Daniel Pule Kunene (1923–2016) was a South African literary scholar, translator, and writer. He was Emeritus Professor of African Languages and Literature at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

.Raj Shukla
The Lesson of Daniel Kunene (1923-2016)
Madison 365, June 3, 2016. Accessed August 26, 2020.

Life

Daniel Pule Kunene was born on April 13, 1923, in Edenville,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He gained a BA in 1949 from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

, an MA in 1951 from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

and a PhD in 1961 from the University of Cape Town. He married Selina Sekhuthe in 1953. In 1963 he and his family left South Africa, finding political asylum in the United States after a stay in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

.Daniel Kunene: 1923-1916
''University of Cape Town News'', May 27, 2016. Accessed August 26, 2020. Kunene taught at

UW Madison UW, U.W., ''Uw'', or uw may refer to: Universities Canada * University of Waterloo, Ontario * University of Windsor, Ontario * University of Winnipeg, Manitoba United States * University of Washington ** University of Washington Bothell ** Univer ...

for 33 years. He also taught at the

, the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, the

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, and the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. He published 16 books and monographs in English and Sesotho, as well as hundreds of other publications. His books include the memoir: Kero Court Chronicles: Memoirs of Daniel P. Kunene (2015); fiction: Dawn To Twilight (2013); Dithoko, Dithothokiso le Dithohetletso tsa Sesotho (1996); From the Pit of Hell to the Spring of Life (1986); poetry: The Rock at the Corner of My Heart (2009); A Seed Must Seem to Die (1981); Pirates Have Become our Kings (1978); theatre: The Mandela Saga (1991); translation: Thomas Mofolo’s Pitseng: The Search for True Love (2013); CLS Nyembezi’s My Child! My Child! (2010); Thomas Mofolo’s Chaka (1981); and scholarship: The Zulu Novels of CLS. Nyembezi: A Critical Appraisal (2007); Thomas Mofolo and the Emergence of Written Sesotho Prose (1989); The Ideophone in Southern Sotho (1978); Heroic Poetry of the Basotho (1971); The Beginning of South African Vernacular Literature: A Historical Study (1967); and The Sound System of Southern Sotho (1961). He was awarded the Sol T Plaatje Translation Award by the English Academy of Southern Africa in 2011, the Karel Čapek Award by the International Federation of Translators the same year. In 1995 he was awarded the Shuter and Shooter Prize for Literature . In summer 1993 Kunene toured South Africa, his first chance to return after three decades of exile. His wife Selina died in October 1993. In 2003 he married again, to Marci Ellis. He died on May 27, 2016.

Works

* ''Dithoko, dithothokiso le dithoholetso tsa sesotho''. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1966. * ''The works of Thomas Mofolo : summaries and critiques : a forerunner of A digest of African vernacular literatures'', 1967 * ''The beginning of South African vernacular literature: A historical study''. * ''Heroic poetry of the Basotho'', 1971 * ''Pirates have become our kings: poems''. Nairobi, Kenya : East African Pub. House, 1978. * ''The ideophone in Southern Sotho'', Berlin: Reimer, 1978. * (tr.) '' Chaka'' by

Thomas Mofolo Thomas Mokopu Mofolo (22 December 1876 – 8 September 1948) is often regarded as the first African novelist. His body of work, which consists of three books composed between 1905 and 1910, were first written in Sesotho, and then widely translate ...

. 1980. * ''A seed must seem to die'', 1981 * ''From the pit of Hell to the spring of life'', 1984 * ''Thomas Mofolo and the emergence of written Sesotho prose'', 1989 * ''The Zulu novels of C.L.S. Nyembezi : a critical appraisal''. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007.

References

1923 births 2016 deaths University of South Africa alumni University of Cape Town alumni South African refugees South African academics South African poets South African short story writers South African translators University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty South African emigrants to the United States Scholars of African literature 20th-century translators South African expatriates in the United Kingdom {{SouthAfrica-academic-bio-stub