world literature and literary criticism - Lynne Rienner Publishers

The Memory of Stones
A NOVEL
Mandla Langa
“If you haven’t read anything by Mandla Langa … this book will certainly
leave you wanting to read everything else he has written.... The Memory
of Stones is a litany to the dispossessed, to those who have taken part in the
struggle, be it political, social or personal in nature, and who now find
themselves out of work and out of favour.... Langa, in his storytelling,
encompasses a vast amount of social and historical commentary. This is
done with sensitivity and often wry humour.... This is a book not to be
missed.” —SUZANNE JOUBERT, CAPE TIMES
“This panoramic novel, richly furbished with the texture of experience, is
composed in a fine blend of factual and lyrical prose.” —ANDRIES OLIPHANT,
COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS
“Written with a profound insight into the lives which vary from women’s
libbers to tsotsis, this is a book which probes apartheid and changing values
in a matter of fact and often very humorous way.... The book examines how
traditionalists deal with westernization, how whites deal with a changing
and often violent society and how ancient traditions still play a role in modern
society. The Memory of Stones is an enjoyable read written with skill
and great insight.” —HELEN CROOKS, EASTERN PROVINCE HERALD
Ngoza, in KwaZulu-Natal—South Africa’s most turbulent
province—is transformed when clan leader Baba Joshua dies and his
headstrong daughter tackles the age-old shibboleths held by traditionalists
and gangsters alike.
The reluctant heroine of this novel, Zodwa, finds support from
unlikely quarters. A disenchanted ex-ANC guerrilla and a dyed-inthe-wool
white supremacist join forces with Zodwa to rid Ngoza of
the terror wreaked by warlord Johnny M. and his henchmen. But the
biggest battle she faces, in the midst of intrigue and ritual and routine
violence, is with herself as she grapples with love and betrayal.
This is Mandla Langa’s most ambitious work to date, drawing on
his experience of exile in Europe and Africa and coming home to a
new democracy still trying to define itself. One of South Africa’s
most respected writers and cultural commentators, Langa is author
of Tenderness of Blood, A Rainbow on a Purple Sky, The Naked Song and
Other Stories, and the opera Milestones.
2000/366 pages
ISBN: 0-89410-866-2 pb £11.95 / $16
No rights in South Africa
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