To Kill a Man’s Pride — 1996

and other short stories from South Africa

Edited by Marcus Ramogale

The second edition of To Kill a Man’s Pride builds on the success of the previous edition of this anthology of South African short stories by retaining most of stories, but also featuring more women writers and new male voice, to make it more representative.

The milieu remains unambiguously South African, with some stories set in rural areas such as the village, farm or dorp, and others in urban centers such as the big city, suburb or township.

The varied perspective of the writers are broadly united by a focus on “pride” and its negation “humiliation” in the sharp struggle for life. All stories deal with challenge, and in each we find characters involved in a struggle to prevail over difficulty.

Both the topical unity of the stories and the new and longer introduction by Marcus Ramogale, which is geared towards use by senior high school pupils and tertiary student, allow for sharply defined learning activities in the area of short story criticism.

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Marcus Ramogale lectures in English at the University of the North. His PhD, which he completed with the University of Nottingham in 1995, was on the South African concept of “people’s literature.”