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NOVEMBER '22 LIBRARY REVIEWS

ETHNOGRAPHY (KENYA)

Longing for Darkness: Kamante’s Tales from Out of Africa by Kamante and Peter Beard
R1950 from Clarke’s Bookshop

If you’ve read Out of Africa, you will remember Kamante as the sick boy who arrived at the coffee farm of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) and became her beloved chef. This book, compiled by renowned wildlife photographer Peter Beard with Kamante over a period of 12 years, combines the latter’s watercolours, his retelling of the fables Dinesen taught at the Karen Coffee School, and his memories of the events documented in Out of Africa, translated from Swahili and handwritten by Kamante’s sons. The book ends with an Afterword by Jacqueline Onassis and her correspondence with Kamante. It also features photographs by Dinesen, her brother Thomas, her great friend Denys Finch-Hatton, and Beard himself, who credits Dinesen with helping him construct his most famous book, The End of the Game. An utterly moving account, from an important, overlooked perspective. GB

FASHION

Africa: The Fashion Continent by Emmanuelle Courrèges, 2021
R1495 from The Book Lounge

Like Swinging London and the Antwerp 6, the African wave currently rippling across the globe represents a cultural renaissance expressed through fashion. This creative revolution reappropriates the visual language of the continent – and in doing so, claims its narrative. Emmanuelle Courrèges, pan-African fashion journalist and founder of the Lago 54 platform for African design, is perfectly placed to share this story: she has done so in 250 pages of jaw-dropping images that celebrate the continent’s boundary-pushing designers and creatives, and the radical self-expression emerging via social media and popular culture. While the global community is only beginning to speak the language of ritual, reinvention and radical upcycling, this is, of course, Africa’s mother tongue. Drawing on the past, yet unbound by tradition, this new creative voice is playful, vibrant, and innovative. Welcome to the newest chapter in the history of fashion. LC

FASHION

Africa: The Fashion Continent by Emmanuelle Courrèges, 2021
R1495 from The Book Lounge

Like Swinging London and the Antwerp 6, the African wave currently rippling across the globe represents a cultural renaissance expressed through fashion. This creative revolution reappropriates the visual language of the continent – and in doing so, claims its narrative. Emmanuelle Courrèges, pan-African fashion journalist and founder of the Lago 54 platform for African design, is perfectly placed to share this story: she has done so in 250 pages of jaw-dropping images that celebrate the continent’s boundary-pushing designers and creatives, and the radical self-expression emerging via social media and popular culture. While the global community is only beginning to speak the language of ritual, reinvention and radical upcycling, this is, of course, Africa’s mother tongue. Drawing on the past, yet unbound by tradition, this new creative voice is playful, vibrant, and innovative. Welcome to the newest chapter in the history of fashion. LC

LEGACY FICTION (SOUTH AFRICA)

Mhudi by Sol Plaatje, 1930
R220 from Clarke’s Bookshop

Combining epic historical sweep with memorable individual characters, Sol Plaatje’s novel Mhudi is set amidst the epochal Mfecane/Difaqane conflicts of the mid-19th century. It also features no less than three central, fascinating female characters, including the title protagonist, Mhudi, who combines great bravery with thoughtful compassion throughout her various adventures. Written between 1917 and 1920 by one of the most distinguished public intellectuals his country has ever produced, but only published in 1930 (by the groundbreaking Lovedale Press) this is the first novel in English to have been written by a black South African, and is a book that everyone should read. Witty and wise, boldly romantic and intimately detailed, it’s also a story I can hardly believe has never been made into a hit TV drama. Seriously, Netflix, what are you waiting for? RA

ART & CULTURE (DIASPORA)

In the Black Fantastic by Ekow Eshun, 2022
R1035 from Jonathan Ball (distributors in SA)

Produced to accompany the acclaimed group exhibition of the same name at London’s Hayward Gallery, this visual feast of a book is much more than your average exhibition catalogue. Featuring fantastic – in the true sense of the word – artistic output from across the African diaspora, and including elements of genres sometimes referred to as “Magical Realism” and “Afrofuturism”, the book succeeds in exploring and in many ways, brilliantly redefining, black speculative creative realms. Divided into three sections, “Invocation”, “Migration”, and “Liberation”, In the Black Fantastic traverses a range of cultural outputs (everything from album covers to fine art and music videos) and includes several fascinating essays, too. Overall, this book is a wildly imaginative treat – and inspiring on multiple levels. RA

ART & CULTURE (DIASPORA)

In the Black Fantastic by Ekow Eshun, 2022
R1035 from Jonathan Ball (distributors in SA)

Produced to accompany the acclaimed group exhibition of the same name at London’s Hayward Gallery, this visual feast of a book is much more than your average exhibition catalogue. Featuring fantastic – in the true sense of the word – artistic output from across the African diaspora, and including elements of genres sometimes referred to as “Magical Realism” and “Afrofuturism”, the book succeeds in exploring and in many ways, brilliantly redefining, black speculative creative realms. Divided into three sections, “Invocation”, “Migration”, and “Liberation”, In the Black Fantastic traverses a range of cultural outputs (everything from album covers to fine art and music videos) and includes several fascinating essays, too. Overall, this book is a wildly imaginative treat – and inspiring on multiple levels. RA

CONTEMPORARY FICTION (UGANDA)

Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, 2018
R245 from Clarke’s Bookshop

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s debut novel, Kintu, is the story of Kintu Kidda, his descendants and the ill-fated generational curse that plagues their family. The novel spans over 200 years, and follows the Kintu clan as they grapple with the sinister impact the curse has on their lives. The messy realities of family relationships and legacy are highlighted as the novel shifts from one character to another. Makumbi also brilliantly merges fictional imagination and Ugandan history to delve into the complicated subjects of religion, patriarchy, masculinity and the legacy of colonialism in an innovative and African-centred way. Through masterful storytelling, the world of Uganda and the stories of the Kintu clan are transformed from mere words on a page to a vivid reality that is quite unforgettable. NM

MEMOIR (SOUTH AFRICA)

Hoerkind: Die Memoires van ’n Randeier by Herman Lategan, 2022
R290 from The Book Lounge

Ostensibly the story of Herman Lategan’s life as an illegitimate child and troubled adult, growing up, surviving and ultimately thriving in pre-and post-apartheid South Africa, Hoerkind is also the biography of a city. The carnivalesque trauma of Lategan’s youth and the vicissitudes of his adulthood are mirrored in the fractured historical evolution of Cape Town. The book presents both in a way that is loving and forgiving, but without losing sight of some hard and familiar realities. Fun to read, emotionally complex, and deeply satisfying, Hoerkind is more than just the story of a life. It’s also a paean to possible futures. CR

MEMOIR (SOUTH AFRICA)

Hoerkind: Die Memoires van ’n Randeier by Herman Lategan, 2022
R290 from The Book Lounge

Ostensibly the story of Herman Lategan’s life as an illegitimate child and troubled adult, growing up, surviving and ultimately thriving in pre-and post-apartheid South Africa, Hoerkind is also the biography of a city. The carnivalesque trauma of Lategan’s youth and the vicissitudes of his adulthood are mirrored in the fractured historical evolution of Cape Town. The book presents both in a way that is loving and forgiving, but without losing sight of some hard and familiar realities. Fun to read, emotionally complex, and deeply satisfying, Hoerkind is more than just the story of a life. It’s also a paean to possible futures. CR

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