Dissertation submitted to the Department of English, University of the Witwatersrand, for the Degree of Master of Arts. / This dissertation is a critical biography of the late Rolfes Robert Reginald Dhlomo, the writer, journalist and editor. It includes a discussion of the main themes of his English and Zulu works. The first chapter outlines Dhlomo's life, and provides background information about his Sociological, historical and political context in order to delineate the man, his reasons for writing, the subject matter of his works, and his Significance for early twentieth century black literature and journalism in South Africa. The second chapter of this dissertation expands on the background to Dhlomo's writing and ideas through an examination of the aims and work of the Zulu Society. The third chapter analyses Dhlomo's use of English and Zulu in his writing, and suggests the ways in which these languages influenced each other, as well ag Dhlomo's achievement as an early black writer in English. The next chapter focuses on those of Dhlomo' s works which are commonly assumed to be fiction. This study reveals the writer's moralistic bias, and his tendency towards didacticism. This tendency as Chapter Four shows, deprives Dhlomo's works of their apparent fictitiousness. Chapter Five is an -overview of Dhlomo's historical works and an analysis of the writer's perception and presentation of history. It contains translations from Dhlomo's books about the Zulu kings from Shaka to Dinuzulu. The final chapter of this dissertation discusses a theme which preoccupied the writer throughout his life, that is, the role of traditional Zulu medicine and religion in modern society. Although Dhlomo's response to this topic varied from work to work, his attitude ultimately did not alter. The chapter demonstrates Dhlomo's desire to retain that which is traditional, as well as his reluctance to accept any concept which challenged Christianity. / Andrew Chakane 2018

This is a comparative study of a selection of the works of H.I.E. and R.R.R. Dhlomo in an attempt to specify the ways in which both writers contributed to constructing a sense of African modernity. While the focus will be on the content of the writing, it will include an analysis of the form and style of the literature, as well as the historical and political setting of the work, and of the authors. By employing the theoretical work of Alain Locke, David Attwell and Tim Couzens, I will address the issue of how Herbert and Rolfes Dhlomo negotiate the issue of a Christian modernity, as well as the ambiguous relationship between tradition and modernity. Another matter that I will focus on is that of the differences and similarities of their writing, in terms of aesthetics and their positions vis-a-vis tradition, modernity and the role of the Black subject, among other topics. Some questions that I will address are whether they are both contributing to an African modernity, and in what sense, and whether Rolfes' work complements that of Herbert, and vice versa. This will be done through a close reading of selected works across a range of mediums, from literary texts such as plays, poems and short stories to the print media. In the Introduction I will outline the key theoretical work and definitions that I will make use of in my research, as well as give brief biographies of the two writers under examination. In Chapter One I will make a close reading of selected works of Herbert Dhlomo, and will attempt to show his changing role in the establishment of a sense of an African modernity. In Chapter Two the focus of my work will be selected prose fiction of Rolfes Dhlomo. I will examine the major themes of these works, and show how they pertain to a sense of an African modernity. In Chapter Three I will examine Rolfes Dhlomo's "R. Roamer Esq." column from the Bantu World. I have selected in particular the year 1941, and I will show how Rolfes Dhlomo used satire and topical issues to help in the creation of a sense of African modernity. The Conclusion deals with the findings of my research on the role that Herbert and Rolfes Dhlomo played in the creation of an African modernity in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The specific instances of R.H.W. Shepherd and H.I.E. Dhlomo are used in this thesis to investigate some of the many factors that influence the formation of a colonial literature, such as politics, social structures and personal ideals. By isolating the Lovedale Mission Press ~s a "contact zone" - a·place where the cultures of the colonizer and the colonized come into direct contact with each other - it is possible to trace how the interaction between these cultures shaped the writing of a particular African writer, H.I.E. Dhlomo. This is done through an analysis of historical factors that shaped the policy of the Lovedale Mission Press in the twentieth century: the development of liberalism in South Africa, the·role of the missionary in African education, the function ofa liberal magazine such as The South African Outlook and the appointment of an ambitious missionary, R.I.W. Shepherd, to the position of Director of Publications. This necessarily included a study of Shepherd's vision of African literature. On the other hand, this study takes cognisance of the factors that shaped Herbert Dhlomo's vision of literature: the development of African nationalism, the entrenchment of segregation as a politial doctrine, and most importantly, his struggle to have his creative writing published by the Lovedale Press. It is shown how Shepherd's vision of what African literature should entail contrasted with Dhlomo's, and how, as a result, Dhlomo deliberately structured his critical writing as a response to Shepherd's Eurocentric approach to African literature.