The modern approach to the study of folklore has created a discursive terrain that allows for the reconsideration of the role of folklore material in contemporary society (Thosago, 2004: 13). This approach rejects conventional conceptions of folklore as ‘antediluvian’, ‘backward’, ‘illiterate’ and ‘primitive’ and instead seeks to regenerate folklore. Thosago's perspective highlights the interrelation between folklore and postmodernity and how technical spaces such as the broadcast media can be exploited for the rejuvenation of folklore, an aspect I explore in the last three chapters of the book. However his views on this matter are not new. Since the inception of isiZulu literature in colonial times, writers have made use of a syncretic admixture of traditional knowledge and Western civilisation when writing about modernity. This has since become a convention of creative writing in isiZulu. Therefore at the conceptual level, re-narrating contemporary experiences entails a need to revisit this ancient tradition, thus creating a hybridised continuity, complex as it might be, between the idyllic, unattainable past and the self-conscious writings that typify postmodern textuality (Obiechina, 1972, 1973; Msimang, 1986).

It is against this background that I discuss proverbs and their reinvocation in two post-apartheid isiZulu novels. The study of proverbs has led to significant advances in our understanding of their nature and their function in discourses of orature, literature, and every day speech acts. The uses of proverbs and other oral genres are various and wide, but their significance lies in their ability to explain language, thought and society (Pridmore, 1991, cited in Zounmenou, 2004). It is not only the thoughts of a society presented through proverbs but also its philosophical views that are reflected and passed down from one generation to the next. In some African societies the use of proverbs in daily conversations is a highly valued verbal experience because it develops the ingenuity seen as linguistic preparation for the performance of lengthy verbal art forms like folk stories or izibongo (praises).