Bessie Head And The Trauma Of Exile Identity And Alienation In Southern African Fiction Global Africa

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

An exile herself, arriving in Botswana as a South African refugee, Bessie Headâs fiction serves as an important example of African exile literature. This book argues that Headâs 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 Headâs work.

Covering Headâs 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.