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She Plays with the Darkness
In a remote mountain village in Lesotho, the beautiful Dikosha lives for dancing and for song, setting herself apart from her fellow villagers. Her twin brother, Radisene, works in the lowland capital of Maseru, struggling amid political upheaval to find a life for himself away from the hills. As the years pass, Radisene's fortunes rise and fall in the city, while Dikosha remains in the village, never leaving and never aging. And through it all, the community watches, comments, and passes judgment.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 23, 2000
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About the author
Zakes Mda
33 books257 followersZakes Mda is the pen name of Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda, a novelist, poet and playwright.
Although he spent his early childhood in Soweto (where he knew political figures such as Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela) he had to finish his education in Lesotho where his father went into exile since 1963. This change of setting also meant a change of language for Mda: from isiXhosa to Sesotho. Consequently Mda preferred to write his first plays in English.
His first play, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland, won the first Amstel Playwright of the Year Award in 1978, a feat he repeated the following year. He worked as a bank clerk, a teacher and in marketing before the publication of We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays in 1980 enabled him to be admitted to the Ohio University for a three-year Master's degree in theatre. He completed a Masters Degree in Theatre at Ohio University, after which he obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communication. By 1984 his plays were performed in the USSR, the USA, and Scotland as well as in various parts of southern Africa.
Mda then returned to Lesotho, first working with the Lesotho National Broadcasting Corporation Television Project and then as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lesotho. Between 1985 and 1992 he was director of the Theatre-For-Development Project at the university and founded the Marotholi Travelling Theatre. Together with his students he travelled to villages in remote mountain regions working with local people in creating theatre around their everyday concerns. This work of writing theatre "from the inside" was the theme of his doctoral thesis, the Ph.D degree being conferred on him by the University of Cape Town in 1989.
In the early nineties Mda spent much of his time overseas, he was writer-in-residence at the University of Durham (1991), research fellow at Yale University. He returned for one year to South Africa as Visiting Professor at the School of Dramatic Art at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is presently Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.
Although he spent his early childhood in Soweto (where he knew political figures such as Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela) he had to finish his education in Lesotho where his father went into exile since 1963. This change of setting also meant a change of language for Mda: from isiXhosa to Sesotho. Consequently Mda preferred to write his first plays in English.
His first play, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland, won the first Amstel Playwright of the Year Award in 1978, a feat he repeated the following year. He worked as a bank clerk, a teacher and in marketing before the publication of We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays in 1980 enabled him to be admitted to the Ohio University for a three-year Master's degree in theatre. He completed a Masters Degree in Theatre at Ohio University, after which he obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communication. By 1984 his plays were performed in the USSR, the USA, and Scotland as well as in various parts of southern Africa.
Mda then returned to Lesotho, first working with the Lesotho National Broadcasting Corporation Television Project and then as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lesotho. Between 1985 and 1992 he was director of the Theatre-For-Development Project at the university and founded the Marotholi Travelling Theatre. Together with his students he travelled to villages in remote mountain regions working with local people in creating theatre around their everyday concerns. This work of writing theatre "from the inside" was the theme of his doctoral thesis, the Ph.D degree being conferred on him by the University of Cape Town in 1989.
In the early nineties Mda spent much of his time overseas, he was writer-in-residence at the University of Durham (1991), research fellow at Yale University. He returned for one year to South Africa as Visiting Professor at the School of Dramatic Art at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is presently Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 2, 2021
Zakes Mda tells the truth about southern Africa, in that he gives a good picture of life and what makes people tick in various parts of the subcontinent; in this case, Lesotho. People sometimes distinquish between "character-driven" and "plot-driven" novels, and this one is definitely character driven.
The protagonists are the ambitious materialistic Radisene, who is always pursuing get-rich-quick schemes, and his mystical rather other-worldly sister Dikosha. They grew up in the mountain village of Ha Samane, and Zakes Mda paints a picture of viliage life which one cannot help but feel is authentic (Mda, though born in South Africa, grew up in such a village in Lesotho when his parents became political refugees). Like most small rural communities, Ha Samane thrives on gossip, and everyone knows everyone's business, with the exception of Radisene, who moves to the capital Maseru as soon as he leaves school. And Dikosha, who lives in a world of her own, with people of the past.
There are other memorable characters too. There is Sorry My Darlie, the professional soccer player who incites Radisene's envy and ambition with his affluent lifestyle, but he is also consumed by a hopeless unrequited love for Dikosha. There is the policeman, Trooper Motsohi, whose fortunes rise and fall usually in opposite cycles to Radisene, and also with the political changes in Lesotho, which are punctuated by coups.
It is a rather sad book, as we follow the lives and fortunes (and misfortunes) of the main characters, but also there is the feeling of life going on, seedtime and harvest, births and funerals, continue as people appear on the scene and depart.
The protagonists are the ambitious materialistic Radisene, who is always pursuing get-rich-quick schemes, and his mystical rather other-worldly sister Dikosha. They grew up in the mountain village of Ha Samane, and Zakes Mda paints a picture of viliage life which one cannot help but feel is authentic (Mda, though born in South Africa, grew up in such a village in Lesotho when his parents became political refugees). Like most small rural communities, Ha Samane thrives on gossip, and everyone knows everyone's business, with the exception of Radisene, who moves to the capital Maseru as soon as he leaves school. And Dikosha, who lives in a world of her own, with people of the past.
There are other memorable characters too. There is Sorry My Darlie, the professional soccer player who incites Radisene's envy and ambition with his affluent lifestyle, but he is also consumed by a hopeless unrequited love for Dikosha. There is the policeman, Trooper Motsohi, whose fortunes rise and fall usually in opposite cycles to Radisene, and also with the political changes in Lesotho, which are punctuated by coups.
It is a rather sad book, as we follow the lives and fortunes (and misfortunes) of the main characters, but also there is the feeling of life going on, seedtime and harvest, births and funerals, continue as people appear on the scene and depart.
August 16, 2018
While I enjoyed the story, I was dissatisfied with the ending as it left too many unanswered questions. I hate books like that. Closure is essential.
June 3, 2024
Lovely book, but I did not expect such a melancholy ending. One of those books where the last 1/3 felt superflous.
August 30, 2024
Ratings:
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 4
Impact/enjoyment 3
Overall rating 3.75
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 4
Impact/enjoyment 3
Overall rating 3.75
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August 7, 2025read around the world: lesotho
Currently reading
July 28, 2011loved the plot.thuogh fictional,could not help seeing the real Lesotho behind the setting.fantastic read!!!!
August 20, 2020
Yeah... not for me I'm afraid. There were bits and pieces that could have grabbed me, but just didn't.
I don't personally agree with the description of "novel", but not my book. I didn't slave over it, I have no right to question the author's intention there. For me personally I felt like it was a lot of short stories about a pair of siblings that spanned over 25 years or so. They were linear, and storylines progressed in order, but they felt like vignettes.
And it didn't really help that I had very little time for Radisene. He just wasn't a character for me. Dikosha had her own issues but I personally thought they were lesser or more forgivable. I completely get the intellectual idea behind his profession for example, but morally I have qualms. And then there are other obsessive nature behaviour I just have problems with.
Turbulent political times were more used as a plot device for the characters day to day life, which I can understand and would be honestly in someways how a major political change would affect me. But it was more like we need to pay lip service to the major political happens in Lesotho to make it "interesting". The first one was important, the second was all a bit meh and a bit like referring to a calendar - What day is it today? Oh it's coup day.
I would like to read something else by this writer, also as I have seen some much higher rated books by him. But I will say I am very grateful for him for introducing me to landscapes and villages that I had never thought of in Africa, but make complete sense. And cave art and it's protection/destruction is an important one here in Aus too, so there were some wonderful tie ins. I would like to visit Lesotho again, just with different tour guides.
I don't personally agree with the description of "novel", but not my book. I didn't slave over it, I have no right to question the author's intention there. For me personally I felt like it was a lot of short stories about a pair of siblings that spanned over 25 years or so. They were linear, and storylines progressed in order, but they felt like vignettes.
And it didn't really help that I had very little time for Radisene. He just wasn't a character for me. Dikosha had her own issues but I personally thought they were lesser or more forgivable. I completely get the intellectual idea behind his profession for example, but morally I have qualms. And then there are other obsessive nature behaviour I just have problems with.
Turbulent political times were more used as a plot device for the characters day to day life, which I can understand and would be honestly in someways how a major political change would affect me. But it was more like we need to pay lip service to the major political happens in Lesotho to make it "interesting". The first one was important, the second was all a bit meh and a bit like referring to a calendar - What day is it today? Oh it's coup day.
I would like to read something else by this writer, also as I have seen some much higher rated books by him. But I will say I am very grateful for him for introducing me to landscapes and villages that I had never thought of in Africa, but make complete sense. And cave art and it's protection/destruction is an important one here in Aus too, so there were some wonderful tie ins. I would like to visit Lesotho again, just with different tour guides.
February 13, 2024
Around-the-world #193: Lesotho 🇱🇸.
A twin couple of brother and sister choose different ways in life: the brother focusing on the modern and material aspects of life, the sister on the traditional and spiritual sides of life. Meanwhile society goes through multiple political coups, each influencing their lives in different ways.
Life in Lesotho has come alive in this novel, even though it offers no resolution to the various storylines.
A twin couple of brother and sister choose different ways in life: the brother focusing on the modern and material aspects of life, the sister on the traditional and spiritual sides of life. Meanwhile society goes through multiple political coups, each influencing their lives in different ways.
Life in Lesotho has come alive in this novel, even though it offers no resolution to the various storylines.
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March 29, 2020Zakes Mda offers a tragic comic take on Lesotho’s recent history through lovely bunch of misfits who fall victim to the temptation of flesh and money in their quest for love and a better life. Written with the author’s trademark style of subtle magical realism —some experience the world as more magical than other, and fee capture this better than Mda.
April 9, 2019
Well written but I wished for more of Dikosha as the title suggests and I did not appreciate the ending. However its Zakes and his description of live in Lesotho was beautifully described.
October 12, 2019
Lesotho, SA setting.
July 13, 2024
The ending was strange and somewhat unsatisfactory but Dikosha is such an intriguing character. I would have loved more chapters about her story.
August 16, 2017
3.5 stars. This book for my ATW reading challenge (Lesotho) reminded me of One Hundred Years of Solitude because of the constant change of Radisene's fortunes. Dikosha was certainly interesting, but I was more fascinated by Tampololo. I also liked the constant commentary by the villagers.
June 2, 2007
Good, not great. A somewhat cryptic story about life in Lesotho. Too much about the twin brother trying to build a fortune through insurance scams. Not enough about the much more fascinating sister who provides the title. A better place to start with Mda: "The Madonna of Excelsior."
August 9, 2010
I loved this book but don't think that everyone would. Zakes Mda's books are beautifully written but kind of quirky with their depictions of myth folklore and legend in southern African village life. I adored it
October 30, 2007
Fascinating mountaneous fantasy world, fascinating fantasy characters, story a bit "going nowhere" but with parallels to a credible reality that makes it worth reading
June 28, 2011
She Plays with Darkness desperately tries to be Magical Realism, but fails.
October 16, 2022
Fantasy and imagination running riot in Lesotho. Interesting and atmospheric but a little tedious and lacking in energy, I think. Is this magic realism? Not sure. I need to be anchored in reality.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews