As centenaries come and go, the works of Sol Plaatje live on, and through them, this pioneering polymath is writ large, writes Chris Thurman
As centenaries come and go, the works of Sol Plaatje live on, and through them, this pioneering polymath is writ largeThe Sol Plaatje bicycle sculpture by Egon Tania and Guy du Toit, seen here at the Oliewenhuis Museum in Bloemfontein. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES/SEAN O'TOOLE
Two years later, Plaatje was one of the eminent group that formed the SA Native National Congress, which would later become the ANC. In 2012, when the ANC celebrated its centenary, Plaatje’s name was often cited, although he has been more readily associated with a cosmopolitan, erudite – “elitist”? – strand in the ANC that did not fit with the populist brand emphasised by the party in the shift from Thabo Mbeki’s presidency to Jacob Zuma’s..
The year 1916 is also significant in the field of Plaatje studies because it was when he contributed his short bilingual English-Setswana essay, “A South African’s Homage” toHere again, we have the paradox of Plaatje writ large. The “homage” signals his future undertaking as a translator of Shakespeare’s plays into Setswana. He saw this as complementary work to his wider promotion of the language.
One can follow the chronological narrative through 18 chapters marking out distinct periods in Plaatje’s astonishingly productive life. Alternatively, one can dip into and out of its pages, navigating its riches via the index, or even flipping idly between phases and themes.
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Sol Plaatje, a man of his words — and they are legionAs centenaries come and go, the works of Sol Plaatje live on, and through them, this pioneering polymath is writ large, writes Chris Thurman
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Sol Plaatje, a man of his words — and they are legionAs centenaries come and go, the works of Sol Plaatje live on, and through them, this pioneering polymath is writ large, writes Chris Thurman
Read more »
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