, 1973; Msimang, 1986).
It is against this background that I discuss proverbs and their reinvocation in two post-apartheid isiZulu novels. The study of proverbs has led to significant advances in our understanding of their nature and their function in discourses of orature, literature, and every day speech acts. The uses of proverbs and other oral genres are various and wide, but their significance lies in their ability to explain language, thought and society (Pridmore, 1991, cited in Zounmenou, 2004). It is not only the thoughts of a society presented through proverbs but also its philosophical views that are reflected and passed down from one generation to the next. In some African societies the use of proverbs in daily conversations is a highly valued verbal experience because it develops the ingenuity seen as linguistic preparation for the performance of lengthy verbal art forms like folk stories or izibongo (praises).
Okpewho (1992) discusses the application of proverbs, especially the role of proverbs in everyday conversation and the 'twists' that are discerned in the proverbs used by individuals to 'spice up the talk'. Further scholarly views emphasise their didactic illocutionary function (Monye, 1966; Pelling, 1977; Mokitimi, 1997; Okpewho, 1992). It is the intended didacticism in proverbs that I focus on in this chapter. IsiZulu literature is dominated by didacticism. This didacticism has always been located within a traditional knowledge though accentuated by the advent of Christianity which brought its own moral discourses. The tensions and the conflicts that have existed between these two discourses, tradition and Christianity, with each vying for dominance in literary discourses have characterised isiZulu literature from its inception.
The Christian discourses are not the only prominent force that shaped isiZulu literature. A host of other Western influences shaped its content and form. According to Barber (1999: 20) the use of Western stylistic criteria firstly excluded oral art forms from those texts that are 'constituted to invite comment, analysis and assessment' and secondly, prevented recognition of the fact that these indigenous forms could have formed a basis for an indigenous African aesthetics. When Western literary conventions are applied to isiZulu literature, those oral art forms that have been used in novels, short stories and dramas have been regarded only as 'the author's use of language' rather than as examples of African discursive practices. In such instances the author is praised for including idioms and proverbs in his work and is castigated if their quantity is found to be wanting. According to Barber's model, African discourses are constituted by oral art forms such as folk narratives, legends, riddles, proverbs, axioms and everyday sayings. These oral art forms perpetuate and reaffirm the authority of the traditional world. They are able to improvise, and they are fluid and flexible, which allows them to incorporate new materials and migrate to other genres. In spite of this apparent flexibility and mobility there are certain valuable elements, constituted by unchanging fixed formulations, that make it possible for these art forms to be identified as independent, detached texts. Akinnaso (1985) points out that whenever these forms are performed or uttered, they are experienced as durable formulations that come from outside the current conversation and are thought to transcend conversation or other everyday uses of language. The contribution provided by Barber (1999, 2000) to the study of proverbs, not only as performance texts but also as identifiable discursive practices that underpin African value systems, has never been explored in relation to isiZulu literature. Barber further points out that
the reification of the utterance in Yorùbá discourses, is signalled by the intense and pervasive presence of quotation [...] There is a whole field of texts that are constituted as quotations: rather than being merely uttered, they are cited (1999: 18–19).
Even though Barber's model focuses on the oral art forms of Yorùbá society, the presence of these oral formulations in isiZulu language justifies its application here. The two novels selected for the demonstration of this theory are Buthelezi's (1996)Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini (The war of Africans is in the intestines) and Radebe's (1996)Aphelile Agambaqa (Words have been finished).
This chapter investigates the uses of proverbs as an implied reading strategy in isiZulu literature. Proverbs are not only artistic articulations but also critical discourses in which are embedded moral instructions for social cohesion. The close affinities between proverbs as narratives and the plots of Aphelile Agambaqa and Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini reveal how the proverbs used as titles, together with others cited throughout the narratives, depend on their linguistic-social authority as pre-existing quotations while they simultaneously comment on, and shape perceptions of, contemporary life. There is 'mutual reflection' at play between the proverbs and the narratives of the novels. What the proverbs encapsulate as the known absolute truth about life experiences is re-enacted in the narrative producing similar conclusions. The narrative is structured in such a way as to refer back to these proverbs at the end of the novels. To bring out the interplay between the proverbs and the plotting strategies of the novels, I explore the proverbs both as titles of the narratives and as propellants of the moral lesson. In discussing the moral I will draw on the many proverbs that have been quoted throughout the novels to highlight issues that impact the central theme of the narratives. These quotations, when detached from the contexts of these narratives, can be used as 'independent utterances' from which various narratives can be derived. However in these texts they have been contextualised as supporting truths that complement or supplement the dominant truth reflected in the titles of the novels.
A summary of Aphelile Agambaqa
The narrative opens with the main female character, a single parent, Nomvula, discovering that her son, Sibusiso, has been 'abducted' by his biological father, Makhaya, a journalist on a local newspaper in the Eastern Cape. After Makhaya fails to return the child to Nomvula's Daveyton home late that Friday afternoon, she decides to drive to the Eastern Cape, where Makhaya lives, in order to get the child from its father. She reassures her mother that she will be back on Saturday afternoon. At this moment in her life, Nomvula is involved with Sipho, a lawyer. Over the weekend, talks of her ilobolo negotiations are to be conducted. On Monday she is scheduled to leave the country on a business trip.
On arrival in the Eastern Cape she tries to persuade the father to give back the child but she fails, as do her attempts at 'stealing' back the child. Makhaya's reasons for taking the child are, firstly, to get back at Nomvula because she kept him in the dark regarding the pregnancy and, secondly, that he feels he has been denied the chance of exercising his responsibilities as a father for the past seven years. Lastly he has hopes that he can convince Nomvula to marry him since he has learnt that Nomvula is about to be married to another man. On arrival at Makhaya's place Nomvula discovers that he is in a relationship that has problems similar to those in their former relationship which were the basis for her decision not to disclose her pregnancy to him. Tensions between herself and Makhaya's lover arise, but Makhaya's lover cannot openly display her hostilities fearing that such actions and attitudes might cost her this relationship because even though there are problems she is content with the way things are. Thus her support for Nomvula's efforts to get Makhaya to give up the child stems from the realisation that Nomvula's prolonged stay may cause her to lose her patience and eventually expose herself.
Back home in Gauteng province Nomvula's fiancé, Sipho, learns of the reasons leading to her sudden journey to the Eastern Cape. He follows her and on arrival in the area he lays a charge against Makhaya at the police station. By the time he arrives, however, the relationship between Makhaya and Nomvula has developed, and old flames have been rekindled. However, Nomvula has made a promise to Makhaya's lover, and cannot allow herself to be caught up in Makhaya's ways again. Together Nomvula and Makhaya's lover devise a plot for her to get back her child and escape from the province, but it is delayed by Sipho's arrival. Seeing that the presence of Sipho might spoil her plan, Nomvula decides to sneak out unseen and escape with her son. However, things go wrong on the morning of their departure. Sibusiso goes missing and it is up to Makhaya to search for and find the child. By this time Nomvula's family has come to the Eastern Cape because she has stayed away for more days than she had initially planned. They coincidentally meet at the hotel from which Sibusiso has gone missing. When Makhaya eventually returns with Sibusiso, the family is impressed and urges Nomvula to reconsider her decision not to marry him. She is speechless as she allows herself to be prevailed upon by her family to marry Makhaya even though she previously objected to the idea. The narrative ends with the banquet celebrating the re-union and the intended marriage between Nomvula and Makhaya.
A summary of Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini
The narrative opens with Cele, John's uncle, who comes from rural Eshowe, paying an unscheduled visit to John, who lives in Umlazi. John has a good position at work and he keeps to a tight schedule and is thus unable to let his uncle see him until he has made an appointment. An angry Cele eventually secures an appointment but John is not happy to hear what Cele has come to talk to him about. Cele has come to ask John, who we learn is an aspiring petit bourgeois, to take over the guardianship of his sister's children (begotten out of wedlock), since she (the mother of the children) has now married a different man. John refuses to take on this customary responsibility, citing personal and financial reasons. But it emerges later that the real reason is that he is afraid of his wife, Popi, a nagging and domineering wife, who is a matron in one of the local hospitals. It also emerges that John's family life is based on Eurocentric norms and values and therefore the addition of two children to their family budget is out of the question as it would mean he would no longer be able to afford the lifestyle he wants to pursue.
Cele decides to keep the children, Uzithelile and Hlanganisani. They grow up in rural Eshowe, helping him with daily chores and at the same time working as domestics with local white employers. By contrast John's children, Euthanasia and Melody, are juvenile delinquents.
Drastic changes occur with Euthanasia, John's son. After getting into trouble at school, he runs away from home to Eshowe to his grandfather's place where, on arrival, he receives a royal welcome. A goat is slaughtered in his honour and bile is sprinkled over him. He is given a new name, Vikizitha, as the European name did not have much sense or value for the rural people. Eventually he goes back home as a reborn youth who espouses different values to those practiced at his home. Although this places him at loggerheads with his family, particularly with his mother, the family eventually accepts him. He gradually transfers these values to his sister, Melody, who is renamed Vukuzithathe by their rural cousins.
John's lifestyle and marriage disintegrate and because he leads a solitary life in Umlazi he is unable to reconnect with his neighbours who would have given him support. After relocating to La Lucia John abandons his family and leads a hedonistic life of overindulgence in women and alcohol. In his absence his wife manages to get herself educated, acquiring a PhD degree. The children are invited by their rural cousins, who by this time have secured scholarships after matriculating, to come and study in America. The narrative ends with a dejected John eventually coming back home to rural Eshowe where his rural relatives re-unite him with his ailing wife.
Proverbs and axioms as plotting strategies
Msimang (1986) points out that proverbs are witticisms, truisms and maxims that have accrued over generations to explain certain phenomena in the life experiences of a people. They are used not only as artistic utterances but also as instructive sites, which, as pointed out by Mokitimi (1997), relate to knowledge, wisdom, philosophy, ethics and morals. Pelling (1977) observes that through these proverbial expressions certain morals and truths are forcefully extolled. According to Nyembezi, these storehouses of experience tend to influence a society's philosophical outlook and regulate its behaviour:
As a social unit, the people have certain definite ways of behaviour or conduct, which are expected of the individuals comprising the social unit. Some modes of conduct are embodied in proverbs, which serve the purpose of instructing the younger and ignorant generation, or serve as reminders to the old, who have been remiss in their observance of the rules of conduct expected in the society (1949: 299).
It may appear from this that the use of proverbs can hinder progress and encourage linguistic and social stagnation. But a closer look at various oral forms indicates that they preserve some aspects that are recognisably 'archaic' while processing and incorporating modern items. This is observable in evolving tales, proverbs, praises and witticisms.
Axiomatic expressions, as oral art forms, display similar characteristics. Axioms can be defined as generally accepted propositions or principles sanctioned by experience or universally established principles or laws that are not necessarily the truth. Axioms are patterned formulations which embody moral lessons that the readers work out for themselves after going through a narrative. Examples of axiomatic expressions are 'crime does not pay', 'true love stands the test of time' or 'appearances can be deceptive'. These axioms achieve a state of absoluteness because of repeated retellings of narratives with plot structures that re-affirm their truthfulness. Thus, Cornwall (1996) says, the retelling of narratives inevitably creates an impression that they hold a measure of truthfulness. However, as Barber points out of Yoruba theatre,
The audience, to get its full measure of edification, could not walk into the hall in the closing moments and 'pick the lesson' from the summary statement made in the final speech or song. They need to see the axiom produced, as the outcome of a chain of events analogous to the events experienced in their own lives (2000: 267).
Barber (1999) explains that the structure of axioms, just like that of proverbs, reveals that they operate on two temporal trajectories: the atemporal past, which always presents the preserved images of the proverbs that give them 'object-like properties' (21); and the fluid or flexible quality that allows the incorporation of newness and freshness. This flexible quality allows the axiom to interact with contemporary realities and projections. Proverbs are structured like axioms because they are old quotations which are able to comment on the evolving trends of contemporary life. The presence of these oral forms in the novels discussed in this chapter points not only to the heightened language used but also to dialogue between the experiences in the novels and other experiences. These experiences are identifiable as 'pre-existing hypotexts.' Hypotexts are secondary texts that embody certain worldviews or orientations that are embedded in a primary text. In these hypotexts, as Mukarovsky (cited in Barber, 1999: 27) asserts, the foreign elements not only retain, 'the aura of otherness' but also give a sense of 'the possibility of reverting or opening out into a different text.' These texts perpetuate and re-affirm the authority of the traditional world and its knowledge. Barber (1999) calls these text(s), 'pre-existent texts', namely, those texts such as proverbs, socio-cultural anecdotes, social or political jokes, witticisms or riddles that are not newly fashioned by the author but which she or he can readily access in linguistic and social repertories. These pre-existent texts, in the context of this book, are proverbs and other witticisms and observations that are used to propel a traditionalist ideology.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from African-language Literatures by Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi, Jennifer Stacey. Copyright © 2015 Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi. Excerpted by permission of Wits University Press.
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