Main by NoViolet Mkha Bulawayo
Main. Main Street standing up straight and adjusting the rainbow-coloured wrap skirt that threatens to slide down her wide waist, black blood boiling in her veins. Bustling throbbing writhing street. Everything moving: cars, voices, ambitions, money, dreams, feet, smoke. Just moving moving moving — like a wind.
This story has been selected for the StoryTime anthology African Roar 2011, please go to the African Roar site for more info.
Main was written by NoViolet Mkha Bulawayo.
Copyright © NoViolet Mkha Bulawayo 2010.
NoViolet Mhka Bulawayo considers herself a storyteller first, and a writer second. She loves both so much that she is pursuing an MFA in fiction at Cornell University. Her short story, Snapshots, was a finalist for the 2009 SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award, and she won the Caine Prize 2011 for a short story Hitting Budapest
11 comments:
NoViolet! Who knew you had it in you?! Well done. I was on Main Street, experiencing everything with your characters.
I may be wrong, but I perceived influences from Toni Morrison (one of my absolutely favorite writers). However, the language was very much your own; lyrical, poetic and very strong.
Good stuff!
Yes, the lyricism, the poetry in the prose. Love the metaphorical language too and the way the sentences sing, much like the blues. You can sing this short story. Are there dancers nearby?
Some of the stories here would impress contest judges. The Caine is around the corner...let's do something.
Brilliant Mkha, you gone and done it again ma sista-oh! :-) love the lyricism,the beautiful painting of those painful things, poetry poetry..Hit us again, usitshiyesilokhu silabila amazwi anguluju..In the words of Mkha- 'Zim lit rising baby!'
thank you all for your kind comments, i'm just trying. Jude, i also admire Ms. Morrison, a lot, i cannot count the ways. mukoma, i think i'm in love with language and movement, though it can be a problem someimes :) and Novuyo, still working on it, and yes, we risin baby :)
i must say ths is a brilliant story tht stays true 2its setting. loved the way the words flow, like a pregnant stream, they never stop singing. Wel done my sista!
-Mbonisi
The devil's in the detail and by jove have you got it down pat. The fluidity of the work is a joy to behold - desperation, indignation, resignation...all come rushing at the reader with the speed of a freight train. I love the sentence which contains "they look at the now red boy from the broken windows in their eyes"....splendid!
thank you Mbotse, and Ayodele :)
The detail! Like any screenwriter, I love visual and graphic. This would make a brilliant scene, with the right director. So much of everyday life in Zimbabwe-as well as an explanation of what keeps it going and the history behind it-all told in such a short-story. This is literature!
thank you Masimba; i know where to look now if ever i need a director :) keep it strong!
Wow!!! The ebb and flow of words are unbelievable my talented sister!!! This story serves as a painful but wonderfully written reminder of what became of our beloved country :( Congrats on winning the Caine Prize :D
Post a Comment