In Conversation with Bessie Head

AvMary S. Lederer

Häftad, Engelska, 2020

521 kr

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Beskrivning

In Conversation with Bessie Head shows how reading the novels and letters of Botswana's most influential writer, Bessie Head, fosters an ongoing conversation between reader and writer and is in fact a very personal undertaking. Each chapter tackles two parallel threads, the first regarding Mary S. Lederer's own history of reading Head—from her first purchase of Maru, through completing a Ph.D. on Head's trilogy, through living in Botswana and connecting with various aspects of Head's life, to examining how reading Head has affected her own development as a human being. This history then ties each chapter into discussion of how Head develops her own vision of the “brotherhood of man.” Alongside critically informed discussion, Head’s vision is examined through the prism of specific questions. Why is madness not a useful concept for understanding Head’s ideas? Why did Head say she was not a feminist, and what is the significance of “male” and “female” in her novels? What is the relationship between individual, race, and community? How can the nature of God be a clear expression of love but also an indistinct force for both good and evil? Head's novels present opportunities for personal growth, and through these “conversations” with her, we become different readers.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2020-12-24
Mått:152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt:236 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:168
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:9781501371431

Utforska kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur
Litteraturteori inom Skönlitteratur

Mer om författaren

Mary S. Lederer is an editor and independent scholar based in Gaborone, Botswana, and was formerly Senior Lecturer in African Literature at the University of Botswana. She is the author of Novels of Botswana in English, 1930-2006 (2014).

Recensioner i media

Mary S. Lederer reflects on what [Bessie} Head taught her, how Head has changed her, even on what Head might think of her. Diverging from the typical scholarly mode, she takes an analytical approach we might call devotional criticism; for Lederer, Head’s work is not a neutral subject of study but a source of wisdom, both secular and spiritual. … In its analytic timeline, the book uniquely configures questions of aging and literary analysis. When one reads a text at 20-something, how is it different than reading it at 40-something or 60-something? How do we evolve as academics, as family members, as global citizens, and as human beings in relation to the books we read? Compounded over time, what does literature do to us? This is an original angle, which will resonate with many of Head’s readers. … Ultimately, this book serves as a reminder of why we love literature in general and Bessie Head in particular, and it opens a space to speak from that feeling without neglecting rigor.

Innehållsförteckning

1: Introduction, Reading Bessie Head2: “the woman…is no neurotic”3: “they also forgot he was a man”4: “each man is helpless before life”5: “love…is a touchy thing”6: Conclusion, Rereading Bessie HeadWorks CitedIndex