Can Themba
Encyclopedia
Overview
He was born in Marabastad, near PretoriaPretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, but wrote most of his work in Sophiatown, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
before it was destroyed under the provisions of the apartheid Group Areas Act
Group Areas Act
The Group Areas Act of 1950 was an act of parliament created under the apartheid government of South Africa on 27th April 1950. The act assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid...
.
He was a student at Fort Hare University College where he received an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
degree (first-class) and a teacher’s diploma.
After moving to Sophiatown, he tried his hand at short story writing and entered Drum magazine's (Drum was a magazine for urban black people concentrating mainly on investigative journalism) first short story contest, which he won.
He subsequently worked for Drum, where he became one of the Drum Boys, together with Henry Nxumalo
Henry Nxumalo
Henry Nxumalo, also known as Henry "Mr Drum" Nxumalo was a South African journalist.- Biography :He was born in 1917 in Margate, Natal, South Africa and attended the Fascadale Mission School...
, Bloke Modisane, Todd Matshikiza
Todd Matshikiza
Todd Tozama Matshikiza was a South African jazz pianist, composer and journalist.-Overview:Matshikiza came from a musical family. He graduated from St Peter's College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg and went on to obtain a diploma in music and a teaching diploma. He then taught English and...
and Casey Motsisi
Casey Motsisi
Karobo Moses Motsisi better known as Casey Motsisi or Casey 'Kid' Motsisi was a South African short story writer and journalist.He was born in Johannesburg and worked for a time in Pretoria as a teacher....
. They were later joined by Lewis Nkosi
Lewis Nkosi
Lewis Nkosi was a South African writer and essayist. He was a multifaceted personality, and attempted every literary genre, literary criticism, poetry, drama, and novels.-Later life:...
and Nat Nakasa
Nat Nakasa
Nathaniel Ndazana Nakasa better known as Nat Nakasa was a South African short story writer and journalist.He was born in Durban but moved to Johannesburg to work as a journalist for Drum magazine...
. This group lived by the dictum live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse.
Part of Drums ethos was investigative journalism. One of the aims was to show the realities and inequities of apartheid. Themba decided to see how white churches would react to his presence among them.
Migration to Swaziland
Growing frustrated with the restrictions of apartheid, he moved to SwazilandSwaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
where he worked as a teacher. In 1966, he was declared a "statutory communist", as a result of which his works were banned in South Africa. His literary output was only readily available in the 1980s with the publication of two collections The Will to Die (1972) and The World of Can Themba (1985).
In his stories, he described the frustrations of the university-educated urban black people; unavailable to realise their true potential because of the racial restrictions of apartheid and trying to balance their modern urban culture with the historical rural tribal one.
His most famous story The Suit tells the story of Philomen, a middle-class lawyer, and his wife, Matilda, who live in Sophiatown. One day, Philemon hears that his wife is having an affair, so he goes home in the middle of the day and catches her in flagrante. Her lover jumps out of the window but leaves behind his suit. Philemon then dreams up a strange and bizarre punishment. Matilda has to treat the suit as an honoured guest, feed it, entertain it and take it out for walks. This serves as a constant reminder of her adultery. A remorseful Matilda eventually dies of humiliation. Philemon then regrets his actions but it is all too late. (The story was later adapted for the stage.)
His increasing dependency on alcohol lead to darker, introspective pieces such as Crepuscle, The Will to Die, and The Bottom of the Bottle.
Books
- Deep cuts : graphic adaptations of stories by Can Themba, Alex la Guma & Bessie Head / project co-ordinator: Neil Napper ; editor: Peter Esterhuysen, Maskew Miller Longman, 1993, ISBN 0-63-601896-2
- The suit / by Can Themba ; adapted by Chris van Wyk ; illustrated by Renée Koch. Viva Books, 1994 ISBN 1-87-493214-X
- The will to die / Can Themba ; selected by Donald Stuart and Roy Holland, Heinemann, 1972 ISBN 0-43-590104-4
- The world of Can Themba : selected writings of the late Can Themba / edited by Essop Patel Ravan Press, 1985 ISBN 0-86-975145-X
Awards
- South African The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for "Excellent achievement in literature, contributing to the field of journalism and striving for a just and democratic society in South Africa." (Posthumous)
Sources
- Good-looking Corpse: World of Drum - Jazz and Gangsters, Hope and Defiance in the Townships of South Africa, Mike Nicol, Secker & Warburg, 1991, ISBN 0-43-630986-6
- Writing from South Africa, edited by Anthony Adams & Ken Durham, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-52-143572-2 contains Mob Passion: D. Can Themba