Comparison of dambudzo marechera's "house of hunger" and charles mungoshi's "waiting for the rain"

Table of Content's

1 Introduction

2 The second generation
2.1 Historical background
2.2 Zimbabwean literature of the second generation

3 Autobiographical background

4 Dambudzo Marechera’s “House of Hunger”
4.1 Discourse
4.2 Content
4.3 Autobiographical traces in “The House of Hunger”

5 Charles Mungoshi’s “Waiting for the rain”
5.1 Discourse
5.2 Content
5.3 Autobiographical traces in “waiting for the rain”

6 Comparing the “House of Hunger” and “Waiting for the rain”

7 Conclusion

1 Introduction

The authors I want to concentrate on in this paper, Charles Mungoshi and Dambudzo Marechera, are both African writers who belong to the so called second generation of Zimbabwean writers which means that they were born between 1940 and 1959 and published in the 1960s and 70s.^[1] They speak for the “lost generation”^[2] which grew up after World War Second in a country reign by a white minority government and shattered by a guerrilla war against that government, and have somehow lost their identity. However although they were born in the same period of time in the same country and were influenced by the same political and cultural circumstances, on which I will put a closer focus later, their lives were very different. Mungoshi grew up in a rural area and stayed in Zimbabwe during the time of war, whereas Marechera was a township child who left Zimbabwe and lived in the exile in England during the time of the war. As a result, their writings, which were heavily influenced by their autobiographies, mirror these differences in their ways of life.

In this paper I will first look at the historical background in which both authors grew up, at political, cultural, social and educational circumstances. Secondly I am going to depict what their lives looked like and which were the differences and Gemeinsamkeiten in their ways of life. After that I will analyse how those differences and also the Gemeinsamkeiten in their ways of life influenced their writing, made them develop their special own styles and are mirrored in the themes of their narratives. As an example I will have a closer look at two of their most important writings, which are Dambudzo Marechera’s short story collection “The House of Hunger”, published in 19 and Charles Mungoshi’s novel “Waiting for the rain”, published in19.., by analysing them concerning the form and the content, and also by searching for autobiographical traces in both works. In the end I will try to compare both writings and depict the most important differences and gemeinsamkeiten.

2 The second generation

2.1 Historical background

As I mentioned before, both writers belong to the second generation of Zimbabwean writers. There is a division of Zimbabwean writers into three generations: the first generation, born between 1917 and 1939, the second generation, born between 1940 and 1959 and the third generation, born 1960 or later^[3]. The division is made, because writers of the different generations, have very different styles of writing, which is mostly a result of the changing circumstances in their home country Zimbabwe, which include politics, social life and education. Within those “generations” there are many similarities and therefore it makes sense to group them together in that way. As much writing of those second generation writers has autobiographical traces, as for example the narratives of Marechera and Mungoshi, which I will deal with later, or shows criticism on politics and social circumstances, it is of great importance to have a clear image of the situation in Zimbabwe during the time those authors grew up, attended school and developed their literature.

Zimbabwe, formerly called Rhodesia, like many other African countries was a colony of the United Kingdom, and therefore was under white minority rule a long time. 1963, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became independent, whereas Southern Rhodesia remained under white rule, with the difference, that this new white government under Ian Smith declared itself independent from the crown.^[4] With this government a time of oppression and misery for the black Zimbabweans became even worse as in colonial times: It was only a question of time until the blacks would stand up against those minority government and fight for their rights, for independence and for a black majority leadership. A guerrilla war against the government and the whites started, lead by two nationalist groups, ZANU and ZAPU. In the end the Smith government had to resign in 1980. Since then Zimbabwe is lead by the ZANU with its leader Robert Mugabe.^[5]

However there was not only political change in Zimbabwe. The time of this second generation writers was also the time of industrialisation which led to a change in education. While the first generation writers mostly did not attend school for more than primary level, most of the second generation writers, especially those who wrote in English, finished second level and some even went to University.

2.2 Zimbabwean literature of the second generation

This special history influenced the second generation of Zimbabwean writers. While some stayed in Zimbabwe and fought actively in the guerrilla war, others preferred the exile. However apart from this “outer exile”, most writers who stayed in Zimbabwe had to suffer from a kind of “inner exile” which means, that they were not allowed to write what they wanted because of censorship and could not express their feelings about the situation in their country openly.^[6]

Because of this special circumstances the works of those authors are different from those of African writers from other countries. First it is important to mention that Zimbabwe was isolated from the rest of Africa and went through a period which is einzigartig and distinguishes it from other African literature. As Veit-Wild depicts it,

“the typical pattern in the development of African literature- a phase of cultural nationalism and anti-colonial protest followed by a phase of post-colonial disillusionment- shifted in the case of Zimbabwe. Here post-colonial disenchantment and criticism if African leadership emerged even before independence was achieved: a residual cultural nationalism co-existed with a modernist existential perspective.”^[7]

Another quality which makes this literature different from other African literatures, is, that there is not much difference between the feelings and thoughts of the rural population and of the population in the towns: both suffered from the white leadership, and both cried for freedom.^[8] In Zimbabwean literature of the second generation it is dealt with life and problems of both areas, as we will see later in the narratives of Mungoshi and Marechera.

But the second generation of Zimbabwean writers does not only distinguish from writers in other African countries, but their writing is also different from the writing in Zimbabwe before, which also is a result of the special circumstances by which those authors were surrounded. First the writing of the second generation was much more fictional and therefore more creative than the mostly highly autobiographical writing of the first generation.^[9] Another important difference is, that they no longer wrote about the past, which was mostly idealised as the perfect time for blacks in Zimbabwe by the first generation, but their writings dealt with the present situation with all its challenges, disadvantages and misery.^[10] Moreover the new writers did not want to educate and to “promote African nationalism”^[11] any longer, but they “developed and cherished the personal, private, individual voice”^[12]. Their writings are “ fiction and poetry of alienation, despair and anger”^[13].

Those writers were on the one hand influenced by their experiences in their childhood. Many writers had difficult childhood experiences. They grew up either in rural areas or in townships which lead to different problems. The writers who grew up in the townships often had a difficult childhood, because of the poverty and criminality which surrounded them. The writers who grew up in rural areas got problems later on, when they had to leave home for education and became departed from their home and traditions and could no longer identify with their families. And the result was that “the impact of the family on the future writers decreased, and the general environment increased in importance as the determining factor of his/ her outlook”^[14]

On the other hand they were influenced by their experienced during the years of the Smith government and the guerrilla war. Although their experiences may have been different, depending on how much they were involved in the fighting and in politics and of course if they stayed in Zimbabwe or chose the exile, the effects are more or less the same: most authors feel entwurzelt, can no longer identify with their home country, feel displaced, alienated and disillusioned. As Mungoshi tells in an interview:

“If you look at the work of Marechera or Mungoshi or Nyamfukudza—we are of the same age-group—the themes we wrote on are identical: people who can’t believe, who don’t feel that things are going to be all right. Although I haven’t been out of the country, Lucifer is a kind of exile, even while he is in his own country. You are caught in between the old and the new. You are not yet in the western ways, nor do you belong to your parents any longer.”^[15]

3 Autobiographical background

Marechera was born in 1952 in Vengere township near Rusape. His childhood in the township influenced him, especially the early death of his father in a car crash which was the reason for his mother to become a prostitute to earn money for the family. While Marechera was a typical township child, Mungoshi grew up in a rural area. His family lived very isolated and he spent most of his time helping his father who was an “extremely demanding, harsh and uncommunicative man ”^[16].

For Marechera his mother played a very important role, because she was the one who cared for the family and managed the whole family on her own. In Mungoshi’s life, his mother played a minor role, because while he had to work outside with his father, his mother stayed at home with his sisters and worked in the household. What both have in common is, that books were very important for them yet in their childhood. Marechera attended primary school in his hometown from 1958-65 and was so longer bound to his family than Mungoshi, who had to leave home when he attended Damanhisa boarding school which was many miles away from his home and family. Mungoshi also had greater problems to adapt into school, because his rural background made him an outsider between the other children who mostly came from the town the school was in. Marechera had to leave home in 1966 when he attended St. Augustine’s Secondary School where he stayed until he finished in 1971. Mungoshi attended the same school in 1963 and quit without finishing in 1966. While Marechera visited the university of Rhodesia, where he studied until he was expelled in 19 because of his involvement in a student demonstration against the white minority government, Mungoshi began to work as an assistant after his time at St. Augustine’s. Marechera’s expulsion led to his departure to England where he became a student in Oxford New College until he was expelled in 19 . After his expulsion he lived the life of a homeless, living with friends. During this time he wrote “ the house of hunger” for which he won the ...Award in 19 After independence he went back to Zimbabwe where he again lived as a tramp until he died in 19 . Mungoshi however lived a modest and unspectacular life, living with his wife and five children in the town of Harare, working as an editor. Unlike Marechera he was never involved in political confrontations.

[...]

^[1] Cf., Flora Veit-Wild I: Teachers, preachers, non-believers: a social history of Zimbabwean literature (Harare, Zimbabwe: Baobao Books Ltd, 1992). 7

^[2] Veit-Wild I. 211

^[3] Cf. Veit-Wild I. 7

^[4] cf. Veit-Wild I. 1

^[5] cf. Michael Chapman: Southern African literatures. (London:Longman Singapore Publishers Ltd, 1996). 295

^[6] Veit-Wild I. 153

^[7] Flora Veit-Wild II: Dambudzo Marechera. (London: Hans Zell Publishers, 1992) 1

^[8] cf. Chapman. 295

^[9] Veit-Wild I. 151

^[10] Veit-Wild I. 151

^[11] Veit-Wild I. 152

^[12] Veit-Wild I. 152

^[13] Veit-Wild I. 7

^[14] Veit-Wild I. 160

^[15] Veit-Wild I. 192

^[16] Veit-Wild I. 269