Novel · A way to begin
The Tongue of the Dumb
Dominic Mulaisho · 1971
Synopsis
In a village, in the colonial period, the chief Mpona returns after five years away. Lubinda, a healer and adviser who covets his place, accuses him of being too close to the whites and spreads rumours. He has Natombi, held responsible for the muteness of her son Mwape and for a death in a sudden flood, accused of witchcraft, and goes after the schoolteacher. At the neighbouring mission, two priests are at odds, one compassionate, the other rigid.
Context
The novel was published in London by Heinemann, in the African Writers Series, in 1971; some sources date it to 1973. According to its readers, it describes what becomes of the life of a traditional village when the white man arrives, the whites remaining on the sidelines of a conflict that sets the villagers against one another first. Readers also note the place that proverbs and humour hold in it.
Who it is for
A novel in English of two hundred and fifty pages, easy to read, with no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Both of his novels were added to Zambian school curricula, according to the country's press.
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