In dié vertaling van Alfred Schaffer se bekroonde Nederlandse bundel, Mens dier ding, ondersoek die digter die mite van Sjaka Zulu deur dagboekinskrywings, monoloë, briewe en dagdrome. Die mites rondom Shaka se geskiedenis word op die kop gedraai en ondermyn. ’n Poëtiese kragtoer, vertaal deur Zandra Bezuidenhout.

Vir die fynproewer-leser bied hierdie bundel 'n opwindende leeservaring: surrealistiese verse wat hulle nie maklik tot interpretasie leen nie. Tog handel die verse dikwels oor baie konkrete dinge – en is Schaffer se opstapeling van skynbaar verbandlose idees juis tekenend van die menslike kondisie in die een-en-twintigste eeu.

Poetry. Winner of the 2021 P.C. Hooft-prize, the most important literary prize in The Netherlands for a whole oeuvre. Partly inspired by Chaka, a famous South African novel from 1931, written by Thomas Mofolo, the book charts the imaginary progress of the nineteenth-century statesman and tyrant, Shaka Zulu (1787-1828). Structured around a series of daydreams and major events in Zulu's life, the poet extracts Zulu from the historical past and moves him to the modern media age where speed dating, UFOs and effervescent pain-killers are the norm. The collection is hugely diverse, from lyrical poetry to tweets to wit.