“South Africa is a large headland situated between two oceans, one to the east and one to the west.”
Thomas Mofolo is regarded by many as one of the most important early African writers of fiction. His opus, and the subject of this review, Chaka has been cited as one of the best works of African literature of the twentieth century.
Born in Lesotho in 1876, Thomas Mofolo was a Basotho novelist and teacher. Not a great deal is known about his life, however, what is known is that he was educated by protestant missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, some of whom encouraged Mofolo to begin writing. Mofolo’s early work is significantly harder to obtain in translation than his opus, Chaka. It is comprised of two novels, The Traveler of the East (1907) and Pitseng (1910), both of which are heavily influenced by Mofolo’s missionary education.
His third novel Chaka is by far his most popular and is one of the most significant early examples of the southern African novel. Written between 1907 and 1910, but only first published in 1925 after 15 years of religiously motivated censorship by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, Chaka is a mythologised retelling of the life of Shaka, King of the Zulus. The novel follows Shaka’s rise from the son of a chieftain, ridiculed and persecuted for his illegitimacy to a tyrannical monarch, motivated by blind ambition.
Although an archetypal early African novel and heavily influenced by Sotho oral tradition, Mofolo’s Chaka is reminiscent of Greek tragedy (specifically the Aristotelian tragedy). Shaka is characterized as a heroic figure flawed by his unrelenting ambition for absolute power — a drive that facilitates his rise but also his ultimate demise, both as a hero and as a man. In this sense, Chaka is also at points deeply evocative of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Like previous 50 Books entry, Things Fall Apart, Chaka is an outstanding novel and an important read. Contemporary African novels like Heart of Darkness (Conrad) and Mister Johnson (Cary) present a Eurocentric view of African culture, tradition, and civilisation, which aside from being undoubtedly superficial, are also deeply racist in their depiction of “savages”.
For those who enjoy historical fiction, especially historical fiction with a hint of the supernatural, Chaka is a phenomenal novel that is difficult to put down. Beyond being a brilliant read, Chaka is an essential novel of the African literary canon.
“They ferment, they curdle! Even great pools dry away!”
This review of Chaka by Thomas Mofolo is the eleventh instalment of a fortnightly series called 50 Books. The series shines a spotlight on classical literature from throughout history and all over the world. If you have suggestions for future instalments comment and let me know.
Next time: Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Words by Luke Horwitz
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