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.