[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Zoë Wicomb’s
Still Life (The New Press, 2020) tells the story of Scottish abolitionist Thomas Pringle through the eyes of a “motley crew” of characters, including Mary Prince, whose life story The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself was published by Pringle in 1831.
Description: Few in his native Scotland know about Thomas Pringle – the abolitionist, publisher, and – some would say – Father of South African Poetry. A biography of Pringle is in order, and a reluctant writer takes up this task.
To help tell the story of Pringle is the spectre of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave whose history he had once published. Also offering advice is the ghost of Hinza Marossi, Pringle’s adopted Khoesan son, and the timetraveller Sir Nicholas Greene, a character exhumed from the pages of a book.