A Weak Woman in a Bar « Clarissa's Blog
I had a huge amount of difficulty determining genre in Marechera’s writing. He really mixes it up and obeys no rules. His posthumously published work, The Black Insider, reads a bit like a Platonic discourse. It starts off an an adventure novel and ends as one, but the parts in the middle are about considering the political state of the world from the position of an black intellectual, and raising metaphysical speculations about the nature of life on this planet. There is also a drama, representing dialogue within the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which appears early on in the book. And when I say there is a drama, I mean it is written out in that way, with character parts. It reads like a satire with aspects of pantomime. The book also has significant autobiographical aspects and reflections in it. Many of the ideas are quite poetic and aphoristic.
I had a huge amount of difficulty determining genre in Marechera’s writing. He really mixes it up and obeys no rules. His posthumously published work, The Black Insider, reads a bit like a Platonic discourse. It starts off an an adventure novel and ends as one, but the parts in the middle are about considering the political state of the world from the position of an black intellectual, and raising metaphysical speculations about the nature of life on this planet. There is also a drama, representing dialogue within the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which appears early on in the book. And when I say there is a drama, I mean it is written out in that way, with character parts. It reads like a satire with aspects of pantomime. The book also has significant autobiographical aspects and reflections in it. Many of the ideas are quite poetic and aphoristic.
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