- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The social vision of Bessie Head's fiction, 1991
- Creator:
- Dlamini, Lucy Z.
- Date of Original:
- 1991-05-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- This study explores the social vision of Bessie Heads three novels: When Rain Clouds Gather. Maru and A Question of Power. The study is comprised of five chapters; all of them focus on Head's commitment to promoting humane and equitable social values and her denunciation of power and prestige. The aim in each chapter is to examine both the strengths and shortcomings of the moral idealism which informs Head's depiction of the concerns of her fiction. Each chapter also explores her concept of an exclusionary Africa. The first chapter introduces the concerns of this study: It outlines the preoccupations of Head's novels, surveys the critical attention she has received, and outlines Head's own statements concerning her art. This chapter also gives a brief account of Head's biographical and literary background as her writing draws heavily from her personal experiences. Head's overall literary output gives this study a broad base for the assessment of her literary achievements. Chapters II, III and IV, in which the three novels are respectively analyzed, examine Head's depiction of a power- hungry exclusionary, brutish and morally bankrupt Africa against what this study views primarily as an authenticated observation of gross social and sexual inequalities. The three chapters also examine the influence of Head's South African background, especially her mixed racial identity in a racially segregated country and her status in Botswana as an exile, on her treatment of the themes in the novels. The concluding chapter assesses Head's moral perspective its strengths and shortcomings in the overall quest for justice.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1991_dlamini_lucy_z.pdf
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
