The essay in Southern Sotho

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the origin of the es say and its development in South Sotho, taking a close look at the theme, structure and style of the Southern Sotho essay in the acknowledged collections of Mocoancoeng's, Moiloa's, Ntsane's, Mofokeng's and Morojele's. In the first chapter, the origin and nature of the essay are discussed, ending with the early essayistic writings in Southern Sotho which opened the way to modern essay writing. This was traced from early translations and explanations of biblical texts, through articles in the Leselinyana series, to Motsamai's and Segoete's writings. A drifting away from religious subjects was noticed from the 1880's, and from 1909, writings on all kinds of themes emerged. It was also noticed that the traditional themes in Segoete's book re-appeared in the modern essays of Moiloa's, Ntsane's1 Mofokeng's and Morojele's. A thematic survey in chapter two showed that Moiloa and Mocoancoeng were more traditionally orientated, Moiloa being more informative and defensive of certain customers, while Mocoancoeng ridiculed them. Even in the socio-political theme, Mocoancoeng ridiculed the status quo, while Moiloa expressed his discontent with the lack of human iustice directly or essayistically. Ntsane and Mofokeng wrote more on human nature and life, respectively. While Ntsane satirised man's tendencies, Mofokeng pondered over life in all connotations of the word, always overlapping into the ' hereafter. His entire volume was found to be structured into a thematic unity always reflecting on life, his main theme. Morojele wrote on a variety of subjects which leaned on the traditional theme. He was found to be the most essayistic of the five, always arguing cleverly on both sides of his subject. In chapter three the structure of the Southern Sotho essay was analysed. Many variations were found which were largely Within the conventional introduction-contentsconclusion form. Each of these three parts also exhibited a standard form and variations. The effects of the variations on each Writer's works were studied and compared. While Moiloa's, Ntsane's and Morojele's essays were largely conventional in form, the tendency to divide the body into phases was noticed in Mocoancoeng's and Mofokeng's. Chapter four dealt with the stylistic deVices emnloved bv each L / • writer, and their effect. While all the writers made great use of parallelism and the rhetorical question, Moiloa's use of alliteration, Morojele's proverbial themes, Mocoancoeng's skilful use of the narrative and Ntsane's and Mofokeng's constant contact with the reader by means of the apostrophy, were distinctive features. In reviewing the dissertation according to Scholes and Klaus, in chapt e r five, the Southern Sotho essay was re-classified into the persuasive essay, the narrative essay, the dramatic essay and the meditative essay. The narrative and meditative essays we re represented overKhelmingly in Mocoanco e ng's and Mofokeng's respectively. Most of t he collections revealed a positive relationship between their titles and their contents.