Black sunlight

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Black sunlight

Title:

Black sunlight

Author:

Marechera, Dambudzo.

ISBN:

9780143026204

Personal Author:

Marechera, Dambudzo.

Publication Information:

London : Penguin, 2009.

Physical Description:

134 p. ; 20 cm.

Series:

Penguin African writers

General Note:

First published by Heinemann Education Publishers in 1980.

Abstract:

"In an unspecified setting the tream-of-consciousness narrative of this dark and visceral cult novel traces the fortunes of a group of anarchists in revolt against a military-fascist-capitalist opposition. In evocative flashes, sex, violence, war, myths and ideologies explode in a labyrinthine plot, viewed through the camera lens of a photojournalist known only as Christian. In Dambudzo Marechera's second experimental novel, he parodies African nationalist and racial identifications to show that notions of an 'essential African identity' were often invoked across Africa to authorise totalitarian regimes. Such irreverent, avant-garde literature was criticised upon publication in Zimbabwe in 1980, and Black Sunlight was banned on charges of 'Euromodernism' and challenging the concept of nation-building in the newly independent country." -- Book cover.

Subject Term:

Photojournalists -- Fiction.

Anarchists -- Fiction.

Nationalism -- Africa -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Africa -- Politics and government -- Fiction.

Genre:

Experimental fiction.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025490083	823.914 M323B 2009	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"I really tried to put terrorism into a historical perspective, neither applauding their acts nor condemning them. The photographer does not take sides; he just takes the press photographs." In an unspecified setting the stream-of-consciousness narrative of this cult novel traces the fortunes of a group of anarchists in revolt against a military-fascist-capitalist opposition. The protagonist is photojournalist Chris, whose camera lens becomes the device through which the plot is cleverly unraveled. In Dambudzo Marechera's second experimental novel, he parodies African nationalist and racial identifications as part of an argument that notions of an 'essential African identity' were often invoked to authorize a number of totalitarian regimes across Africa. Such irreverent, avant-garde literature was criticized upon publication in Zimbabwe in 1980, and Black Sunlight was banned on charges of 'Euromodernism' and as a challenge to the concept of nation-building in the newly independent country.