Abstract
In The Tongue of the Dumb, the 1971 novel by the Zambian author Dominic Mulaisho, there is a scene in which a priest, Father Gonzago, lies at his deathbed at the Catholic mission near an African village of Mpona in the eastern part of colonial-era Zambia. He accepts treatment only with African medicine. When reproached about this by his colleagues, Father Gonzago repudiates them with the words, “What is pagan about African medicine?”.
Following its publication in Heinemann’s African Writers Series, The Tongue of the Dumb put Zambia’s fiction on the international literary map. Built around sharply contrasted characters and a fast-moving plot, the novel combines a post-independence homage to the complexity and richness of pre-colonial African cultures with a deft appropriation of several popular genres, including allegory and detective fiction. Drawing a pointed parallel between Christianity and “native superstition”, The Tongue of the Dumb asks its readers to inhabit a fictional world in which modernisation is unavoidable and necessary, and where the ethical responsibility of individuals is to all those with whom they share a common humanity — though not necessarily a common history. Father Gonzago turns out to be a true friend of Mpona, while some of its worst enemies live within the village boundaries and belong to its own ruling elites.
The novel’s self-aware and nuanced cosmopolitan ethical position did not always earn Mulaisho accolades from local critics, who wished that Zambia’s literature would emulate the cultural–nationalist stance of the internationally celebrated writing then emerging from east and west Africa. In the decades following the publication of The Tongue of the Dumb, unfavourable comparisons of various Zambian authors with Kenya’s Ngugi and Nigeria’s Achebe have became something of a set piece in Zambia’s cultural circles. But The Tongue of the Dumb continues to be locally reprinted, taught at schools, much admired by Zambian readers of all kinds and emulated by the younger generations of Zambian writers.
Although best known as a man of letters, Dominic Mulaisho was also a prominent and highly respected figure in government circles: he belonged to the early generation of independent Africa’s intellectuals who were upon called upon to perform multiple public duties, which he discharged with brilliance and grace. Having started his career as a teacher, after Zambia’s independence in 1964 Mulaisho served (at various times) as the economic advisor to President Kenneth Kaunda, as chairperson of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, as chief executive officer of the National Marketing Board and as governor of the Bank of Zambia. Those who worked with him or saw him perform in public recall a man of determination and wit, who went out of his way to teach and encourage less experienced colleagues. He co-authored a number of economics publications, including with the Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen.
The African Writers Series publisher James Currey recalls that Mulaisho wrote fiction in whatever spare time he had, including during his lunch hour. His second novel, The Smoke that Thunders, was published in the Series in 1979. It resembles The Tongue of the Dumb in its fascination with the workings of political power and in its willingness to combine seemingly disparate generic conventions — in this case, a novel of the liberation struggle and an adventure story. At a time when precisely such formal assemblages are being championed by the coming generations of Africa’s writers (for example, the literary collective around Kenya’s Kwani? journal), it may well be that Dominic Mulaisho’s ground-breaking and sophisticated literary work is due for a critical re-appraisal.