Dinthontho Tsa Bo-Juliuse Kesara

Dinthontho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara is a translation into Setswana of Shakespeares Julius Caesar, by the renowned South African thinker, writer and linguist Sol T Plaatje, who was also a gifted stage actor. Plaatje first encountered the works of Shakespeare when he saw a performance of Hamlet as a young man; it ignited a great love in him for the works of the Elizabethan dramatist. Many years later he translated several of Shakespeares plays into Setswana in a series called Mabolelo a ga Tsikinya-Chaka (The Sayings of Shakespeare.) Dinthontho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara went to print five years after Plaatjes death, in 1937.

His translations of Shakespeares plays into Setswana helped to pioneer and popularise a genre, the drama script, that was previously not well known in Southern Africa. It also showcased the rich range of Setswana vocabulary and served Plaatjes aim of developing the language. See more