Synopsis
The first people of South Africa, stone - age hunters and gatherers from the mountains and the arid flats of the interior, did not survive the arrival of settlers from Europe. Within decades an ancient world of sorcerers, hunters and artists was lost for ever, along with the stories they told. We would know next to nothing of their myths, their beliefs or the rituals that governed their lives if it were not for six people, five of whom were men taken to Cape Town and imprisoned between 1869 and 1870. Released into the rural home of a Prussian linguist called Wilhelm Bleek and his English-born sister-in-law, a former governess called Lucy Lloyd, they were invited to teach their language and to share a previously unknown world on the verge of extinction. Over the next eighteen years Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd worked together to record 12,000 pages of stories, songs, pictures and moving personal histories.
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About the Author
Neil Bennun is a BAFTA nominated writer who has written for radio and theatre. He is a South African living in London and has travelled throughout Africa since he was eleven years old.
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The Broken String The Last Wor
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The Broken String : The Last Words of an Extinct People
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The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People
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Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR005799239
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The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People
Published by
Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom, London, 2004
ISBN 10: 0670912506
ISBN 13: 9780670912506
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Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Xam people were a South African tribe who lived in the scrubland and communicated in a distinct click language. During the nineteenth century they were labelled as sub-human and hunted as animals by the Boers and the British. In 1870's Cape Town, a German philologist, Wilhelm Bleek, and his sister-in-law Lucy Lloyd, befriended some Xam bushmen and gradually began to document their language, resulting in an extraordinary archive of material. This is the story of Wilhelm and Lucy and of the discovered Xam culture of beautiful rock art and powerful fables. The fables will run throughout the book. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR002096106
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The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People
Published by
Penguin/Viking, London, 2004
ISBN 10: 0670912506
ISBN 13: 9780670912506
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Thick 8vo(9"tall)navy cloth. First Printing stated, 2004. Near Fine in an unclipped Very Good dust jacket minor edgewear, a neat tape repaired tear to lower rear and top of backstrip. SCARCE. Seller Inventory # 11976
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The Broken String : The Last Words of an Extinct People
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