Anthem of the Decades: A Zulu Epic (African Writers Series)

by Mazisi Kunene

English (translation)

Genres: African Literature, Poetry

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

About the author

Mazisi Kunene was a South African poet best known for his poem Emperor Shaka the Great. While in exile from South Africa's apartheid regime, Kunene was an active supporter and organizer of the anti-apartheid movement in Europe and Africa. He would later teach at UCLA and become Africa's and South Africa's poet laureate.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's an epic narrative poem originally written in zulu and translated to english by the author, and you get to learn all about zulu cosmology in the introduction. there's some cool imagery, like the part where the chameleon is on an 'unfinished' planet where there are giant piles of limbs sitting around, and the part where the ancestors hang out with the sun.

[Stephen Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly amazing, arguably one of the best introductions I’ve read. Think I enjoyed it better than the book.