Who's afraid of Dambudzo Marechera?

Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) Novelist, Short story writer, Activist, Playwright, Poet and Storyteller.

In Dambudzo’s brief life, he died in Zimbabwe an aged 35; he achieved fame in 1979 when his first book The House of Hunger jointly won The Guardian Fiction Prize. He had gained some infamy before that, when asked to join a certain university society during their annual dinner, he stood up on the table and urinated on it, that being his answer.

Dambudzo was born into a large rural family; it was his mother’s encouragement and the local missionary school that helped birth his writing ability. Zimbabwe or Rhodesia as it was named before independence in 1980, was in the grips of white colonial power while Dambudzo was growing up. He was deeply affected by the gross human injustices enforced by a minority on a daily basis.

His first clashes with authority came at high school, St. Augustine's Mission, Penhalonga, where he rebelled against the set colonial teaching syllabus. He briefly attended the University of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) but was drummed out during a period of student uprisings against the Smith Regime. Awarded entrance by scholarship, to attend Oxford University he left for Europe but soon rebelled against them too and was ousted for unsociable activities and academic negligence.

Not much is known about his years in Europe until his return to Zimbabwe in 1982 with a film crew documenting The House of Hunger. In his typical fashion he argued with the director and absolved himself from the project, remaining in Zimbabwe when they left. If he left for Europe a deeply dissatisfied and wrought man when he returned in 82’ it got a lot worse. Often berated for leaving Zimbabwe in it’s time of liberation and returning when it was accomplished, he felt even more alienated from the world around him and suffered from extreme depression.

Although a very public figure on his return he had very few friends mostly contacts, drinking buddies (often chosen at random) and fellow expatriates. He did not seek to improve this situation, was violently outspoken and constantly challenged the new government led by Robert Mugabe (looking at the chaos in Zimbabwe now, he was virtually prophetic), which earned him very few favours.

Dambudzo was constantly fascinated by the English language, and was often criticised by fellow Zimbabwean writers for writing about the harsh brute realities, being very experimental in his form, content and style and for not writing primarily in his mother tongue (though he did write at least one play in Shona: The Servant's Ball). He would not, could not, conform to the so called “natural” writings of the time which depicted heart warming scenes of African rural life.

Dambudzo was often seen in the middle of Harare, perched at a stone table clattering away on his portable typewriter in the city centre Harare Gardens, or Africa Unity Square. However he did finally settle down in a flat at No: 8 Sloane Court in 1984, and this marked a change not only in his lifestyle but his outward character. His last years despite his particular brand of conflict strategies, saw him more restrained and less prone to furious outbursts and outrageous behaviour. As always he wrote prodigiously, but had great trouble trying to get his controversial works published in Zimbabwe, or anywhere, and only published three books in his life.

In January 1987 Dambudzo became sick and was hospitalised, but discharged himself soon afterwards. In August he was hospitalised again but this time he was much worse and died on the 18th August 1987.

Posthumously, The Dambudzo Marechera Trust was formed and published The Black Insider, Cemetery of Mind and Scrapiron Blues. Today Dambudzo Marechera still stands as one of the great literary Titans, whose prose and poetry still challenges the world to re-examine who we are and where we are going.

“Paranoid means seeing all the things which big human beings have been taught not see”
-Dambudzo Marechera, Fuzzy Goo’s Guide (To the Earth), Scrapiron Blues.

The books of Dambudzo Marechera:

The House of Hunger (1979)
Black Sunlight (1980)
Mindblast (1984)
Dambudzo Marechera, 4 June 1952-18 August 1987 (1988)
The Black Insider (1990)
Cemetery of the Mind (1992)
Scrapiron Blues (1994)

“My whole life has been an attempt to make myself the skeleton in my own cupboard”-Dambudzo Marechera, lecture, University of Zimbabwe.