Narrative
Singing Away the Hunger
Mpho Matsepo Nthunya · 1996
Synopsis
A Basotho woman born in 1930, with almost no schooling, tells the story of her life in Lesotho in linked narratives, in which her own memories mingle with those her mother passed on to her. She speaks of a poor childhood, marriage and its customs, the bereavements that strike her family, the choice between the city of apartheid and rural life, thirty years of domestic work to support eleven people, and the motsoalle, the friendship that binds women. She speaks eight languages and tells her story with a dignified detachment.
Context
The book first appeared in 1996 from the University of Natal Press, with the subtitle Stories of a Life in Lesotho, then in 1997 in Bloomington, from Indiana University Press, as the autobiography of an African woman, with a preface by Ellen Kuzwayo, photographs and a glossary. It lets us hear a voice almost never heard in literature or history, that of an ordinary woman between pastoral culture and the misery of the cities. Publishers Weekly praised the eloquence of the narration, and Kirkus Reviews called it a moving and important book.
Who it is for
Short narratives in English, transcribed from oral speech; a glossary helps in following the Sesotho words.
Prizes and reception
American critics have compared it to the great African works on the condition of women.
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