Lament for Kofifi Macu
Angifi Dladla
Lament for Kofifi Macu, Angifi Dladla’s second book of poems in English, was published in 2017, sixteen years after his first collection. The book shows Dladla making use of a wide range of forms, from lyrical to closely observed portraits, from elegiac to satirical, as well as poems inhabiting the African spirit realm. His poetic voice, always clear and memorable, varies from poem to poem: at times public or bardic in tone, at times intimate and tender, at other times bitter with accusation.
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Lament for Kofifi Macu is Angifi Dladla’s second collection of poems in English and the title poem, which narrates the searing yearning of a young girl who longs for the return of Kofifi – an activist murdered by his handlers in exile – signals some of the central themes and stylistic devices in the book. The “lament” is not just the girl’s, but also the poet’s – for himself, and for those the poet speaks for in these poems, whom he calls the “double-wounded”, those betrayed by the new political and business elite post-1994. ‘Almighty Father,/ Healer of the double-wounded,/ hold this hand – charred/ in this freezing freedom’, the poet writes in “Prayer of the Wounded”. Dladla draws on different poetic forms and techniques – narrative, lyrical, eulogy, free verse, the impressive use of identical rhyme, the litany of praise poetry etc. – with frequent shifts in register, and in implied reader or audience, sometimes within the same poem.
– Alan Finlay
Date of publication: 2017
ISBN 978-0-9947104-1-3 / ebook ISBN 978-1-928476-27-6
104 pages
200 x 130 mm
R160.00
Angifi Dladla 2016 © Vonani Bila |
Angifi Dladla (1950-2020) was a poet and playwright, as well as the author of eight plays, a collection of poems in isiZulu titled Uhambo, and two collections in English: The girl who then feared to sleep, and Lament for Kofifi Macu. His poetry has been published extensively in South Africa and internationally. He had a broad vision of poetry and a deep belief in its worth. His work ranges widely in style and form from densely imagistic poems to lyrical poems on love and nature, observations of supernatural beings, striking political satire and choral-traditional invocations. For a fuller biography, see Kelwyn Sole’s introduction to Maxwell the Gorilla and the Archbishop of Soshanguve in Other Links. Books published Anthologies edited |
Additional information
| Weight | 0.5 kg |
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Reviews of this book
Review by Alan Finlay of Lament for Kofifi Macu by Angifi Dladla New Coin, 2018 text PDF
Review by Tom Penfold of Lament for Kofifi Macu by Angifi Dladla Africa in Words, 2018 text PDF
Interviews & Articles
Tribute to Angifi Dladla by Kyle Allan New Coin, 2020 text PDF
Article by Angifi Dladla: "Growing Writers, Readers and Listeners" in The Fertile Ground of Misfortune: Teaching Practices in Creative Writing, 2017 text PDF
Article by Tom Penfold: "Angifi Dladla and The Bleakness of Freedom" Research in African Literatures, 2020 text PDF
Interview with Angifi Dladla by Joan Metelerkamp New Coin, 2001 text PDF
Other Links
Interview with Angifi Dladla
Interview with Angifi Dladla by Michelle McGrane LitNet, 2006
Review of other books by Angifi Dladla
Review by Alan Finlay of The girl who then feared to sleep by Angifi Dladla Sunday Independent, 2001 text PDF
Review by Phaswane Mpe of The girl who then feared to sleep by Angifi Dladla New Coin, 2001 text PDF
Obituary for Angifi Dladla (24 November 1950 - 17 October 1920)
Obituary for Angifi Dladla by Jennifer Malec Johannesburg Review of Books, 2020
Essay on Angifi Dladla’s Maxwell the Gorilla and the Archbishop of Soshanguve
Introduction by Kelwyn Sole to Dladla’s posthumously published book length poem Johannesburg Review of Books, 2024
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