Literature of the Day: Zakes Mda

Zakes Mda

Zakes Mda is a South African novelist and playwright whose work captures the transition from apartheid to democracy. His fiction explores the intersection of systemic violence and human resilience. He is widely recognized for introducing new narrative forms to South African literature. His stories document the daily lives of marginalized people navigating profound political changes.

The Author

Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda was born in 1948 in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He spent much of his early life in Lesotho, where his father, an anti-apartheid activist, lived in exile. Mda began his writing career as a playwright, creating works that diverged from the standard protest literature of the era. He wrote his first novel, Ways of Dying, between December 1994 and April 1995. He writes primarily in English, though his earliest poems and stories were composed in Xhosa.

The Craft

Mda blends the African oral narrative tradition with elements of magic realism. His writing translates African idioms directly into English, creating a distinct linguistic texture. For instance, he uses phrases like "how this child saw his death" rather than standard English idioms. His narratives balance extreme violence with profound tenderness. The structure of his novels relies on communal voices and dream devices, allowing characters to navigate systemic poverty through imagination.

From the Page

Maybe all the catastrophes that have happened in her life have affected her eyes, so that she is able to see beauty where there is none.

In our language there is a proverb which says the greatest death is laughter.

Published in Ways of Dying in 1995, these brief lines encapsulate Mda's approach to trauma and survival. The protagonist, Toloki, is a professional mourner navigating a city overwhelmed by violence. The text juxtaposes the catastrophic reality of the transitional period with the human capacity to find aesthetic relief. By invoking a proverb about laughter and death, Mda illustrates how his characters use humor to endure apocalyptic conditions.

Reading Guide

• Ways of Dying (1995): A tragicomic exploration of a professional mourner finding love during the violence of a transitioning South Africa.
• The Heart of Redness (2000): A dual-narrative novel that examines the historical Xhosa cattle-killing movement and its modern-day legacy.