The conjunction as catalyst in the Zulu novels of C.L.S. Nyembezi

Abstract

Certain Zulu conjunctions as used in narrative are discussed. I attempt to justify the assumption that, with respect to kanti, the author's third person omniscient narrator, or sometimes the author himself, marshalls knowledge in strategic ways to enhance the aesthetic appeal of his narrative. In doing so, he brings reader and characters into ironically contrasting relationships in which the knowledge is revealed either to the reader (to enhance mounting anxiety) or to a concerned character to give him a definite advantage over another character with whom he may be in an antagonistic relationship. The character to whom the crucial knowledge is never revealed is overcome by the events of the story (for better or for worse) without having been forewarned. With respect to phela, there is an underlying assumption that certain values are held in common by the author's cultural group (replicated in the story) and the reader. Universal values are also often marshalled by means of phela to reveal the basic oneness of mankind. With pho or pho-ke the narrator introduces verdicts resulting from the logical conclusions of certain existing circumstances or events.