Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo is one of the major founding figures of South African literature and perhaps the first prolific African creative writer in English.
Background
Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo was born was born on February 26, 1903 in Siymau, Edendale, in the Natal province of South Africa. His parents were Christians, but on his father's side his ancestors were the royal family of the Dhlomos, and - according to Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Tim Couzens - his father may have been raised "in the house of Bambatha, which led the last Zulu resistance movement in 1906." His mother's grandfather was the first person converted to Christianity by the Reverend James Allison, whose followers formed the Edendale community in 1851. Other members of Dhlomo's family would become well known for their talents; his older brother, Rolfes Robert Reginald Dhlomo, known as R. R. R Dhlomo, was a well-known novelist and newspaper editor, and his cousin, Reuben Caluza, was one of South Africa's most famous musicians. In 1912, Dhlomo's family moved to Johannesburg, where his father worked for a life insurance company and then got a job in mining. Dhlomo's mother took in washing.
Education
Herbert's mother encouraged Herbert to attend school; he went first to the American Board Mission School in Doornfontein, and then trained as a teacher at the Amanzimtoti Training Institute, also known as Adams College. About 1924, he completed his studies.
In 1924 Herbert obtained a teaching position at Umzumbe on the south coast of the province of Natal. After five years, he moved back to Doornfontein and became principal of the American Board Mission School he had attended.
His interest in journalism grew after his marriage, and in 1935 he quit teaching and began writing for Bantu World. In July of 1932 Dhlomo and others founded the Bantu Dramatic and Operatic Society, and he appeared in several of their productions. It is not known whether he had already begun writing his own plays, or if this experience stimulated him to begin writing them. Dhlomo was devoted to his writing, but his career and education were marred by prejudice: at that time, blacks were not allowed into libraries, and could not attend public theaters. Therefore, he was unable to see any plays, except a very few school performances, and had few models for his own writing.
Dhlomo's first two plays were based on historical characters: Ntisikana and The Girl Who Killed to Save. These plays both revealed Dhlomo's optimistic belie! in progress and improvement. In The Girl Who Killed to Save, the AmaXhosa tribe slaughtered all its livestock in order to fulfill a prophecy, ultimately leading to the death of 20,000 people. Dhlomo viewed the catastrophe as good in the long run, because it destroyed old tribal traditions and prepared the people for the new, modern world. Dhlomo also wrote a historical play, Cetshwayo, which examined the origins of segregation; it directly attacked current events and politics.
In 1937 Dhlomo became a librarian at the Carnegie Non-European Library, and continued to write plays, which he produced and directed using local actors and resources.
He later moved to Durban, where he slept on the beach, and looked for a job. He eventually got a job with the South African Broadcasting Company, but it did not last, due in part to his bitterness.
Dhlomo's second book, a collection of poems titled Valley of a Thousand Hills, was published in 1941. The title poem was an epic that celebrated the legacy of the Zulu tribe, and tried to integrate their great past and the present, as well as the future. Dhlomo was one of the first African literary critics. Between 1936 and 1946, he wrote many articles on drama and poetry, and expressed his belief that modern African writers should go back to their roots, to their tribal ancestors, and gather material from these sources. He drew on traditional tribal songs of war, hunting, love, agriculture, and lullabies, as well as folk poetry and incantations. Dhlomo died after a long illness in 1956.
Dhlomo's literary oeuvre was considerable: dozens of plays and short stories, and over one hundred poems complement his regular editorial and political work. Dhlomo was a key figure among the early generation of writers, including Sol Plaatje and Thomas Mofolo, who established a literary tradition for the more recent generation(s) to build on.
Dhlomo's experiences with his wife and job, and the bitterness they engendered, led him to become more radical politically. He turned his disappointment outward, believing that the reason he was not appreciated or understood was related to the oppression of blacks.
Views
Herbert believed that the tribal cultures should be preserved and continued, and that this preservation, integrated with modern life, would lead to a great flowering of literature. He believed that modern poetry and drama could spring from this rich matrix and draw strength from it. However, he did not believe that poetry and drama should spring only from African roots, but that it should integrate the traditions and forms of European arts.
Quotations:
"Great art or thought is more than racial or national. It is universal, reflecting the image, the spirit, of the All-Creative Being who knows neither East nor West, Black nor White, Jew nor Gentile, time nor space, life nor death."
Membership
He also joined the Bantu Men's Social Center (BMSC), an organization of black, middle-class men. In addition to holding social events, the club gave room to other organizations, such as the African National Congress (ANC), which held meetings in the club's hall.
Personality
Dhlomo was a serious person, not known for having a sense of humor; he believed in his destiny as a genius. This high opinion of himself caused trouble both in his marriage and in his work, and when he lost both he began to suffer financially.
Connections
In 1931, Dhlomo married Ethel Kunene, whom he had met at the Amanzimtoti Training Institute. He left his wife.
