I have been an outsider in my own biography
No Room For Cowardice
The title for this full-length study of the work of the Zimbabwean novelist, poet and dramatist Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) is from 'The Journal', in which the writer delares 'A genuine writer must always be prepared to fight for his work. In fact he must expect all kinds of trouble from every quarter. There is no room for cowardice in writing.'
If, in his short and eventful life Marechera did indeed expect trouble from every quarter then he would not have been disappointed. From the ;seething cesspit' in which he grew up to expulsion (for political activities) from the University of Rhodesia (1973) being sent down from New College, Oxford (1976), to the peripatetic life of the 'writer tramp' in London and Harare before his lonely and tragic death at the age of 35, his life lurched from one disaster to another.
Although Marechera's 'fiction' is often autobiographical it is highly accomplished in a variety of genres. As well as a talented novelist Marechera was a fine short story writer, a very effective dramatist and a perceptive and moving lyric poet. As No Room For Cowardice reveals, the quality of the writing is reason enough itself to read Marechera, but in addition to being a rewarding experience, his work also offers a unique and invaluable record of pre- and post-independence Zimbabwe as seen by a very individual talent.
No Room For Cowardice published by Africa World Press Inc, PO Box 1892, Trenton, NJ08607, USA. ISBN 0-86543-959-1
enquiries to dpattison@hotmail.co.uk
The title for this full-length study of the work of the Zimbabwean novelist, poet and dramatist Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) is from 'The Journal', in which the writer delares 'A genuine writer must always be prepared to fight for his work. In fact he must expect all kinds of trouble from every quarter. There is no room for cowardice in writing.'
If, in his short and eventful life Marechera did indeed expect trouble from every quarter then he would not have been disappointed. From the ;seething cesspit' in which he grew up to expulsion (for political activities) from the University of Rhodesia (1973) being sent down from New College, Oxford (1976), to the peripatetic life of the 'writer tramp' in London and Harare before his lonely and tragic death at the age of 35, his life lurched from one disaster to another.
Although Marechera's 'fiction' is often autobiographical it is highly accomplished in a variety of genres. As well as a talented novelist Marechera was a fine short story writer, a very effective dramatist and a perceptive and moving lyric poet. As No Room For Cowardice reveals, the quality of the writing is reason enough itself to read Marechera, but in addition to being a rewarding experience, his work also offers a unique and invaluable record of pre- and post-independence Zimbabwe as seen by a very individual talent.
No Room For Cowardice published by Africa World Press Inc, PO Box 1892, Trenton, NJ08607, USA. ISBN 0-86543-959-1
enquiries to dpattison@hotmail.co.uk