Forms of hypocrisy in the writings of Dambudzo Marechera

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY: Perceiving every established notion as inherently entrapping, Dambudzo Marecherarejects and strives to elude all manner of categorisation which tends to submergeone's individuality. His fundamental conviction is that only those whose motive is toexercise power over other human beings insist on fixed notions such asnation, race,culture, religion and ideology. This is because such self-seekers realise that humanbeings tend to be more susceptible to manipulation if they identify themselves withestablished categories or discourses.Given the trend in African writing during the anti-colonial period to identify withnationalist discourse, Marechera cuts the figure of a literary funambulist: not onlydoes he refuse to write for a specific nation or race, but he also dismisses fixednotions of nation and race as spurious Machiavellian fabrications aimed at fossilisingpeople's minds for purposes of easier regimentation. Predictably, Marechera invokesthe wrath of nationalist critics who see in him a self-deprecating African reactionary ora mere Uncle Tom who affects European avant-gardism.This thesis uses close textual reading to explore Marechera's combative engagementwith what he perceives as hegemonic discourses which mask themselves in variousdeceptive forms. The central theme is Marechera's representation of hypocrisy. Hiscommitment to a vision that transcends evanescent agendas such as politicalindependence is a recurrent motif in this thesis. I also examine the ways in which hedeploys complex metaphors and allegories to expose the workings of hypocrisy. Ofequal interest is his motivation in deliberately sabotaging the rules of conventionalgrammar. I consider this in the light of the fact that to Marechera, English - hissecond language – is also the language of the metropole.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University