Brooding Clouds

Phaswane Mpe

Description

Brooding Clouds is a posthumous collection of short stories and poems that were written as a prequel to Phaswane Mpe's acclaimed bestseller, Welcome to Our Hillbrow. In these thematically linked stories, we meet the organic roots of the emblematic characters and concerns of the later novel.

Written with an expressive simplicity that evokes the rural soul of tiny Tiragalong and its neighboring village of Nobody, Mpe's stories speak out strongly on issues close to his heart. The poems form a tandem narrative that is gritty, topical, observant, and which articulates the dilemmas of inner city living, along with the broader conundrums of Tiragalong, Hillbrow, and South Africa. The Brooding Clouds collection is a gem of creative achievement that stands as a poignant tribute to the tremendous talent of a writer cut down much too soon.

Sujets

• African
• Republic of South Africa
• 21st century
• South Africa
• African people
• Short story
• Modernism
• Poetry
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 01 août 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781770104068
• Langue: English

Extrait

About Picador Africa Classics
The Picador Africa Classics imprint, launched in 2014 by Pan Macmillan South Africa, aims to build a catalogue of exceptional titles that may be out of print or lack presence in digital form. It builds on the historical concept of something like the African Writers Series as well as a publisher such as Ravan Press, which showcased works of excellence by African writers.

As a leading South African publisher, Pan Macmillan’s initial focus is on classics of South African literature, both fiction and non-fiction, but we hope to expand this to writers from other countries on the African continent.



Phaswane Mpe, 1970–2004

Phaswane Mpe was born on 10 September1970 in what is now Limpopo province in South Africa. He attended St Bede’sHigh School near Polokwane, matriculating in 1988, and went on to study at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, where he completed his Master of Arts in African Literature in 1996. This was followed by a Diploma in AdvancedStudy in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, in 1997.
Between 1996 and 2001 Mpe lectured in African Literature and Publishing Studiesat Wits, where he was held in high esteem by students andcolleagues alike. Language and literature were his passion and heinvolved himself in every aspect of their promotion and exploration. Hepublished numerous articles in local and international journals, contributedchapters to book anthologies, and submitted articles and book reviews forseveral newspapers. He also freelanced as an editor and reader for publishers.He was generous with his support for the creativity of others, activelyencouraging the writing potential of his students and helping to set up thecampus literary journal, the Journalof the African Literature Association (JALA).
In 2001 his debut novel, Welcome to our Hillbrow was published by the then University of Natal Press, and went on to take the literary world by storm, both in South Africa and abroad.The novel received much acclaim and was shortlisted for several awards, including the Sanlam Literary Prize for Fiction (2001) and the Sunday Times Fiction Prize (2002). It was included in the Mail Guardian ’s 101 Books for Christmas (2001) and received a Meritorious Mention in the Noma Awards (2001).
The pressure was on for Mpeto produce a follow-up masterpiece, but his immersion in academics pulled himin competing directions. He received a sought-after doctoral fellowship fromthe Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) and initiallyplanned to do his doctoral degree on issues around child rape and HIV/AIDS. He laterchanged his area of research to sexuality in post-apartheid literature.
In November 2004, battling increasingly worseninghealth, Mpe gave up his WISER fellowship and puthis doctorate on hold in order to follow the call of his Ancestors and train asa traditional healer, as his grandfather had done before him. He diedunexpectedly on 12 December 2004 at the age of 34.
Mpe’s published works include short storiesand poetry published in Imprint (1995), NewCoin (1998), EnglishAcademy Review (1999), Botsotso magazine(2001) and Unityin Flight (2001), and Brooding Clouds , a collection of short storiesand poetry first published by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press in 2008 andrepublished digitally by Picador Africa Classics in 2014.


Brooding Clouds


Brooding Clouds


Phaswane Mpe



PICADOR AFRICA

First published in 2008 by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press

This ebook edition published in 2014 by Picador Africa Classics
an imprint of Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X19, Northlands Johannesburg, 2116
www.panmacmillan.co.za

e-ISBN 978-1-77010-406-8

© in the text Phaswane Mpe 2008
© in the editorial matter and final arrangement Pan Macmillan South Africa (Pty) Ltd 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblanceto actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Original editing by Elana Bregin
Cover design of this edition by K4


Contents
Acknowledgements
Editor’s Preface


BROODING CLOUDS

The Open Air
Brooding Clouds
A Family Story
Interlude: Bone Of My Heart
Lerato’s Ordeal
Refentše’s Ordeal
My Pa Se Kind
Occasion For Brooding
When I Am Awake
Fountains Of Brooding
Visions Of A Flying Man
Memories Of Silence
The Menacing Lights
Interlude: Oasis
Shades Of Sanctuary
Revived Memories
Interlude: Memories Of Brooding


LOVE, SONGS BLUES

Sereto Sa Phaswane Mogano
Praise Poem Of Phaswane Mogano
St Bede’s High (Sepedi)
St Bede’s High (English)
Moyana Wa Matsikinyane
Imagined Walk
Marapo A Pelo
Little Bee Buzzing
Wa Papa
Here We Meet Child Of Home
In The Depths Of Sleep
Mateng-Teng A Boroko
X-Mas Love Songs
The Picture
The Love Beyond
Mosong Wola
Matsogo
Visions Of Joy
Dipono Tsa Lethabo
Singing The Blues
In The Heat Of The Day
Time To Rest
Nako Ya Maikhutso
Our Braamfontein Hobos
HIV Nights
Elegy For The Trio
love Life
Jude The Obscure
The Going
Mosepelo
Freedom, Love Songs
Dikosa Tsa Tokologo Tsa Lerato
Women, Love Songs, 1956
Youth, Love Songs
Half-A-Crown Memory Lane
An Ode To Bafana Bafana
From Our Hillbrow Tower


GOD DOESN’T SMOKE DAGGA

God Doesn’t Smoke Dagga
Healing With Words: Phaswane Mpe Interviewed By Lizzy Attree

Glossary


Acknowledgements
As far as can be ascertained, the following stories and poems have previously appeared in print in the publications stated below. Every effort has been made to credit sources correctly, and any omissions or incorrect details are sincerely regretted. The publishers would welcome updated information in order to amend any errors.

Short Stories
‘Brooding Clouds’ in Imprint , 1995; ‘Lerato’s Ordeal’, ‘Refentše’s Ordeal’, ‘Occasion For Brooding’ and ‘Fountains Of Brooding’ in Unity in Flight: Short Fiction (Botsotso, 2001); ‘Brooding Clouds’ in Modern South African Stories (A.D. Donker, 2002); ‘God Doesn’t Smoke Dagga’ in Urban 03: Collected New South African Short Stories (New Africa Books, 2003).

Poetry
‘The Open Air’ in New Coin , 1998; ‘Imagined Walk’ in Wits Student , 1998; ‘X-Mas Love Songs’ in English Academy Review , 1999; ‘The Picture’ in Botsotso magazine, 2001; ‘The Love Beyond’ in English Academy Review , 1999; ‘In The Heat Of The Day’ in Botsotso magazine, 2001; ‘Time To Rest’ in New Coin , 1998 and German translation in Horen , 2004; ‘HIV Nights’ in Words Gone Two Soon , 2005; ‘Elegy For The Trio’ in Nobody Ever Said AIDS: Poems and Stories from Southern Africa , 2004 in New Coin , 2004 and German translation in Horen , 2004; ‘ love Life’ in Words Gone Two Soon , 2005 and German translation in Horen , 2004; ‘Jude The Obscure’ in Blue Fifth Review , 2003; ‘The Going’ in English Academy Review , 1999; ‘An Ode To Bafana Bafana’ in Glass Jars Amongst Trees , 2003; ‘From Our Hillbrow Tower (On Strikes Against Terror)’ in In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself , 2004 and Public Culture , 2004.

Special thanks to Sage Publications, John Thieme of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature , and Lizzy Attree for permission to republish the interview, ‘Healing With Words’.

Also to Nape ’a Motana for providing the translations of ‘Sereto Sa Phaswane Mogano’ and ‘St Bede’s High’, and Vonani Bila for his insights; Meg Samuelson for her helpful input into the collection as a whole; and Wonder Chabalala for his photographic contributions.


Editor’s Preface
Brooding Clouds , a collection of short stories and poetry, has been published as a tribute to the creative talent of the late Phaswane Mpe, author of Welcome to our Hillbrow (2001), a debut novel that garnered immediate attention and achieved cult status in South Africa and abroad. The title, Brooding Clouds , is taken from the original short story collection written by Phaswane in the 1990s. This constituted, in effect, the prequel manuscript to Hillbrow , in which the characters, themes and events of the subsequent novel found their incubation. Although some of these stories have been published individually, the collection in its entirety never found its way into print. This has been an omission long in need of redress, since the short story collection is a work which stands firmly on its own merits.
Imbued with all the charm and ingenuousness of Phaswane’s early creativity, the stories evoke the insular rural world of the author’s own beginnings, and reflect his emblematic concerns: love, sexual betrayal, poverty, xenophobia, the dislocations of migrancy , and the scourge of ‘witch’ burning which was of such enduring concern to him. Structured as a series of linked narratives, the stories follow the trials, misfortunes and ambitions of a group of rural youths from the tiny northern village of Tiragalong, as they struggle to escape the ‘raving poverty’ of their backgrounds and pursue the dream of education that promises redemption. The familiar character cast from Hillbrow is here in all its inceptual detail: Tshepo whose calamitous death sets in motion the train of tragic events that unfolds through the rest of the chapters – and on into the pages of Hillbrow ; Refentše the troubled hero-protagonist; Sammy the betrayer; Lerato ‘the Hi