Dance of Life

Reviews / Votes

"Dance of Life offers a wealth of critical insights into Mda's novels in chapters that are compellingly argued, very perceptive in their readings of individual works, utterly persuasive in the overall argument that is developed, and presented in a lively style that makes for a very satisfying reading experience.... The book may serve both as a work for the literary specialist and as an introduction to Mda for the newcomer. It will make an important and necessary contribution to Mda studies." "This book is intense, but it reads easily. Fincham educates through a progressive process of utilizing 'known' literary territories. She draws the reader into her critical space by linking Edward Said, Ngugi wa Thiong'O, Frantz Fanon, and others to the writings of Mda." (Examiner.com) "Gail Fincham's comprehensive study of Zakes Mda's post-apartheid novels is both readable and intellectually engaging.... (A) valuable consideration of Zakes Mda's fiction. Professor Fincham has marshaled an impressive set of diverse scholarly arguments and managed to organize them into a convincing treatment of some of the most complex and evocative literature coming out of Africa today." (African Studies Quarterly) "It is a committed, often engaging reading of the novels, with reference to the writer's dramaturgy as well.... In addition to an extended discussion of Mda's use of magical realism, the study also explores the controversy that surrounded the publication of Heart of Redness [2000], triggered by the historian Andrew Offenberger. ... [The study is] an invaluable resource." (Year's Work in English Studies)