Maravi

(HERALD) Literature, history inseparable

Literature, history inseparable

The Search for Identity and Ufuru: An Introduction to Black Zimbabwean Fiction in English, 1956-1980; By George Kahari; Gweru: Mambo Press, 2009; 445 pages. ISBN: 978-0-86922-818-0-445 (Paperback)

PROFESSOR George Kahari’s latest offering bears all the testimony of an established literary authority especially on Zimbabwean literature.

It is a book that literature scholars would obviously crave to have on their shelves as it will remain useful in the future.

Dedicated to his grandchildren and written in memory of his late friends and freedom fighters, namely, Josiah Chinamano, Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa, Ariston Maguranyanga Chambati and Clement Muchachi, The Search for Identity and Ufuru: An Introduction to Black Zimbabwean Fiction in English, 1956-1980, becomes a book that seeks to combine past and present literary experiences in attempts to define the collective future represented by that literature.

Originally published in 1980 as The Search for Zimbabwean Identity, the book includes eight more novels, one novella and 28 short stories. The new title is justified by the substantially changed format.

The book is meant to accommodate new substances in terms of thematic approach as well as hitherto unknown stylistic devices like the stream of consciousness technique which latter generations of Zimbabwean literature have tried, successfully in most cases, to experiment with. Also, the development of the short story as a genre that is largely related to orature, is examined.

Prof Kahari offers to explain ufuru. He says this is an example of pastoral imagery originating from the Shona/Zimbabwean idea of both veld and "domestic freedom and liberty to graze, or to overflow like froth (furo) from limited confinement of, for instance a container, with relative liberty and freedom". (pxi)

The book traces the development of Zimbabwean fiction in English and is fittingly divided into three distinct sections.

The first part, which serves as the introductory section and is aptly titled Literature, the Individual and Society, gives a brief history of the occupation of the country by the British South Africa Company, which had Cecil John Rhodes at its helm. In any society, history is of paramount importance in shaping its literary trends. More often than not, conflict situations resulting from colonisation have largely informed writings from colonised groups. This is one reason why Prof Kahari’s book is useful. It does not divorce history from its natural twinning with the proliferation of protest writing, for example.

The author’s examination of history, though brief, also includes the traditional background which has influenced and determined the form and content of the novel, novella and, indeed, the short story.

Quotations that are taken from some of Zimbabwe’s earlier books are relevant and dovetail into the larger quest for national freedom. Again, most of these quotes are drawn from historical experiences of the people.

"I do not see why these white men are claiming all cattle, whether the property of the King or private individuals," old Mlugulu pointed out, "because, in the Zulu wars, only the cattle of the King were so claimed". (Kahari (2009), quoting Stanlake Samkange’s Year of The Uprising, p32)

The violence that the coloniser exerted on the colonised was always apparent for all to see and has been documented by a number of writers.

"Being flogged atrociously is not the only burden our people have to bear these days," Bonda said. "There is the problem of forced labour in the mines and on the white men’s farms. People can’t work in their own lands anymore." (Kahari, 2009; quoting Samkange, Year of The Uprising, p33)

Part Two contains a detailed analysis of 13 novels by black Zimbabwean writers starting with Solomon Mutswairo’s Mapondera: Soldier of Zimbabwe. The above example can be an illustration of how an author tactfully blends material from Shona myths and legends with specific historical data, thus emphasising the "oracy-literacy" aspect of the novel.

Part Three discusses short stories.

Most of the novels in this section belong to the period from the publication of Feso to the time when Stanley Nyamfukudza’s The Non-Believer’s Journey was published. This has been widely referred to as Generation 1 of Zimbabwean writers.

Although writers from this generation tend to include fantasy in their narratives, Generation 2 writers reflect a new trend of imagination. The generation appears to be better educated than their counterparts in Generation 1. These writers are strongly aware of the political and social tensions of their society as they manifest this in the breakdown of family life, "the problem of national selfassertion and discovery of black identity".

All novelists, irrespective of whether they write in Shona or English, view this as a social control method and they come up with different solutions towards the search for liberty/ufuru.

Shona novelists are aware of the differences between the pre-colonial and colonial Rhodesian situation. There is a very strong political commitment and this is revealed by Generation 2 writers through the affront to human dignity caused by settler presence and colonial injustice.

Novels that come to mind are Bernard Chedzero’s Nzvengamutsvairo and T.K. Tsodzo’s Pafunge. These may appear shy on political commentary, but the attempt at speaking in English in the country of their birth with an air of superiority over those that cannot is in itself a sign of bondage. There is no liberty that comes with the ability to speak a foreign language, worse still if it belongs to your coloniser.

There are other novels, which are overtly political, like Waiting for the Rain, in which the larger social concerns are experienced in the tension within the family. When Lucifer Mandengu denies himself "I was born here against my wish", evidence of the desire to become Western is discernible.

The writers, according to Prof Kahari, are aware of the past culture, its present circumstances and the novels and short stories that emanate from colonial Zimbabwe reflect a fusion of traditional narrative techniques and those of the modern novel which the writers had come across during their years of apprenticeship in mission schools.

The attempt to infuse the two into a subtle political message or statement results in the search for and recovery of identity leading to liberty and ufuru that will help in reminding both the "writers and their readers that they should not be misfits in the land of their birth" (pxiii).

Prof Kahari has lectured at the University of Zimbabwe where he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1982-9. He was a senior Fulbright Scholar at Boston University (1983) and taught Modern English Literature at Lawrence University (1983) and Macalester University College (1984). He was Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and then Czechoslovakia from 1989-1994 and is one of the founders of the Catholic University in Zimbabwe. He is commissioner on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Prof Kahari has published, among other critical works, The Rise of the Shona Novel (Mambo Press, 1990); Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo’s Epic Soko Risina Musoro: A Critique (Longman Zimbabwe, 1988); Plots and Characters in Shona Fiction (Mambo Press, 1990); The Romances of Patrick Chakaipa (Mambo Press, 1994) and The Moral Vision of Patrick Chakaipa (Mambo Press, 1997).

His forthcoming books include The Odyssey, a collation of selected unpublished articles, essays, speeches and addresses to professional international groups on education, politics, religion, literature and other related fields, and Shona Nomenclature, a 60-year ongoing project with +/-70 lexical items, also known as A Dictionary of Shona Names, as indices of social behaviour and symbols of unity in diversity.

The Search For identity and Ufuru: An Introduction to Black Zimbabwean Fiction in English, 1956-1980 is a must-buy for any academic institution and library because of its literary wealth and worth.

l Feedback: edmore.zvinonzwa@zimpapers.co.zw

Labels: BOOKS, LIBERATION

posted by MrK @ 4:16 PM