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A study of Shona war fiction : the writer's perspectives

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dc.contributor.advisor Mutasa, D.E.
dc.contributor.author Chigidi, Willie L.
dc.date.accessioned 2010-02-26T13:52:56Z
dc.date.available 2010-02-26T13:52:56Z
dc.date.issued 2009-11
dc.identifier.citation Chigidi, Willie L. (2009) A study of Shona war fiction : the writer's perspectives, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3118> en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3118
dc.description.abstract This thesis is an in-depth study of Shona fiction about the liberation war in Zimbabwe. It looks at the way Zimbabwe’s liberation war is portrayed in Shona fiction and focuses on the factors that shaped writers’ perspectives on that war. It is argued that Shona war fiction writers romanticised the war and in the process simplified and distorted history. The researcher postulates that writers’ perspectives on this liberation war were shaped by factors that include the mood of celebration and euphoria, the dominant ideology of the time, the situations of independence and freedom, and literary competitions. The thesis further raises and illustrates the point that writers produced romances of adventure because they were writing on the theme of war, and if one writes on the theme of war one ends up writing an adventure story. However, it is also acknowledged that because authors were writing on a historical event they could not ignore history completely. Some aspects of history are incorporated into the fiction, thereby retaining a semblance of historical realism. The post-independence period is also seen as a time of cultural revival and this is considered as the reason behind the authors’ tendency to celebrate Shona traditional institutions and culture. The celebration of Shona traditional religion and culture introduced into the fiction the element of the supernatural that strengthened the romance aspect of the novels. Shona war fiction writers also perpetuate female stereotyping. Female characters are depicted as everything except guerrilla fighters. It is argued that there are no female characters that play roles of guerrilla fighters because during the actual war women were not visible at the war front, fighting. The thesis argues that men, who were pioneers of the guerrilla war and writers of the war stories, excluded women from liberation war discourse and ultimately from literary discourse as well. A few writers who comment on the quality of Zimbabwe’s independence and freedom show the disillusionment and despair of the peasants and ex-combatants as they struggled to settle down and recover from the war. en
dc.format.extent 1 online resource (vii, 243 leaves)
dc.language.iso en en
dc.subject Writers’ perspectives en
dc.subject Shona war fiction en
dc.subject Romances of adventure en
dc.subject Fictionalisation of history en
dc.subject Cultural revival en
dc.subject Theme of war en
dc.subject Guerrilla war en
dc.subject War of liberation en
dc.subject Politics of naming en
dc.subject Female guerrillas en
dc.subject Post-independence celebration en
dc.subject.ddc 896.39753209358
dc.subject.lcsh Shona fiction -- History and criticism
dc.subject.lcsh Zimbabwean fiction -- History and criticism
dc.subject.lcsh War in literature
dc.title A study of Shona war fiction : the writer's perspectives en
dc.type Thesis en
dc.description.department African Languages
dc.description.degree D.Litt. et Phil.


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