Rian Malan
Since its original publication twenty years ago Rian Malanâ€™s classic work of narrative nonfiction ,My Traitorâ€™s Heart, has earned its author comparisons to masters of literary nonfiction like Michael Herr and Ryszard Kapuscinski.,The Lion Sleeps Tonight, is Malanâ€™s remarkable chronicle of South Africaâ€™s halting steps and missteps, taken as blacks and whites try to build a new country. Some of the essays previously appeared in a collection published only in South Africa, ,Resident Alien,, but others are collected here for the first time. The collection comprises twenty-three pieces; the title story investigates the provenance of the world famous song â€œThe Lion Sleeps Tonight,â€ which Malan traces back to a Zulu singer named Solomon Linda who recorded a song called â€œMbubeâ€ in the 1930s, which went on to be covered by Pete Seeger, REM, and Phish, and was incorporated into the musical â€œThe Lion King.â€ In other stories, Malan follows the trial of Winnie Mandela and plunges into the explosive controversy over President Mbekiâ€™s AIDS policies of the 1990s.,The stories, combined with Malanâ€™s sardonic interstitial commentary, offer a brilliantly observed portrait of contemporary South Africa.
Cultural,Africa,Nonfiction,Southern Africa,South Africa,History,Writing,Essays,Travel,Short Stories,Culture,Cultural Studies,Cultural
The Lion Sleeps Tonight: And Other Stories of Africa