Paulina Chiziane was born on June 4, 1955, in Manjacaze, a Mozambican village. In her youth, she served on the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo), during the War of Independence, and only published his first novel — love ballad in the wind — in 1990.
her most famous book is Niketche: a story of polygamy. This narrative presents the main literary characteristics of the author's works, such as the prevalence of the female voice. Furthermore, it is possible to notice that the writer uses her novels to criticize customs and highlight the cultural diversity of her people.
Read more: Conceição Evaristo – writer who discusses the ancestry of Brazilian blackness
Summary about Paulina Chiziane
The Mozambican writer was born in 1955.
She acted politically during the struggle for independence and the civil war.
After the pacification, she participated in the Nucleus of Women's Associations of Zambézia.
Her literary works are characterized by female protagonism.
her most famous book is Niketche: a story of polygamy.
Paulina Chiziane Biography
Paulina Chiziane was born on June 4, 1955, in Manjacaze, a rural Mozambican village, but at the age of six, he moved to Maputo. Her parents were Protestants, so Christianity was strongly present in its formation.. Furthermore, he grew up in a country dominated by the Portuguese.
Mozambique's independence would only take place in 1975, after years of armed struggle between Mozambican guerrillas and Portuguese soldiers. This explains the anti-colonialism of the author's father, who taught his daughter to communicate through beer, a language linked to the ethnic group to which her family belonged.
In addition, Chiziane learned the Ronga language in Maputo, where she began her studies at a Catholic school, and ended up learning Portuguese as well. Already his youth was marked by acting at Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, responsible for the struggle for the country's independence.
After independence, a civil war broke out. Paulina Chiziane then became a volunteer at the Red Cross during the conflict, and su political activity did not cease after the end of the war in 1992. The author became part of the Nucleus of Women's Associations of Zambézia (Nafeza), a non-governmental organization created in 1997, in the city of Quelimane.
By this time, she had already published her first novel — love ballad in the wind — in 1990, but her success as a writer came in 2002, with the publication of the book Niketche: a story of polygamy. For this work, she won the José Craveirinha Prize, from the Mozambican Writers Association.
See too: Black literature - production whose subject of writing is black himself
Characteristics of Paulina Chiziane's work
The works of Paulina Chiziane make part of post-independence Mozambican literature and have the following characteristics:
Black woman protagonism
Social realism and criticism of customs
Reflection on the female condition
stream of consciousness or inner monologue
lyrical language
cultural plurality
Works by Paulina Chiziane
love ballad in the wind (1990)
Apocalypse winds (1993)
the seventh oath (2000)
Niketche: a story of polygamy (2002)
the happy song of the partridge (2008)
the swallows (2009)
Me, woman: for a new vision of the world (2013)
Ngoma Yethu: the Healer and the New Testament (2015)
the corner of the enslaved (2017)
Niketche: a story of polygamy
![Cover of the book “Niketche: a story of polygamy”, by Paulina Chiziane, published by Companhia das Letras.[2]](/f/049281691ef39c215bb27b9fde0e068f.jpg)
The main character and narrator of the romance it's rami. She is married to Tony, but her husband also has relationships with other women. So, Rami decides to meet each one of them. It starts with Julieta, with whom she ends up falling out and breaking out, but they become friends right away.
Upon meeting Luísa, Tony's third wife, Rami gets involved in a fight again. This time, the two are arrested. However, Rami also befriends Luísa. From there, he meets Saly, the fourth woman, and Mauá, the fifth. Dshe decides to accept her husband's polygamy. In addition, she becomes Vito's second lover, who has an affair with Luísa.
The protagonist and the other wives decide to unite. At first, Tony doesn't like this friendship at all, but the women decide to make a “marital scale”. Thus, the husband can spend a week with each one of them. When Tony is supposedly run over and dies, Rami has a sexual relationship with Levy, her husband's brother.
The relationship with the brother-in-law, after the death of the husband, is part of the tradition in the country. However, Tony's alleged corpse was disfigured, and it soon becomes evident that Rami's husband is alive. So, when he returns home, he discovers that his brother is another member of that "love dance" (niketche).
Image credits
[1] Otávio de Souza / commons
[2] Company of Letters (reproduction)
by Warley Souza
Literature teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/paulina-chiziane.htm
