Mating Birds - Softcover

Nkosi, Lewis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0795701713 ISBN 13: 9780795701719

Publisher: Kwela Books, 2004

Synopsis

The story of a young South African black man obsessed with an English girl whom he encounters on the segregated Durban beachfront is told from the narrator's prison cell in this classic African novel. Although no words are exchanged, a connection develops between the two mismatched lovers, leading to an intense and ambiguous sexual encounter. He is charged with rape and receives the death sentence. Reconstructing his own history, his obsession with the girl, and his court proceedings, the narrator offers a powerful examination of the warped racial morality and brutality of apartheid.

About this title

Synopsis:

The novel tells the story, in the first person, of a young black male ex-student's obsession with a young English woman, Veronica Slater, whom he encounters on the segregated Durban beachfront. It is the heyday of apartheid. Although not a word is exchanged, a strong erotic bond develops between the two of them, culminating in what is later seen as a rape and for which the narrator gets the death sentence. In an absolute tour de force the narrator, only ever referred to as Mr Sibiya, waiting to be executed, writes down his story - reconstructing bit by bit not only his own and a brief history of his family, but also his obsession with the white girl, the court proceedings, and his encounters with Dr Dufre, a Swiss criminologist who has been granted permission of compile a dossier of the case. One of the most remarkable things about the novel is the narrator's ability to be objective, to view himself and the series of events almost dispassionately.

About the Author:

Lewis Nkosi is the author of Home and Exile, The Transplanted Heart, and Underground People. He has written for The New York Review of Books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Kwela Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0795701713
• ISBN 13: 9780795701719
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 140