The Arrogance of Certainty: Zakes Mda Accepts Honorary Doctorate from UCT
The title of Honorary Doctor of Literature was recently conferred upon the much-lauded South African author Zakes Mda by his alma mater, the University of Cape Town. As a novelist, playwright and academic, Mda has had plenty of time and opportunity to reflect upon the topic of his speech: self-examination and self-criticism as a writer’s guiding lights.
Mda says in his speech that having faith and having doubt about one’s work as a writer need not be separate states of being, but rather, that they are essential to the growth of a writer, and are reflected in much of the world’s greatest literature. He states, sagely, that these are the tenets of life in general, as much as they are of writerly efforts. Zakes Mda’s works include Ways of Dying, The Heart of Redness and The Madonna of Excelsior. He is currently a professor in the English Department at Ohio University.
The Mail & Guardian published an edited extract of his acceptance speech:
For me particularly, the doctor of literature honoris causa is the greatest of all the honours that I have received in my country. Robert Frost composed these lines when he was chosen poet laureate of his home state of Vermont: “Breathes there a bard who isn’t moved/ When he finds his verse is understood/ And not entirely disapproved/ By his country and his neighbourhood?”
These halls of learning are my neighbourhood, which makes this degree more meaningful and valued.
I am being honoured by my alma mater. This is where, 22 years ago, I received my PhD, the one I really worked for.
Book details
- Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda
EAN: 9780312420918
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- The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda
EAN: 9780195714777
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- The Madonna of Excelsior by Zakes Mda
EAN: 9780195783155
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- The Whale Caller by Zakes Mda
EAN: 9780143025146
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- Black Diamond by Zakes Mda
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EAN: 9780143026860
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- Cion by Zakes Mda
EAN: 9780143025429
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- Sometimes there is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider by Zakes Mda
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EAN: 9780143527442
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Image courtesy People’s Post
Apr
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