Shakespeare is universal

Having taught English in many communities in SA, including Madadeni, Mpumalanga (the town in KwaZulu-Natal), Zwelitsha, Mdantsane, Retreat, Port Alfred and Cape Town, I can assure you there was and is a hunger for Shakespeare’s writings. My students at Khulani Commercial High School in Mdantsane were miffed that the book chosen in place of Julius Caesar was I Heard the Owl Call my Name by Margaret Craven — an excellent book.

To call Shakespeare a colonialist is fatuous nonsense. Shakespeare was not politically correct — that was why the populace paid their penny and packed the Globe Theatre. Everybody knew who he was referring to in his plays. Kings, queens, nobles were not spared. His themes are universal, eternal and pretty relevant to many of the situations in SA before, during and after apartheid.

We are going through an era of labelling, propaganda-mongering and conflating issues. Trashing parts of history you don’t like does not take away the truths that permeate writing and literature. Not exposing young minds to these is tantamount to a criminal failure.

Remember, too, there have been wonderful adaptations in Zulu, such as uMabatha. Do we stop reading Credo Mutwa’s Indaba, my Children; or Etienne Leroux’s Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins; or Karel Schoeman’s By Fakkellig because their culture does not fit in with our own? Do we label them for bringing new insights to the fore? No we do not! We embrace them and the diversity that, thank God, enriches our lives.

Cry the beloved country!

Rob Sampson

Cape Town