Bessie Head and the Trauma of Exile

Identity and Alienation in Southern African Fiction

Joshua Agbo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000398632
• Print ISBN:
  9780367710286
• Subtopic: Posttraumatische Belastungsstörung (PTBS)

This book investigates themes of exile and oppression in Southern Africa across Bessie Head's novels and short fiction.

An exile herself, arriving in Botswana as a South African refugee, Bessie Head's fiction serves as an important example of African exile literature. This book argues that Head's characters are driven to exile as a result of their socio- political ambivalence while still in South Africa, and that this sense of discomfort follows them to their new lives. Investigating themes of trauma and identity politics across colonial and post- colonial contexts, this book also addresses the important theme of black- on- black prejudice and hostility which is often overlooked in studies of Head's work.

Covering Head's shorter fiction as well as her major novels When Rain Clouds Gather (1969), Maru (1971), A Question of Power (1973), Serowe: Village of the Rain Wind (1981), and A Bewitched Crossroads: An African Saga (1984), this book will be of interest to researchers of African literature and postcolonial history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The literature of the oppressed
• 2 Exile, post-coloniality, trauma: Theories and perspectives
• 3 The ordeals of crossing: From home to exile
• 4 The black-on-black prejudice
• 5 Black power and trauma in a shut-in world
• 6 Fiction through history or history through fiction?
• 7 Patriarchy and power: Women on the edge of the cliff
• 8 Conclusion: Towards the unification of thematic trajectories
• Index