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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'At the receiving end of severe misunderstanding': Dambudzo Marechera's representations of authorship
Author:Toivanen, Anna-LeenaISNI
Year:2011
Periodical:Research in African Literatures (ISSN 0034-5210)
Volume:42
Issue:1
Pages:14-31
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:writers
literary criticism
About person:Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987)ISNI
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v042/42.1.toivanen.pdf
Abstract:The Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) is the object of a cult phenomenon: his figure represents a relevant site of sense-making and his earlier unfavourable African criticism is challenged. Marechera's fiction has a strong autobiographical dimension that results in a metadiscourse on the meanings of authorship, where the notion of misunderstanding represents a central trope. This essay not only draws an overview of Marechera's representations of authorship, but also suggests that Marechera was actively involved in the construction of his authorial image, and that the notion of misunderstanding captures the changes that have taken place in the contexts of his critical reception. Further, the essay addresses Marechera's positioning in relation to the notion of commitment and argues that the relevance of the Marecheran dissident writer-figure stems from the fact that it represents a position from which repressive truths of the postcolonial nation-State can be contested. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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