The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

by Charles Mungoshi

Collects short stories exploring the strained relations between parent and child, husband and wife, brothers, and friends, in the clash of values between rural Africa and modern urban life

Genres: Short Stories, Zimbabwe

212 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Charles Mungoshi was a Zimbabwean writer. His works included short stories and novels in both Shona and English. He also wrote poetry. He has a wide range, including anti-colonial writings and children's books. He wrote about post-colonial oppression as well. The awards he won included the Noma Award in 1992 and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region) twice in the years 1988 and 1998. Two of his novels, one in Shona and the other in English, both published in 1975 won the International PEN Awards. He was married to an actress Jesesi Mungoshi.

Reviews

[elderfoil...the whatever champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mungoshi's writing effectively communicates time and place. Concentrating on strained relations, cultural change due to modernity, and invisible forces, the storytelling is smooth and subtle. Alongside Shimmer Chinodya, he is perhaps the best writer to portray how life rolls in modern Zimbabwe. Favorite stories were "White Stones and Red Earth," "The Mountain," "The Brother," "The Victim," and "The Setting Sun and The Rolling World."
Note: This book combines two earlier short story collections---Coming of the Dry Season and Some Kind of Wounds.

[Mallory Akers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a part of our eighth grade curriculum and absolutely fell in love with it. The themes in this story hit me as a grown adult. Taking a stand for yourself is so hard, but Nhamo shows wisdom by doing this.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this short story for 8th grade curriculum planning. Reminds me a lot of Everyday Use.. very similar ideologies and themes. A short story that holds lots of meaning and can relate to any of us.

[Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These short stories are brilliant, subtle, sad, alive." -Doris Lessing

I couldn't put it better myself. Mungoshi writes with verve; each and every story in this collection crackled with life. Re-readable.

[Wajd]

It was really interesting and fun. It was kinda sad too