Tsotsi (Canons)

by Athol Fugard

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Book cover for Tsotsi

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Athol Fugard is renowned for his relentless explorations of personal and political survival in apartheid South Africa -- which include his now classic plays Master Harold and the Boys and The Blood Knot. Fugard has written a single novel, Tsotsi, which director Gavin Hood has made into a feature film that is South Africa's official entry for the 2006 Academy Awards. Set amid the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto, where survival is the primary objective, Tsotsi traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader.

When we meet Tsotsi, he is a man without a name (tsotsi is Afrikaans for "hoodlum") who has repressed his past and now exists only to stage and execute vicious crimes. When he inadvertently kidnaps a baby, Tsotsi is confronted with memories of his own painful childhood, and this angry young man begins to rediscover his own humanity, dignity, and capacity to love.

  • ISBN10 0802142680
  • ISBN13 9780802142689
  • Publish Date 27 January 2006 (first published 1 January 1980)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
  • Format Paperback (US Trade)
  • Pages 256
  • Language English