Reginald Dhlomo - a short biography and bibliography of this KwaZulu-Natal author.
zoom
Reginald Dhlomo
|
Rolfes Reginald Raymond Dhlomo (1906-1971) was born near
Pietermaritzburg and was the brother of
renowned KwaZulu-Natal poet H.I.E. Dhlomo. He worked as a
mine clerk in Johannesburg and as a freelance
journalist becoming, in 1932, assistant editor of the
Bantu World and, in
1943, editor of Ilanga lase Natal. Most of his
creative work is in Zulu and
consists of historical novels of nineteenth-century Zulu
leaders: U-Dingane
(1936), U-Shaka (1937), U-Mpande (1938),
U-Cetshwayo (1952) and
UDinizulu
(1968). He wrote a novella An African
Tragedy (1928), the first
piece of English prose fiction by a black South African to
appear in book
form and presenting a sombre picture of life in the black
urban slums. Under
several pseudonyms including 'Rollie Reggie', 'The
Randite' and 'Pessimist',
he regularly sketched moral tales of life in the mining
compounds for
Stephen Black's magazine The Sjambok (1929-1931) -
a selection is to be
found in English in Africa (March 1975). In 1946 he
returned to the conflict
between rural and city ways in the Zulu-language
Indlela Yabani ('The Evil
One'), a narrative depicting the dilemmas of an African in
the locations of
Johannesburg.
(From the Companion to South African Literature -
Adey, Beeton and
Chapman, 1986) Selected Workfrom 'Evils of Town Life' in An African Tragedy
(1928)
Two reasons made Robert Zulu leave teaching at Siam
Village School. The
first was that he wanted to get married to Miss Jane
Nhlauzeko as soon
as possible. But as Jane's father had asked for a silly
huge sum of
money and other gifts for Ilobolo Robert felt that he
could not raise
this sum quick enough while teaching - teachers' salaries
being anything
but lucrative at that time.
So he made up his mind to leave teaching, and go to
Johannesburg to look
for work. He felt sure that there he could make more money
in more ways
than one, and that quickly too.
The second reason was that he thought, as most foolish
young people
think now-a-days, that town life is better in every way
than country
life; and that for a young, educated man to die having
not seen and
enjoyed town life was a deplorable tragedy. These excuses
made Robert
deaf to all the efforts of his parents and friends to
dissuade him from
going to that most unreliable city of Johannesburg. His
final decision
therefore, to go to Johannesburg at all hazards, was a
blow to his
people, who had thought highly of him, as a young Christian
teacher in the
Mission.
This blow was felt even more strongly by his future
parents-in-law. But
as Robert pointed out to his father-in-law that, unless he
reduced his
Ilobolo, there was no alternative open to him but that of
going to
Johannesburg to try and raise money quickly, his
father-in-law did not
argue any further.
He wanted money for his daughter. He had said : "
What business has
Robert to ask my daughter's hand in marriage if he has no
money to pay
for her?" This is unfortunately the parrot-cry of
many Christian
fathers, the costly mistake which, in many cases, results
in poor, and
financially stranded homes, or driving the young lovers to
the terrible
alternative of a "Special License," or running
away from their homes
with disastrous results all too-well known.
Robert Zulu had been in Johannesburg for about two years
as our story
begins. During this time, he had been engaged in all sorts
of nefarious
activities in pursuit of get-me-rich quick methods. But all
these
activities, instead of getting him rich only plunged him
deeper and
deeper in vice and evils. BibliographyAfrica in prose
1928. An African tragedy.
1935. Izikhali zanamuhla.
1936. UDingane kaSenzangakhona.
1937. UShaka.
1938. U Mpande ka Senangakhona.
1938(n.d.) UNomalanga kaNdengezi.
1946. Indlela yababi.
1952. UCetshwayo.
1977. Izwi nesithunzi. - Pietermaritzburg -
- Index -
For more information please visit
KZN Literary
Tourism
|
|
