African Laughter - Doris May Lessing [213]
Notes
The Matabele
the inhabitants of Matabeleland. But more and more they are called the Ndebele which is the word once used for the language. Once the Matabele lived in Matabeleland and spoke Ndebele, but now the Ndebele live in Matabeleland and speak Ndebele.
The Mashona
Similarly, the Mashona lived in Mashonaland and spoke Shona. More and more the Shona live in Mashonaland and speak Shona.
The War
It was called the Liberation War, or, popularly, the War in the Bush, and the fighters on the black side were the Freedom Fighters, or the Boys in the Bush, or the Comrades. Or, from another point of view, Terrorists or the ‘terrs’.
Acknowledgments
With most particular gratitude to
Dr Antony Chennells of the University
of Zimbabwe for his help, his patience,
his generosity, the energy of his
commitment to Zimbabwe and his
knowledge of the history of Southern
Africa. Gratitude, too, for the use of his
library of books and material from the
earliest days of the country.
And my most grateful thanks to the
members of the Book Team of the
Community Publishing Programme.
This programme was initiated by
the Ministry of Community and
Co-operative Development. The
Women’s Book, the third in the series,
is being jointly produced with the
Ministry of Political Affairs.
And with grateful thanks to Peter Garlake
for generously sharing his expert
knowledge of Bushmen painting in
South Africa.
Acknowledgements to:
Anton Chekhov, The Island. A Journey to
Sakhalin; Loren Eiseley, The Unexpected
Universe; The Independent for material
used in articles; F. C. Selous, Travel and
Adventure in South-East Africa; Lloyd
Timberlake, Africa in Crisis; The Times
obituary page; D. C. De Waal, With
Rhodes in Mashonaland; The Observer,
Jan Raath.
About the Author
DORIS LESSING was born of British parents in Persia in 1919, and moved with her family to Southern Rhodesia when she was five years old. She went to England in 1949 and has lived there ever since. She is the author of more than thirty books—novels, stories, reportage, poems and plays. Doris Lessing lives in London.
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PRAISE FOR AFRICAN LAUGHTER
“One of the most penetrating and evenhanded critiques of Zimbabwe as a new nation…. What Lessing does superbly in this book is make us realize that Zimbabwe has a rich life and history of its own, in every way as fascinating, complicated, tragic and deserving of study and empathy as that of South Africa…. An exhilarating memoir.”
—Mark Mathabane, Washington Post Book World
“In addition to an extraordinary glimpse of a writer investigating her own memories, the book provides an engrossing exploration of the responses of Zimbabwe’s white residents to the black majority government and of the dreams and failures of that government. At the same time the book offers a stunned, angry and nostalgic eulogy for the animals and forests of that country…. One can only hope that these will not be Lessing’s last words on Zimbabwe.”
—Roz Spafford, San Francisco Chronicle
“Elegant and elegaic…. Lessing’s writing is breezy and magisterial at the same time, and she is a wise and even jolly companion…. She has the eye of a Nikon, no detail escapes her.”
—Richard Stengel, Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Brilliant…. She captures the contradictions in a young nation.”
—Vincent Crapanzano, New York Times Book Review
“Her gentle, principled sanity makes her an excellent commentator on this country to which, once a prodigal, she returns an eminence.”
—New York magazine
“Ms. Lessing states that being in love with a country is a tricky business: ‘You get your heart broken even more surely than by being in love with a person.’ African Laughter is the touching, beautifully written story of a broken heart. The laughter is to hold back the tears.”
—Frank Ruddy, Wall Street Journal
“An idiosyncratic, entertaining book