ENOCH S. GUMA

Two other writers were responsible for the emergence of Xhosa prose fiction during the second decade of this century [20th century]. One was the first Xhosa woman writer, L. Kakaza. . . . The other was Enoch S. Guma, who studied at the Anglican Training College of the St. Matthew's Mission. His only known work is U-Nomalizo okanye izinto zalomhlaba ngamadingigiqhiwu, which was printed in Tsolo in 1918. An English translation entitled Nomalizo, or, The Things of This Life are Sheer Vanity was published in London by the Sheldon Press in 1928 and was reprinted in 1951. . . . Although this Sunday-school novelette has little intrinsic value, it is od some historical and sociological importance. . . . Indeed, U-Nomalizo is the first Xhosa piece of prose fiction to treat African city life with any degree of realism.

-Albrt S. Gerard, Four African Literatures: Xhosa, Sotho, Zulu,Amharic (1971), p.65-6.