The first novel in Xhosa.(S.E.K. Mqhayi' USamson)

ABSTRACT

The first novel in the Xhosa language, USamson, written by the greatest figure in the history of Xhosa literature, S. E. K. Mqhayi (1875-1945), and published in 1907, is now lost. It was produced at a time when black people in South Africa were becoming bolder in their demand for human rights, forming independent black churches and political organizations. It appeared after a period of gestation for Xhosa literature in newspapers, at a time when missionaries were discussing the publication of books in Xhosa, but Mqhayi paid for its printing and organized its distribution. The novelette added details of setting and characterization to the biblical story to encourage the youth to gather behind black leaders who lacked support. Caught in the social tension between Xhosa and Mfengu, USamson was heavily criticized by I. W Wauchope for departing from biblical narrative, but more generally defended by readers, who looked forward to the further publication of Xhosa literature in books.

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Writing and literacy were introduced to the Xhosa-speaking peoples on the Eastern Cape frontier of South Africa by English and Scottish missionaries at the start of the nineteenth century. Printing was initially intended to aid the process of conversion, and early publications in and on the Xhosa language (isiXhosa) were designed to serve the mission community. As literacy and schooling spread, the need was felt for reading material for the converts after they left school, so as from 1837 mission journals and newspapers were established. Ending in 1888, a succession of mission newspapers increasingly attracted Xhosa contributions from native speakers, until an emergent African elite perceived the power of the press and in 1884 began to publish secular newspapers of their own (see Opland, "Fighting with the Pen" and "Nineteenth-Century Xhosa Literature"). These early newspapers fostered a literary cadre from whose ranks were drawn the authors of Xhosa creative writing in books, which appeared in the first decade of the twentieth century. The first novel in Xhosa, entitled USamson (Samson), was published in 1907 Its author, Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (1875-1945), was throughout his life actively involved in oral tradition as a praise poet (imbongi), for nearly 50 years between 1896 and 1944 he was a prolific contributor to Xhosa newspapers, and is widely acknowledged to be the pre-eminent figure in the history of Xhosa literature.

It is by no means agreed among scholars that Mghayi's twenty-five-page booklet was the first Xhosa novel, but then again the history of Xhosa literature has not yet been satisfactorily described. Those who write on the subject offer a wide diversity of opinion. Harold Scheub claims that H. M. Ndawo's Uhambo lukaGgoboka (Convert's Journey, 1909) was "the first Xhosa novel" (573). Albert G6rard says that USamson, "an adaptation of the Bible story of Samson," was Mghayi's first published work but that Ityala lamawele (The Trial of the Twins, 1914) was his "first original work" (54); H. M. Ndawo, however, "should be considered the founder of the Xhosa novel" (63). R. H. W. Shepherd, subsequently editor of the Lovedale Press, which had printed USamson, refers to it as a pamphlet: "A few years afterwards he published a pamphlet entitled Samson. The edition was soon sold out, and people spoke in high terms of it" (Shepherd 113). A. C. Jordan, who himself owned a copy of the book, correctly identified it as "a novelette" (104). Jordan's copy has now gone missing from his collection of papers at the University of Fort Hare, and I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to obtain a copy anywhere, but Wandile Kuse, who read Jordans copy in Wisconsin in the course of research for his PhD dissertation on Mqhayi, is now quite firm in his recollection that USamson is a novel and not merely a retelling of the biblical story (personal communication). With Kuse's confirmation, and despite its disappearance, USamson can be firmly established as the first novel in Xhosa, it can be located within a historical and literary context, and some aspects of its content can be reconstructed from the correspondence columns of contemporary Xhosa newspapers.

In his autobiography, UMghayi waseNtab'ozuko (Mghayi of Mount Glory), Mqhayi establishes briefly the social and political context for the publication of the book. Of his early career, at about the turn of the century, he writes:

 
   Ngeli xesha ke sasimi ngezantya, sizama umzi oNtsundu ukuba 
   umanyane, uthethe izwi elinye, ukhale ngesikhalo esinye embusweni. 
   Intoni? Akukho nto yakha yawungabela umzi oNtsundu njengaloo nto! 
   Yaye impatho ophethwe ngayo ziidolophu ingeyiyo; ibe yanele ukuba 
   ibamanye abantu babe yimbumba, kodwa hayi. Abafundisi nabo baye 
   bephelelwa bubuhlobo nathi, ngenxa yeenkqekeko zaMabandla. 
   URulumente usingene yena ngembumbulu enkulu yobuhlanga, ubuMfengu 
   nobuXhosa. (66-67) 
 
   At this time we were busy organizing the people in order to be able 
   to speak in one voice in political affairs, but found that nothing 
   was more difficult for the Black races. Even the hard rule of some 
   Municipalities failed to unite them. European ministers were losing 
   confidence in us, as a result of secessions in the Churches, while 
   the government seemed to be playing off one tribe of Natives 
   against another. (Scott 28)