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Zulu literature --- Zulu literature. --- History and criticism.

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Inkondlo kaZulu (Zulu Poems), the first volume of poetry by B. W. Vilakazi, was first published in 1935. This was the first book of poems ever published in isiZulu; it also marked the launch of the newly established Bantu (later, African) Treasury Series, a collection of twenty classic works written between 1935 and 1987 in African indigenous languages. It contains superb nature poems and also reflects Vilakazi's contact with Western modernity. As both a traditional imbongi (bard) and a forward-looking poet who could fuse Western poetic forms with Zulu izibongo (praise poetry), he used his writings to express his resistance to the realities of capitalist exploitation of African labour and the appalling injustices of the migrant labour system. By committing to writing in poetic form what had traditionally been conveyed orally from one generation to the next, he preserves for future generations deep philosophical and emotional experiences of Zulu society.

The republication of Inkondlo kaZulu affords the reader the opportunity to reappraise Vilakazi's intellectual significance and his renown as the 'father of Nguni literature' at a time when the need is acutely felt to unshackle ourselves from ethnic boundaries and break the invisible chains of inherited prejudice.

Zulu poetry --- Zulu language --- Zulu poetry. --- Zulu literature

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Ukufa kukaShaka is a historical drama by Elliot Zondi, first published in 1960 in the Bantu (later, African) Treasury Series. Its plot is based on the events surrounding the assassination of Shaka, the mighty Zulu king, by his two half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, aided and abetted by his paternal aunt, Mkabayi, in 1828. The play explores the classic theme of the tragic hero's fatal flaws: hubris and overconfidence. Shaka's ruthless ambition led him to overstep human boundaries, kill with impunity, bar his warriors from having families and force them into endless wars. His blind spot seems to have been to put the survival and expansion of the Zulu kingdom first and the welfare of his subjects second.

Against this backdrop Mkabayi, whose ambitions for a remarkable Zulu nation were more tempered, played a decisive role in his downfall. Zondi explores arguments both in favour of and against Shaka's assassination in a way that allows the reader to sympathise with his greater vision and his thwarted plan to fight impending colonialism. His dramatisation of the conflict between Shaka and Mkabayi highlights questions of leadership and nation-building that continue to be relevant today.

Shaka, --- Zulu drama. --- Zulu literature --- Chaka, --- Shaka kaSenzangakhona, --- Shaka Zulu, --- Tshaka, --- U-Shaka, --- Great Elephant,

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English literature --- Epic literature, Zulu --- -Zulu epic literature --- Zulu literature --- Translations into English --- Translations into English. --- -Translations into English --- Zulu epic literature