The Zulus of New York’ Restores Humanity to History’s Nameless

‘The Zulus of New York’ by South African novelist, poet and playwright Zakes Mda is both a fascinating fictional account and a haunting retelling of history.

The book describes a time when English and American crowds lined up to witness troupes of ferocious Zulus performing wild war dances, fuelling an obsession with the larger than life warriors.

Mda creates searing images of bawdy dances, groaning and the simulation of sexual activity by roaring Zulus wearing animal skins from the waist down and eliciting “blushes and shy giggles” from the ladies in the audience, with “stone-faced” reactions from the men.

The story begins in the rolling green hills of Natal during the Anglo-Zulu War, when a huge Zulu army, equipped with just traditional weapons, defeats the mighty British army at the Battle of Isandlwana.

Mda introduces Mpiyezintombi, named so because his father thought he was so handsome women were sure to fight over him.

Mpi is a warrior in the court of King Cetshwayo, but when he falls in love with one of the king’s wives, “the plump yellow-coloured Nomalanga”, and their forbidden affair is discovered, he is forced to flee.

So begins his journey, which leads him to sleeping rough on the streets of Cape Town. When Mpi meets the Great Farini, he is convinced to board a ship to London to seek his fortune as a vaudeville performer.

The well-known, true 19th and early 20th-century character will eventually lead Mpi to be a part of the legendary PT Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth – a circus show of freaks and jaw-dropping acts. And soon, Mpi is performing in front of crowds of up to 12 000 people across America.

In Madison Square Park in New York, Mda recounts how a wild Zulu rips a live chicken to pieces with his bare hands and teeth and begins to eat it raw.

“Blood splashes all over the cage as he chews voraciously – feathers and all”.

While certainly reflecting on a very real time in history, Mda’s book aims to go further than a mere historical account.

In an interview with the South African media project The Journalist, Mda notes how he moves between historical reality and fiction in an attempt to “restore the humanity of the Zulu warriors and ordinary African people who were dispossessed of their land and their history”.

“We don’t know who the Zulus were – not even their names. I’m aiming to restore their humanity, to give them a name, life and perspective,” he said.

While seeking fame in New York, alongside his mishmash troupe of ‘Zulu warriors’, Mpi, however, finds something else. Whether it is love or obsession, or both, there is no denying that his world is immediately changed when he is struck by the “pitch black” Dinka princess.

She sits in a cage, adorned with a gold papier-mache crown and a vague smile. With eyes that search him out in a crowd of onlookers, the Dinka princess secures Mpi’s devotion. And when fate draws Mpi past a row of brownstone mansions, the sight of the Dinka princess, out of her cage and simply sitting in the middle of a flight of stairs, at first seems to be a hallucination.

So begins their relationship. And soon, Mpi learns what the Dinka princess does when she’s not locked up in her cage.

Mda told The Journalist his novels, although often set in a historical period, are driven by fictional characters “whose fate is not necessarily determined by history”.

“History tells us what happened while historical fiction demonstrates what it was like to be in what happened. It takes us inside history into the interiorities of the players – both historical and fictional. We can only sympathise with those whose story we know,” said Mda.

Certainly, the reader begins to sympathise with the strikingly beautiful Dinka princess, or Acol, as she prefers to be called, who escapes the prison of her cage and master by photographing the birds that remind her of those from her homeland.

Considered to be one of the foremost writers in post-apartheid South Africa, the self-taught Mda has written prolifically in a variety of genres. His notable works include ‘Ways of Dying’, ‘The Madonna of Excelsior’ and ‘The Whale Caller’.

In addition to his written work, Mda is also a painter, music composer and a creative writing professor.

‘The Zulus of New York’ is certainly Mda at his best as he creates indelible characters and maps out their fractured destinies.