Antjie Krog - A change of Tongue

A Change of Tongue is about belonging - to a family, a tribe, a nation, a continent. It is about having a place, losing it, finding another place. As part of this exploration of identity, Antjie takes on various aspects of Afrikaner mythology - a mythology that includes a boerewors recipe! This is only one of the audacious aspects of the book, in that she does not skirt along the edges of stereotypes but forges head-on towards them, managing by force of will and imagination to break open things and revitalise them. A Change of Tongue is also about belonging to a craft, about the discovery of a vocation, and one does not need to be a writer or poet to find Antjie’s treatment of this particular theme fascinating. The book is also about the meaning of leadership, the state of political morality, the interplay of tradition and modernity with tradition encompassing the idea of ancestry and blood - and much more. This is a bold and challenging book from one of the very few writers in this world whom anyone may justifiably term unique.