Historicity and Mofolo's Chaka: A comparison of text and possible sources

Abstract

There is no proof that Mofolo consulted specific historical sources. The possibility that he may have worked with some oral and written sources is based on three factors: agreement in certain aspects of the life of the historical Shaka and Mofolo's Chaka; similarities in the presentation of some material by the author and certain historians; and ‘circumstantial evidence’ pointing to the likelihood that he could have had access to them. The historicity of the work must be judged in relation to fictitious and mythological phenomena which are superimposed on the historical. The historical is presented as a realization of the fictitious. The latter relates to the author's intention.