African-Language Literatures. Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi
and maxims that have accrued over generations to explain certain phenomena in the life experiences of a people. They are used not only as artistic utterances but also as instructive sites, which, as pointed out by Mokitimi (1997), relate to knowledge, wisdom, philosophy, ethics and morals. Pelling (1977) observes that through these proverbial expressions certain morals and truths are forcefully extolled. According to Nyembezi, these storehouses of experience tend to influence a society’s philosophical outlook and regulate its behaviour:
As a social unit, the people have certain definite ways of behaviour or conduct, which are expected of the individuals comprising the social unit. Some modes of conduct are embodied in proverbs, which serve the purpose of instructing the younger and ignorant generation, or serve as reminders to the old, who have been remiss in their observance of the rules of conduct expected in the society (1949: 299).
It may appear from this that the use of proverbs can hinder progress and encourage linguistic and social stagnation. But a closer look at various oral forms indicates that they preserve some aspects that are recognisably ‘archaic’ while processing and incorporating modern items. This is observable in evolving tales, proverbs, praises and witticisms.
Axiomatic expressions, as oral art forms, display similar characteristics. Axioms can be defined as generally accepted propositions or principles sanctioned by experience or universally established principles or laws that are not necessarily the truth. Axioms are patterned formulations which embody moral lessons that the readers work out for themselves after going through a narrative. Examples of axiomatic expressions are ‘crime does not pay’, ‘true love stands the test of time’ or ‘appearances can be deceptive’. These axioms achieve a state of absoluteness because of repeated retellings of narratives with plot structures that re-affirm their truthfulness. Thus, Cornwall (1996) says, the retelling of narratives inevitably creates an impression that they hold a measure of truthfulness. However, as Barber points out of Yoruba theatre,
The audience, to get its full measure of edification, could not walk into the hall in the closing moments and ‘pick the lesson’ from the summary statement made in the final speech or song. They need to see the axiom produced, as the outcome of a chain of events analogous to the events experienced in their own lives (2000: 267).
Barber (1999) explains that the structure of axioms, just like that of proverbs, reveals that they operate on two temporal trajectories: the atemporal past, which always presents the preserved images of the proverbs that give them ‘object-like properties’ (21); and the fluid or flexible quality that allows the incorporation of newness and freshness. This flexible quality allows the axiom to interact with contemporary realities and projections. Proverbs are structured like axioms because they are old quotations which are able to comment on the evolving trends of contemporary life. The presence of these oral forms in the novels discussed in this chapter points not only to the heightened language used but also to dialogue between the experiences in the novels and other experiences. These experiences are identifiable as ‘pre-existing hypotexts.’5 Hypotexts are secondary texts that embody certain worldviews or orientations that are embedded in a primary text. In these hypotexts, as Mukarovsky (cited in Barber, 1999: 27) asserts, the foreign elements not only retain, ‘the aura of otherness’ but also give a sense of ‘the possibility of reverting or opening out into a different text.’ These texts perpetuate and re-affirm the authority of the traditional world and its knowledge. Barber (1999) calls these text(s), ‘pre-existent texts’, namely, those texts such as proverbs, socio-cultural anecdotes, social or political jokes, witticisms or riddles that are not newly fashioned by the author but which she or he can readily access in linguistic and social repertories. These pre-existent texts, in the context of this book, are proverbs and other witticisms and observations that are used to propel a traditionalist ideology.
The proverb is a patterned linguistic formulation that has an independent identity outside the text and which can be recognised. The novels under discussion have proverbs as titles. A text, oral in origin has migrated to the written medium. In instances where proverbs are embedded in host texts such as narratives, praises and speech acts, the ideas which are encapsulated in the proverbs are brought to bear on the events in the narratives, songs or praises as these proverbs are viewed as representative of people’s life experiences. The titles of the novels, then, are ideas couched in proverbs to explain certain experiences.
Aphelile Agambaqa (they (that is, words) are finished completely) describes the state of being speechless after all attempts at changing realities have been exhausted and the futility of the words has been proven. Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini (The war of the Africans is in the intestine), is an evolving proverb derived from impi yomndeni isesendeni (The war of the family is in the testicle). Both operate on the premise that these proverbs are ideas that were formulated centuries ago and have been passed down through generations. In the context of the texts they are accessed to illuminate the actions of the characters that populate and drive the narratives.6
Novels that have proverbs as titles have an added advantage because the plotting of the narratives follows already established routes or story lines. Cornwall (cited in Barber, 1999: 26) points out that the experiences embodied in proverbs have been heard before and the axioms deduced from them have been worked out earlier and, therefore, the applications of proverbs and the axioms deduced in new contexts become reaffirmations of already existing perspectives. Thus the proverbs and axioms concretise experiences and reveal an embodied authority in the form of a moral lesson. The narrative experience becomes a template through which moral issues, encapsulated in the proverbs, are accessed.
Proverbs as titles of narratives
The meanings given to the proverbs incorporated in various contexts reflect what social trends are permissible or impermissible in the thought of the time. Nyembezi (1949) maintains that, in instances where the new trends are resisted or completely blocked, that is where social thought is opposed to the emergent trend, and then the interpretation of the proverb would revert to the original. In Aphelile Agambaqa the new trends that typify contemporary African society are the diminishing value of traditional families where the father has been the unquestioned head, changing gender roles, diminishing socio-cultural values and problems with cultural relevance. In the context of this narrative, and perhaps generally, these trends which have typified modern African societies since the period of industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation are disparaged as either causes of, or being instrumental in, the decline of an African cultural ethos. In the narrative the absence of a father figure in the life of Nomvula and again in the first few years of her son, Sibusiso, can be read as a strategy to illuminate problems with dysfunctional families.
The narrative seems to postulate that the absence in Nomvula’s life of a father figure, a patriarchal authoritative figure who both acts as guardian of cultural practices and leader of a household, allowed for insidious and deviant behaviour on her part, such as her conception of her child out of wedlock. This observation is made by her sister when she quotes the proverb ‘lafa elihle kakhulu … kazi Khabazela uyazi yini lapho ulele khona ukuthi emzini wakho sekukwamachaca impunz’ idle mini’. (Gone are the good old days…I wonder if Khabazela (Nomvula’s father) knows wherever he is in the afterlife that his home has been turned into a playground) (Radebe, 1996: 9). These proverbs are used to highlight the decline of values and, in particular, to emphasise the fact that the absence of a father in his family allows his offspring to do as they please. The narrative is concerned with the possibility of this happening to Nomvula’s son as well. In an attempt to avoid this occurrence the narrative strategically assigns proverbs to various characters so that all their observations regarding dysfunctional families are underlined by the original proverb or by variants that have a similar meaning to that used as the title. I revisit this notion later in the discussion.
In instances where a proverb’s timelessness might encounter limitations because of emergent trends, the linguistic formulation of the proverb is extended, as is the case with Impi YaboMdabu Isethunjini. Pfeiffer (cited in Biesele 1993) observed this in Ju/’hoan tales. He asserts that the reiteration of oral tales is an indication that certain values are under pressure. His examples of artistic reiteration examine the idea of egalitarian food sharing and that such reiteration may not reflect abundance but rather the violation of the