We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Mozambique Stories (Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso) is a 1964 collection of short stories by Mozambican writer Luís Bernardo Honwana. It is a classic of African literature, appearing on the Zimbabwe International Book Fair list "100 Best African Books of the Twentieth Century" of 2002.
The book consists of seven stories, including one with the same title as the book: "Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso" [We Killed Mangy Dog], "Papa, Cobra, Eu" [Dad, Snake, and Me], "As Mãos dos Pretos" [The Hands of Blacks], "Inventário de Móveis e Jacentes" [Inventory of Furniture and Effects], "A Velhota" [The Old Woman], "Nhinguitimo," and "Dina" [Lunchtime].
Publication History
The book was originally published in Portuguese in 1964 and translated into English in 1969. The writer, who is also a documentary filmmaker and photographer, wrote the stories when he was 22 years old, while a political prisoner of PIDE.
The famous Portuguese-Mozambican architect Pancho Guedes organized the publication of the Mozambique first edition, and commissioned the cover by Mozambican artist Bertina Lopes. The English translation was made not long after by Guedes' British wife, Dorothy Guedes. The cover and inside illustration of the English edition was made by Pedro Guedes, their teenage son.
It was first published in Africa and was quickly banned by the Portuguese authorities. It was a long time before the book was published in Portugal:
Original edition: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (Lourenço Marques: Publicações Sociedade de Imprensa de Moçambique, 1964), 135p. Illustrations by Bertina Lopes (1926-2012). English edition: We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Mozambican Stories (Heinemann African Writers Series, No. 60), trans. by Dorothy Guedes. 117p. Illustrations by Pedro Guedes. Portuguese edition, with revisions. Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso: contos moçambicanos (Porto: Afrontamento, 1972), 147p. 2nd Mozambican edition: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (Lourenço Marques: Académica, 1975), 124p. (Colecção «Som e Sentido»; no.7) New edition, labelled 2nd ed., revised by the author: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (Maputo: INLD, 1978), 109p. Brazilian edition: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (São Paulo: Ática, 1980), 96p. (Coleção «Autores Africanos»; no.4) New edition, labelled 3rd ed.: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (Maputo: INLD, 1984), 109p. Another Portuguese edition: Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso (Porto: Afrontamento, 1988), 144 p.
Reception
This book has been called "é um marco da literatura moçambicana" (a landmark of Mozambican literature). The book "exercised a massive influence on the subsequent generation of Mozambican prose writers."
When it was published, "a obra foi alvo de polêmica, sendo criticada por parte daqueles que defendiam o colonialismo e simpatizavam com o regime do ditador português António de Oliveira Salazar, e aclamada por aqueles que, portadores de ideias nacionalistas, defendiam a liberdade e a autonomia do país" (the work was the subject of controversy, being criticized by those who defended colonialism and sympathized with the regime of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, and acclaimed by those who, with nationalist ideas, defended the country's freedom and autonomy). Indeed, it "provoked a storm of outrage among right-wing Portuguese settlers." Honwana was arrested not long after its publication by the colonial authorities. But others "praised him for having captured demotic Mozambican patterns of speech." The original texts of this early debate about the book are available. Abudo Machude published a book in Portuguese about the critical reception of Honwana's book.
Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso has been translated into English, French, German and Russian, and has been produced in the theatre.
Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso won first place in the international literary contest of The Classic magazine in South Africa in 1965.