C. L. S. NYEMBEZI

In this brief discussion I propose to give you a general picture of what has been done and what is being done to develop Zulu literature. In discussing the early beginnings I shall refer also to work done among the Xhosa in order to make the picture more complete. The story of literary development in the Bantu area is a story which cannot be separated from missionary endeavour. . . . It is the missionaries, however, who were the main contributors. Their avowed policy was to spread God's word as widely as possible. To do that it was not enough merely to preach the Word of God to the Africans. It was necessary to make it possible for the Africans to read the word of God for themselves in their own language. This need brought the missionaries face to face with the problem of reducing the Bantu languages into writing. Schools were started and the Africans were taught to read and write. . . . The grammars and dictionaries were not mainly intended for the Africans but for the missionaries themselves. . . . But although the missionaries concerned themselves primarily with grammars, dictionaries and the translation of the Scriptures, some of them recorded folk-lore, proverbs and valuable historical material. . . . The Zulus, quite naturally, could not be expected to make any significant contribution during the early period and the twentieth century was well in before Bantu writers began to take a hand in the development of their literature.

-C. L. S. Nymbezi, "A Review of Zulu Literature", University Lecture delivered in the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, June 6th, 1961.