Zambezia (1987), XIV (li).ESSAY REVIEWZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHTHE YEAR 1980 has gone down In Zimbabwean history as a watershed whichmarks the end of ninety years of White settler rale aed the beginning of a new era,a time when the long-suffering African assumes the responsibility, at leastpolitically, of shaping his own destiny. It is a time when the Black man who hasbeen maimed by ninety years of exploitation and oppression limps to the finishingline and claims his trophy Š independence and freedom. For the Zimbabweanwriter this belated freedom offers boundless possiblities since the censorship andother shackles of the past have been swept away. This essay review attempts toassess the quality and orientation of the new novels which have been publishedsince Zimbabwe attained its independence. But in order to ascertain whether thisrecent fiction is, indeed, new in terms of content and orientation, a brief outline ofthe main features of pre-Independence fiction written by Blacks is necessary.In many ways the birth of Zimbabwean fiction in English has been influencedlargely by the peculiar history of Zimbabwe and the various crises which Blacksexperienced between 1890 and 1980. Essential to underline here is that the abruptand brutal intrusion of the White settlers into the land between the Zambezi andthe Limpopo rivers was part of a larger imperial vision which sought to subjugatethe African continent in order to exploit its economic and human resources.Therefore, on their arrival, the White settlers embarked on a systematicprogramme of dispossessing Africans of their rich ancestral lands and resettlingthem in crowded and infertile areas. The material deprivation which ensued wasalso compounded by the relentless assault on African culture by Whitemissionaries and other educationists. Native life was seen as primitive, and, assuch, had to be wiped out and replaced by a more civilized Christian culture. Hereis how one of the missionaries proposed to solve the 'native' problem:'Father Biehler is so convinced of the hopelessness of regenerating the Mashonas,'wrote Lord Grey from Chishawasha in January 1897, 'whom he regards as the mosthopeless of mankind ... that he states that the only chance for the future of the race is toexterminate the whole people, both male and female, over the age of 14! This pessimisticconclusion', Grey continued, 'I find it hard to accept.'1While the radical and unchristian solution proposed by Father Biehler wasnever considered seriously by most of the missionaries in Zimbabwe at that time,it underlines the depth of hostility which some of them harboured against Africanreligion in particular and African culture in general. ConsequentlyAfricans found themselves not only deprived of their land but also condemned1 Quoted in T. O. Ranger, Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896- 7: A Study in African Resistance(London, Heinemann, 1967), 3.131132ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHculturally. They became an endangered species, hence the theme of identity crisiswhich preoccupies almost all the Black writers whose works were publishedbefore 1980. The cultural crisis was deepened further by the gradual butinexorable process of industrialization and urbanization.Therefore, it is not surprising that Stanlake Samkange's novel entitled OnTrial for My Country (1965) is preoccupied with the injustice meted out toAfricans at the turn of the last century.2 Even his second novel, Year of theUprising (1978),3 expresses the moral outrage of a people who bitterly resentedthe brutal manner in which Africans were dispossessed of their land, as doesSolomon Mutswairo's Mapondera: Soldier of Zimbabwe (1978).4 The pre-colonial past is seen in these works as having been morally superior to theso-called Western Civilization. African heroes are resurrected in these historicalnovels and shown as models which subjugated Africans should emulate as thevstruggle for national liberation. Inspiring these two writers is their desire to refutethe White man's fraudulent claims that the Black man had no history and noculture to speak of. Also Mutswairo's second English novel, Chaminuka: Prophetof Zimbabwe (1983), seeks to project the pre-colonial past as having been shapedand influenced by a philosophy and a vision that was humane.5 At another levelthese two writers are also seeking to re-establish a meaningful relationship withthe African past (which had been deliberately distorted by the settlers) in order toenable the Black man to shape his future. Unfortunately their progressivehistorical vision is not always matched by their artistic performance. Conse-quently these historical novels will be remembered more for their rich oralmaterial and the vision found in them rather than for their literary merit.The theme of culture conflict and protest is further explored in StanlakeSamkange's more successful novel The Mourned One (1975),6 as well as inWilson Katiyo's A Son of the Soil (1976)7 and Geoffrey Ndhlala's Jikinya(1979).8 Motivating these writers is their desire to show that in disregarding anddestroying African culture, notwithstanding its limitations, the White man istrampling on something invaluable and creating a racist and exploitative societywhich not only deforms the Black man but also'impoverishcs the human spirit.These novels will remain invaluable as works which seek to expose the culturalcontradictions which bedevilled African society 'during the colonial era.The role of establishing an equally serious but more accomplished tradition offiction writing has to be accorded to Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo Marecheraand Stanley Nyamfukudza. These young writers belong to a generation that is2 S. Samkange, On Trial for My Country (London, Heinemann, 1966).3 S. Samkange, Year of the Uprising (London, Heinemann, 1978).4 S. M. Mutsvairo, Mapondera: Soldier of Zimbabwe (Harare, Longman Zimbabwe, 1983)also published as Mapondera: Soldier of Fortune (Washington DC, Three Continents Press,1983).5 S. M. Mutswairo, Chaminuka: Prophet of Zimbabwe (Washington DC, Three ContinentsPress, 1983).6 S. Samkange, The Mourned One (London, Heinemann, 1975).7 W. Katiyo, A Son of the Soil (London, Rex Collings, 1976).8 G. C. T. Ndhlala, Jikinya (Salisbury, Macmillan, 1979).R. ZHUWARARA133more conscious of the demands of the novel as a genre as well as of the peculiarnature of the experience which they ask it to accommodate.In general, Mungoshi's novel, Waiting for the Rain (1915), and his collectionsof short stories entitled Coming of the Dry Season (1972) and Some Kinds ofWounds (1980), focus on a variety of characters who belong to an African familywhose bonds of kinship are slowly unravelling.9 The new economic forcesintroduced into the country as well as Western culture that is strengthened toconform with settler ideology have taken their toll on African tradition, especiallywhen the material base of that tradition, the land, has been taken away for settleruse. The Old Man and Garabha in Waiting for the Rain are a more or lessmarooned species trying desperately to cling on to a spiritual heritage in anenvironment that is fiercely hostile to its preservation. Even the majestic andrather imposing Matandangoma, the traditional spirit medium, is, so we feel,harping on a seemingly impotent belief system whose material base has beenviciously corroded. Her diagnosis of the spiritual malaise which sits at the heart ofthe Tongoona family is not likely to resolve what is essentially a larger, nationalproblem. Even those characters who admirably cling on to their cultural identitydo not possess the kind of awareness which could enable them to comprehendfully the material forces impinging upon their world view. In other words,Mungoshi's characters are ill-equipped, in terms of consciousness, to readjust toand fight for their place in the new hostile world introduced by the West.If Mungoshi's vision is somewhat pessimistic, Marechera's is one of totaldisillusionment. His The House of 'Hunger(1978) and Black Sunlight (1980) areworks which relentlessly catalogue the horrors which beset the Africancommunity well after the onset of colonialism.10 African society has become sodebased and diseased that it is almost unrecognizable. Everything and everybodyhave been 'eaten to the core by the White man's coming'. It is a bleak andawesome vision in which nothing survives. While Mungoshi excels in the mannerin which he meticulously and sensitively renders the inner crisis of a culturallybeleaguered people, Marechera's strength lies in his idiosyncratic use of languageand in his unrivalled depiction of characters whose impulses and psyche havebeen perverted in a fundamentally irredeemable way. In his works new levels offeeling and perceptions are reached. However, the question that readers arebound to ask is: Is the African condemned to futility, to this existential nightmarewhich terrorizes even those who dare to hope that the African continent has afuture?In a sense, Stanley Nyamfukudza's The Non-believer's Journey (1980)continues to express an aspect of the disillusionment found in the works ofMarechera.11 Sam, the protagonist, is a university graduate teacher sceptical of thebeliefs and aspirations of his people. Being a sceptic he remains aloof, a spectator,an outsider watching and criticizing but not contributing to the struggle for9 C, L. Mungoshi, Waiting for the Rain (London, Heinemann, 1975; Salisbury, ZimbabwePublishing House, 1981); Coming of the Dry Season (Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972; Salisbury,Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1981); Some Kinds of Wounds and Other Short Stories (Gwelo,Mambo Press, 1980).10 D. Marechera, The House of Hunger: Short Stories (London, Heinemann, 1978; Harare,Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1982); Black Sunlight (London, Heinemann, 1980).11 S. Nyamfukudza, The Non-believer's Journey (London, Heinemann; Salisbury, ZimbabwePublishing House, 1980).134ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHfreedom as his less-learned companions do. He, like many a protagonist inZimbabwean fiction, does not possess the kind of historical vision, or thecommitment, which could enable him to participate meaningfully in the creationof history. He is suspicious of the White racist and equally so of the Africanpolitician and the struggle. In a way Sam is a more persuasive and more confusedversion of Mungoshi's Lucifer. Both are characters who, in the long run, risk beingrudely cast aside by history as redundant.In broad terms, therefore, all three authors write the kind of fiction which,while rooted in the protest tradition of modern African literature, is preoccupiedwith the cultural malaise which gripped Black Zimbabweans during the 1960sand 1970s. One can also argue that Mungoshi's vision of cultural anomy,legitimate and profoundly meaningful as it is, unduly plays down the vitality andversatility of a people who we know from history struggle relentlessly to readjustand cope with the peculiar demands of the twentieth century. By the same token,Mareehera's disillusionment is overwhelmingly insisted upon as if man is underthe grip of an unappeasable force. Man is doomed to live a life of futility, and, assuch, his hopes for a better future are dashed the moment he is born. InNyamfukudza's The Non-believer's Journey one senses an overall grasp of thesocial, political and economic forces which are operating in the country as historyunfolds. The colonial ideology with its attendant values and attitudes is locked indeadly combat against an African culture of resistance. The dialecticalrelationship between a dying Rhodesia and an emerging Zimbabwe is outlined inNyamfukudza's novel. However, the writer's grasp of the issues which are shapinghistory is qualified by the all too real fear of the betrayal which could occur duringthe struggle for independence as well as after its attainment. It is fair to concludethat both Marechera and Nyamfukudza write their works with the sombrerecognition that the masses in post-Independence Africa have often been betrayedby their leaders.Interesting to observe is that the first novel to be published after 1980 does notexpress the pessimism and despair of the earlier novels. Shimmer Chinodya's Dewin the Morning (1982) eschews the overtly political and historical in favour ofsimply the depiction of the kind of rural life which millions of Zimbabweansexperienced during the colonial era.12 The conflict between the country and theWhite man's city and between the cultural and economic forces which theseplaces represent is implied rather than explored. More specifically, the novel isabout Masiziva who heroically and almost single-handedly builds a home in thecountryside while her husband works and educates the children in the city. But ifone expects Chinodya to explore the forces which have brought about a situationwhich separates members of the same family, or the reasons why families keep onmoving to new areas to settle, one is bound to be disappointed. Chinodya'spassion as an artist lies in the rhythms of rural life as they change in line with thetropical seasons. Here is how the narrator, Godfrey, describes a tropical summerwith its accompanying activities:We followed behind the plough, dropping the seeds into neat brown furrows andsavouring the smell of the oxen and newly turned earth. The seeds soon germinated, small12 S. Chinodya, Dew in the Morning (Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1982).R. ZHUWARARA135and tender in the dew. We rose early in the blue-grey dawn to the shouts of the plough boysand the bustle of yoking the oxen. We walked across glistening green, dew-laden grass tothe fields. While the sun steadily ascended the sky, getting hotter, we sweated in the fields.Our backs ached and the hot sand burnt our feet, and the hoe-handles cut blisters on ourhands. We drank maheu, worked again, then went home for a late breakfast. As we wenthome tiredly at noon we usualy met herdboys bringing home the cows to be milked.13Very few Zimbabwean novelists have evoked with such exquisite sensitivityand realism the sights and sounds of rural life. Chinodya's poetic sensibility thriveson physical details which he builds up continuously throughout the book until avivid picture of rural existence emerges. He also has a facility for drawing portraitsof memorable peasant characters as well as for rendering appropriate seasonalmoods and feelings. His major achievement, perhaps, lies in the way he paints arealistic picture which encompasses the joys as well as the sorrows of life in thecountry. Like Musaemura Zimunya in his own portrayal of that rural life inCountry Dawns and City Lights (1985),14 Chinodya does not hesitate to reveal thedarker side of country living with its menacing superstitions, jealousies andoccasional violence.A glaring limitation, however, which severely undermines what could havebeen a unique novel is the inability of the narrator to possess a credible controllingconsciousness which highlights the importance of events and incidents accordingto their overall significance in the book. Godfrey seems to be satisfied with the roleof merely recording experience without necessarily making his rural scenes anintegral part of a chain linked in a causal process. The result is an impressiveaccumulation of scenes that are sometimes only tenuously related to one another.Compounding the problem of the narrative structure is the absence of an overallcentral theme. In fact, there are too many of them and none is treated withsufficient depth so as to amount to an insightful exploration. In brief, the book isso diffuse in focus and so disastrous in form that one wonders whether it should beregarded as a novel or as a collection of (sometimes) loosely-related rural tales.A second novel written by Chinodya, entitled Farai's Girls (1984), is aboutthe experiences of a boy growing up at a time when the guerrillas are waging thenational war of liberation.15 Ironically, the news about 'the boys' who fight for thecountry's freedom and the student protests against the settler regime during the1970s do not seem to make a lasting impression on Farai. Instead, lavish attentionis given to Farai's experiences with women: these range from innocent flirtingwith young girls during childhood to platonic love affairs with the Letwinas andNoriahs of the female world. A lot of cuddling and petting takes place before ouregocentric hero is initiated into manhood. By the time Farai attaches himself to arelatively more mature woman called Vongai, he has had his fair share of sexualencounters without the accompanying responsibility. In fact, he has by that timechanged his women as thoughtlessly as he has changed his shirts. And throughoutthe whole book Farai remains almost cushioned from the life-and-death struggletaking place around him.13 Ibid., 15.14 M. B, Zimunya, Country Dawns and City Lights (Harare, Longman Zimbabwe, 1985).15 S. Chinodya, Farai's Girls (Harare, College Press, 1984).136ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHIn Farai's Girls the reader cannot help feeling that the author placed the realsubstance of the novel at the periphery of his story in favour of narrating theprivate experiences of a sexual and emotional parasite who takes too long to growup and assume a responsible attitude towards life and society. Ironically, onseveral occasions, the guerrilla struggle that is taking place threatens to rob Faraiof his women. Historical events keep on intruding, rather rudely, into his personallife and private dreams but, to our surprise, Farai studiously refuses to see howprivate and personal relationships are affected by the larger historical processes.The freedom fighters are seeking to bring about a better society in which men andwomen relate to each other in a way that is materially as well as spirituallyfulfilling. Farai fails to relate to the larger historical drama in a way which makeshim an actor, or a fighter for freedom. His interest in coming to a meaningfulaccommodation with the female world is a natural and legitimate concern whichhas preoccupied mankind for centuries, but the scope and quality of hisexperiences do not amount to much. They are predictably banal and nowherenear the kind of vision readers come across in the works of D. H. Lawrence.Farai's Girls does not make a statement about life which could reveal more aboutthe problems of existence. At the end of the novel Farai has not matured in afundamental way, neither has he worked out his position in regard to life and itsdemands.In an ironic way Farai's individualistic preoccupations reveal more about theinfluence which the colonial educational system had on its supposed beneficiaries.Farai seems to belong to a self-indulgent Black educated elite that is obsessed withits own appetites. In a sense Farai is a far less serious version of Sam Mapfeka inThe Non-believer's Journey. The difference between the two characters is thatSam's life and fate reflect those serious issues which affect a colonial societycaught up in a painful process of transition while Farai's life reveals far less.What is distressing in regard to Chinodya's work is that readers do come torecognize as they read his work that the writer has a genuine feel for words andsituations. There is genuine talent reflected in his work, particularly as the writer isa poet whose work has appeared in New Writing in Rhodesia (1976) as well as inthe now celebrated anthology Zimbabwean Poetry in English (1978).16 He hasalso had a short story published in a collection entitled The March and OtherPieces (1983).17 In all these publications, no one doubts Shimmer Chinodya'sbudding talent. What seems to undermine his more ambitious work is the absenceof a guiding vision or a profound philosophical framework.Another novel published after the attainment of independence was GeoffreyNdhlala's The Southern Circle (1984).18 The novel covers a more or less similarhistorical period to that in which Chinodya's Farai's Girls is set. The new novel isin many ways a logical sequel to Ndhlala's earlier novel, Jikinya, Ndhlala'snarrative strategy in The Southern Circle is to rely on a forty-year-old, guilt-ridden narrator whose reminiscences portray the fate of three generationsbelonging to the same family. In essence the story is about Zengeza, his son,16 T. O. McLoughlin (comp.), New Writing in Rhodesia (Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1976); K. Z.Muchemwa, (comp.), Zimbabwean Poetry in English An Anthology (Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1978).17 S. Chinodya, 'The march', in The March and Other Pieces: Literature Bureau WorkshopAnthology (Harare, Longman, in association with the Literature Bureau, 1983), 1-11.18 G. Ndhlala, The Southern Circle (Harlow, Longman, 1984).R. ZHUWARARA137Masutu, and the narrator himself, Rugare. Although remnants of that idyllic rurallife depicted in Jikinya are still discernible in the new novel, these are manifestedas an aspect of childhood nostalgia. The narrator is haunted by the past, when hisgrandfather was in his prime and the world looked reassuring:We were the children of happiness. In the arms of our fathers and mothers; in thewarm hand of our dear earth which, even then, unknown to us, was shifting its hold, itseuphoric grasp; oblivious to the world beyond where cities and dwarfing things wererearing their heads. We frolicked in the grass and the bush looking after our cattle; wesucked from the cows udder; we robbed the hive of its moon-white honey and rubbedamicably the sores of stings. Oh, what a time! We fought among ourselves too; welaughed. Why do we have to grow old ... 19Rugare's recollections of childhood days are, in fact, an evocation of an idyllicrural existence characterized by rhythms of communal living. The countryside islush, the cows produce milk aplenty as if to say that nature provides everythingmankind requires. There is warmth in human relationships as the Africancommunity thrives. But as White Rhodesia extends its grip into all the fourcorners of the colony the family fortunes of Zengeza's family disappear. Thenarrator bemoans the coming of the White man and the subsequent resettlementof the African into desert-like areas. Later on in the novel, Zengeza reappears as arefugee at his son's home, a shadowy ghost of his former self.As the situation in the rural areas deteriorates further, thousands of Africansare compelled to attend school in order to prepare themselves to tackle the newhostile world introduced by the settlers. A typical example is Zengeza's son,Masutu, who is literate enough to find a job in the city. Masutu has the energy, theheady optimism, the generosity and showmanship which make him all the moreadmired and envied by his less-successful kinsman. For a time he feels, andeverybody agrees, that he has made it in the new world. Masutu's uncriticaladdiction to the White man's clothes and food and his irrepressible and extroverttemperament make him a proverbial success. But, of course, Masutu's fortunesdwindle the moment he is mysteriously dismissed from his job. Rhodesia has nopermanent or meaningful role to offer Blacks.In desperation Masutu builds a home at a semi-urban place called RuvaTownship, located on the outskirts of the White man's city. He feels marginalized,but, the human spirit being what it is, he soon becomes resilient enough to startcultivating a patch of land Š which is constantly smitten by drought, as if tomock his attempts at improving his material conditions. The formerly irrepres-sible Masutu succumbs to brooding moroseness; he is a defeated man whose onlyremaining hope lies in his relatively better-educated son, Rugare.In a way reminiscent of the relationship between Lucifer and Tongoona inWaiting for the Rain, the relationship between Rugare and Masutu is one ofmisplaced trust. Rugare turns out to be the wrong person to shoulder the burdenof looking after the family. Compounding Masutu's dilemma is the fact that hisson cherishes his alcohol and women more than he does the family role assignedhim. In this sense he suffers from some of the hedonistic and more or less anarchic19 Ibid., 4.138ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHtraits which characterize Sam's behaviour in The Non-Believer's Journey. Theonly difference is that Sam is relatively more perceptive and more mature than thedelinquent and adolescent Rugare. The latter's irresponsibility goes to the extentof celebrating a job that is not yet offered him.What is painfully obvious in all these three generations is that they are notwell placed to comprehend fully the economic and political forces operating inthe country. Zengeza simply belongs to an earlier traditional era and cannot copewith the new one; Masutu's attempts to readjust to the colonial era are hopelesslyinadequate. His attempts are not based on an accurate understanding of the settlerstate which oppresses him in its own smugly exclusive and racist manner. As forRugare, he is temperamentally as well as intellectually incapable of comprehend-ing the larger historical forces affecting the colony. Throughout the novel,allusions are made in regard to freedom fighters but these allusions do not awakenhim in such a way that he can define the role he should play in removing theobstacles placed in his way by settler rule. Even his budding cultural nationalismis brought about by a fortuitous event. In other words, Rugare is another versionof Farai in Farai's Girls and Sam in The Non-believer's Journey. All thesecharacters wait for others to create history. In this sense one can argue that TheSouthern Circle does not cover new ground at all, that is, in relation to pre-Independence fiction. The novel simply amplifies issues which are explored moreconvincingly in the works of M ungoshi, Nyamfukudza and Marechera.As a novel, The Southern Circle is far more ambitious in scope than Jikinyabut noi as well executed artistically as one would wish. Rugare's narrative role isnot disciplined enough to offer an in-depth exploration of the nature of settlersociety against which he protests. Also the protests themselves are often muffledby periodic bouts of moralistic self-criticisms and feelings of helplessness as wellas personal speculations about the meaning of existence. These fictional elementsdo not cohere well enough to constitute a carefully structured story Š hence thediffuseness in focus which pervades the novel.Another novel which explores the fate of Blacks during the 1970s is SamuelChimsoro's Nothing Is Impossible (1983).20 Unlike Rugare in The SouthernCircle, who continually laments the fate allotted him in life, Simbai in Chimsoro'snovel is depicted as a poverty-stricken character whose parents are hard-workingdestitutes. The story is about how Simbai struggles to escape from the subhumansituation which characterizes his life. Interesting to note is that Simbai'sbackground is far more precarious than that of any characters in the novels dealtwith so far. Rhodesia has turned his parents into landless farm-labourers who arebrutally overworked and grossly underpaid by White farmers. Survival demandsthat Simbai himself becomes a farm-labourer-cum-house-servant at an early age.But what is surprising is the fact that the main focus of the story is not aimed atprotesting against the colonial authorities who dehumanize Blacks. Instead, themain thrust of the novel is meant to capture how the hard-working and humbleparents bequeath virtues such as determination, honesty and hard work to theirson. Simbai has the added advantage that his grandmother, Mbuya Muhondo,provides a cultural context which rationalizes the suffering that he experiencestogether with others of his generation:20 S. Chimsoro, Nothing Is Impossible (Harlow, Longman, 1983).R. ZHUWARARA139All that is expected from us is the vision of the seed, to accept to be buried and thengerminate and then grow. You are a man. Manhood should be your ground. You are aman, so make mankind your ground.... I am saying this to all of you so that you can bepeople at whom other people can point without shame, just like when they point at MountWedza.21Mbuya Muhondo's thesis, which sounds similar to that of Booker T.Washington, is that hard work, diligence and patience will offer rewards to thesuffering Black man. The harsh and unpalatable colonial environment shouldelicit a tough and resilient response from Blacks. The despair and pessimismwhich almost paralyse the characters of Mungoshi and Marechera are simply aluxury which Simbai cannot afford. He is wise enough to listen to the voice fromthe African past and, as a result, Simbai excels in his studies at TegwaniSecondary School and Bulawayo Polytechnic. At the end of his educationalcareer Simbai is armed with a certificate in Hotel Management and Catering.Simbai's relentless struggle for survival continues even after school. Rhodesiawith its racial bigotry has no decent role to offer to such a young man raring tosucceed. He finds that his dedication and competence are not only unappreciatedbut also unrewarded by White bosses who run the Jameson and Federal Hotels.In disgust but undaunted he opts to assist a Black businessman struggling to set upa business at Machipisa. The business prospers because of Simbai's resourceful-ness. Ultimately Simbai's restlessness and insatiable appetite for work catapulthim into the insurance business. And, as if to reward his indomitable will-powerto succeed, Simbai becomes the owner of a kiosk, a butchery, a garage and apetrol service station. To crown it all he is also admitted as a member of theMillion Dollar Round Table Š and all these successes are achieved during thecolonial era!Essential to observe is that Nothing Is Impossible is a novel whose visionstands in sharp contrast to the rest of the novels set in the period during the 1970s.The cultural malaise which is meticulously delineated in Mungoshi's works andferociously insisted upon in Marechera's books as an overwhelming aspect of thehuman condition is deliberately played down in Chimsoro's novel. It is as ifChimsoro is saying that the dirge lamenting the death of African culture has goneon far too long; the time has come for Blacks to stress the vitality and versatilitywhich are needed for the Black man to survive. In brief, Chimsoro's vision ismeant to shed some light on the struggle for survival which the majority ofAfricans undertook during the colonial era.The limitation, however, which readers are bound to notice in Nothing IsImpossible is the singular narrowness of Simbai's outlook. He is so propelled byhis ambition to overcome the material deprivation suffered by his family that hefails to attain a higher state of consciousness which can enable him to see hisposition in relation to the larger society. At no time does he pause to reflect onhow the rampant racism and injustice he struggles against could be got rid of at anational level. His vision of individual material success is not the ultimate solutionto the larger national problem. It is painfully obvious that not all Blacks canbecome members of the Million Dollar Round Table. At best the vision can onlyIbid., 49.140ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHcreate a class-ridden society in which the gulf separating the haves from thehave-nots will widen.In terms of form, Chimsoro is content to render his vision through theconventional narrative. The story is chronologically told by the third personomniscient narrator and there is hardly a hint of the kind of experimentation withform and narrative technique that one finds in Marechera's work. Perhaps thiscan be partly explained by the fact that Nothing Is Impossile is his first novel inEnglish, and, because of this, he is understandably cautious. His contribution tothe growth of the Zimbabwean novel lies more in the fact that the content andfocus of his work differ from other novels of the same period. And talking aboutsome of these novels it is interesting to notice that Shimmer Chinodya's works aswell as those of Ndhlala and Chimsoro, although published a few years afterIndependence, keep on going back to the issues which preoccupied Blacks beforeIndependence, as if to say that the full story of that period has not yet been told.Part of the explanation could be that some of the issues pertaining to that periodhave continued to haunt the new Zimbabwe. And, of course, there is always thepossibility that some of these works were conceived during the colonial era.Also significant in all the four novels discussed so far is the fact that theyportray characters who are preoccupied with their individual lives. For instance,the rural characters in Dew in the Morning are so caught up in the business ofsurviving in their rural world that they hardly have the opportunity to broadentheir horizon to the extent of grasping how their local existence is influenced byexternal forces emanating from the White man's government in the city. Yet,ironically, these are the very peasants who were to be profoundly affected by thewar of liberation as it gathered momentum during the late 1970s. In addition, theallegiance of these people was to be a decisive factor in favour of the Black man'sstruggle for freedom.22 As for Farai in Farai's Girls, he is so busy trying to relate towomen and attaining an education that is reactionary in content that he fails tocome to terms with the more serious struggle going on around him. One wondershow such a character will cope with the new woman who is going to emerge fromthe struggle and demand equal treatment in all spheres of life. The same applies toRugare in The Southern Circle. The world created by the settler is so big and socomplex that he can hardly address the root cause of the problems he faces as anindividual. He is a man dominated by false consciousness and, as such, he is notpositioned well enough to cope with the new Zimbabwe that is to emerge in 1980.As for Simbai in Nothing Is Impossible, survival during the Ian Smith era becomesa form of struggle that takes away all his energy from the larger, nationalconcerns. In all these novels the guerrilla war is a mere reference point alluded toin passing. The war of liberation that is so crucial to Zimbabwe's history isconsistently shown as a peripheral issue. One cannot help but conclude that allthese characters will, one day, be caught up in a maelstrom which, for better orworse, will change their lives in a fundamental way.The publication of Edmund Chipamaunga's A Fighter for Freedom (1983) is22 See T. O. Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe: A ComparativeStudy (London, James Currey 1985); and D. Lan, Guns and Rain: Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums inZimbabwe (London, James Currey, 1985).R, ZHUWARARA141important symbolically in the sense that it marks an attempt by a Zimbabweanwriter to explore the experiences of a Black fighter who, unlike characters in thenovels discussed, so far, aligns himself with the struggle for independence.23 Thenovel is about Tinasfae, who starts off as a precocious schoolboy who senses at anearly age that all is not well in the African family. His father, Gari, is an archetypalUncle Tom of a headmaster, running a mission school controlled by a dictatorialWhite missionary. Father Truss. The latter is a member of Ian Smith's RhodesiaFront and believes whole-heartedly in the philosophy of White supremacy.Speaking about the role of teachers and the educated African elite, Father Trussstates his mission and that of his government in no uncertain terms:The only reason why you teach is to give the children some idea of culture, the culture thatmatters. That culture is British and that is the only culture that matters the world over...' Iam not saying we want you to be partners with us Whites. No! You should stand aside oraloof, neither with us nor with the common black man. If you do that you are well on yourway to becoming educated, that is, acquiring British culture completely. Of course we willonly be too pleased if you take our side during a crisis.24Father Truss is a crude and violent missionary who does not hesitate tohumiliate Gari in public. As if to nurse his bruised ego, Gari, in turn, runs theschool like a dictatorial village headman who despises his own wife and children.But Tinashe is so perceptive that he comes to see his father as a mere underlingwho is meant to assist the White man in oppressing Blacks. The content of hiseducation has alienated him from his own family and people. Tieashe becomesaware of the fact that education in such a colonial context is a tool with which theWhite government demobilizes the African elite. But unlike Sam, Farai andRugare, Tieashe is not content to remain a mere observer in the colonial schemeof things.Instinctively he begins to gravitate towards his more traditionally inclinedUncle Roro. With the help of the spirit medium, VaTendayi, Uncle Roro is ableto educate Tinashe about the importance of African culture and dignity. Moreimportantly, he also introduces him to some of the freedom fighters operating inhis area. From then on, Tinashe's rise in the ranks of the liberation army ismeteoric. As a former competent sportsman he finds the guerrilla training easy. Infact, he turns out to be a first-class trainee who is better than his militaryinstructors. In no time he replaces his wounded instructor and becomes a regionalcommander. He turns out to be a cunning strategist who knows his terrain betterthan the locals of the area. As a marksman his performance is unparalleled; he isable to decimate scores of wellrmechanized Rhodesian troops. His military insightserves him so well that during the numerous battles waged all over the countryTinashe's military genius towers well above that of his senior colleagues as well asthe second-rate Rhodesians. In brief, Tinashe becomes a local version of thelegendary Napoleon. At the close of the novel there is no doubt at all that thefreedom fighters will triumph over the White Rhodesian army and its Blacksell-outs. And the Black nation will owe a great deal to Tieashe Š the new hero.23 E. Chipamaunga, A Fighter for Freedom (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1983).24 Ibid., 50-1.142ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHThe question, which readers are bound to ask however, is: Why doesChipamaunga over-indulge himself in his romanticization of Tioashe and otherBlack fighters? Tinashe seems to be a figure coming straight out of the romancetale and is much larger than life. Anyone familiar with the actual Zimbabweanstruggle will know that the liberation straggle was a slow, painful, and sometimesdiscouraging process fraught with perilous contradictions and costly mistakes.The creation of history is far more complex and more protracted than theHollywood version which Chipamaunga offers in his only novel to date. Is therenot a danger here that this kind of fiction oversimplifies history to the point ofalmost making it farcical?In a sense Chipamaunga is responding as a writer to some of the mostpernicious myths about Africans which were assiduously spread and faithfullybelieved in by some of the Rhodesian Whites. In a recent novel which exposessome of these myths about Africans, T. O. McLoughlin has one of his characters,Powell, say this; 'You know and I know those terrs out there can't shoot straight.If they tried to run anything more than a beer drink they would make a mess of itin six months.'25 In the same novel, there are a number of White characters whoregard Blacks as a race that is congenially incompetent Š a race that is flawedgenetically and, therefore, incapable of running the country. However, in thesame novel, there is a priest, Falkland, who does not necessarily believe in some ofthese myths; here is how he tries to comfort a small White community that isfumbling in its own way to come to terms with the guerrilla war that is steadilymounting in the country:'In the gospel, Jesus gives us another way of looking at man's predicament. He tells usthat even though we have become lost He is always on the search for us. Like a goodshepherd, like the assiduous woman sweeping out her house in search of her silver piece,God yearns to find us. God is on our side.'26Strictly speaking, Falkland is not claiming that the Christian God is a tribal oneout there to redeem Whites alone, but to a war-weary and abysmally prejudicedWhite community such a statement seems to say as much. The polarization of theraces in Rhodesia was a logical outcome of the policies carried out by the Smithgovernment.It is, therefore, not surprising that Chipamaunga calls his hero Tinashe, whichmeans in Shona, 'God is with us too'. As such, one can argue that Chipamaunga'sstory is a predictable response to some of the assumptions which someRhodesians had about their Black countrymen. Tinashe is shown as a genius inorganizing and fighting. Even his visit to Great Zimbabwe en route to the EasternHighlands is a symbolic one in that it enables the hero to refute some of the claimsmade by settlers that the fort was not built by Blacks. The rationale is not difficultto see: Africans had a proud past and a civilization which some of the prejudicedWhites and their scholars have refused to recognize. In many ways the vision ofChipamaunga is informed by African cultural nationalism Š hence the emphasison African identity and dignity. Tinashe's role is that of rehabilitating the African25 T. O. McLoughlin, Karfaia (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1985), 43.26 Ibid., 175-6.R. ZHUWARARA 143in relation to his culture and history. As such, the guerrillas know what they arefighting against at the level of culture and identity but the novel offers very little in
terms of the progressive icvolutionary consciousness which should help bring
about a new Zimbabwean society.Another disturbing aspect with regard to the novel is the implicit emphasisplaced on the individual as a creator of history. The attention given to other Black
fighters as well as to the local population is, so the reader feels, mere tokenism.
They provide the necessary social setting for the great man to act out his historical
mission. The preoccupation with uniquely endowed individuals may be moreappropriate when using a romance mode, but one wonders if indeed history is
created that way any longer in the twentieth century. As a result, Chipamaunga's
hero is a figure whose achievements have more to do with the need to heal a
wounded racial psyche than to offer the reader a convincing vision appropriate
for a post-Independence Zimbabwe.Another novel which focuses on the experiences of the liberation war isGarikai Mutasa's The Contact (1985).27 Fascinating to observe in this short novel,
which is barely one hundred and twenty-five pages long, is the gulf ofincomprehension separating Black people and their freedom fighters from the
White generals and their settler community. Heading the White army stationed at
Shabani is Turnball, a White army veteran who has fought against guerrillas inthe Centenary area, lost a son, and is now sceptical about the chances of winningthe war. He has the ability to see how the Americans, in spite of their superiortechnology, failed to win the Vietnam War. And he can see a similar fate awaitingthe Rhodesians. He keeps on asking, 'What the hell are we fighting for then?' Š a
question that is also echoed by the war-weary wife of Mercati, a fire-breathing
racist bigot who would like to teach the 'munts' a lesson once and for all. Hisconfidence, like that of his White compatriots in Karima, lies in the superior
technology possessed by Whites and the contempt with which he holds the
African.Unlike the Whites in this novel who are motivated by their desire to advanceprofessionally and thus make more money, the Black guerrillas fighting in the
Shiku area feel spiritually attached to their ancestral land. They can also relate tothe people and feel strengthened in their cause as they succeed in conscientizing
the people. Inspiring them is the idea that history is on their side and the future is
theirs. They are also motivated by the vision of bringing about a non-racial society
in which all the injustices enshrined in the colonial society are done away with.Significant to underline is that the battlefield becomes the meeting-point ofthe two races. In one instance we are told about the response made by the twosides after a fierce battle involving hand-to-hand fighting;'No need to kill him. He is a good fighter. Guns against guns and fists against fists. Andwith fists an opponent is defeated when he collapses,' said Tichatora. They ran to thegathering point.Half an hour later the Rhodesian came to. He was baffled and surprised. Why hadn'tthey killed him. They had started the ambush. They had taken his guns and left him alive.The man he had fought with had been a fighter. The first person to wield him a knockoutblow since he was a twelve-year-old. How good it would be to spar with someone of his17 G. Mutasa, The Contact (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1985).144ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISHown calibre like that. He stopped, he was beginning to think of his opponent in almostlikeable terms ... he was after all a terrorist...28Tichatora is a guerrilla fighter who fights according to a prescribed militarycode. He is a professional man who relishes a good and fair fight, not ablood-thirsty and senseless savage determined to kill Whites merely because theyare White. On the other side is a Rhodesian soldier who is begrudginglycompelled to respect the Black man for his military prowess. The falseconciousness which taught him to see Blacks as incurably bad shots andincorrigible cowards begins to recede. In other words, the battlefield becomes anarena where the White man's prejudices are severely put to the test. The Whitecharacters are often compelled to re-assess their own perception of Blacks. In thissenses the war becomes an educational process which is potentially capable ofgetting rid of the false consciousness which characterizes the White man'smentality. As for the Blacks themselves, the straggle offers them an opportunity towin back their sense of manhood and self-respect. Often the violence of thestruggle is regarded as a necessary redemptive phenomenon which restores thehumanity of Black people.Both Mutasa and Chipamaunga write novels which seek to redeem Blacks aspeople capable of shaping their own history and identity. Both writers areresponding to the White myths which often portrayed Blacks as children whoneed a senior White brother to protect them from the consequences of their owndeficiencies. Consequently, Mutasa, like Chipamaunga, does not hesitate toaward all the significant military victories to the freedom fighters. The onlynotable difference in their treatment of war experiences is that Mutasa does notromanticize Black fighters to the same degree evinced in A Fighter for Freedom.Marx, Mao, Hondoinopisa and Gadzirai are recognizable figures who havepainfully acquired their fighting skills through experience and dedication. Also,Mutasa is aware of the fact that the mechanical role of guns needs to becomplemented by an intensive programme of politicization Š hence the involve-ment of the local population in the struggle.A limitation, however, which undermines The Contact as a novel is the factthat the fighters themselves do not display a serious and profound ideologicalcommitment. Their political programme aimed at conscientizing the masses doesnot go beyond the articulation of the injustice perpetrated by the Whiteauthorities. It is true that the fighters win the moral argument, but there is noattempt to offer a convincing socialist vision appropriate for an independentZimbabwe. It is not accidental that Marx is named after Karl Marx because hesported a beard similar to that of the famous thinker and revolutionary. TheZimbabwean Marx can neither read nor write and, therefore, he has not benefiteddirectly from reading Karl Marx's works. Similarly, the Zimbabwean Mao,although exposed to Mao Zedong's works, prefers to read James Bond novels. Atthe end of the novel, Gadzirai, who acts as the leader of the fighters, has no qualmsat all when he becomes a personnel officer for a large multinational company thatis exploiting the resources of the country. In brief, the ideological issue is givensuperficial treatment in Mutasa's novel.28 Ibid., 31-2.R. ZHUWARARA145Spencer Tizora's Crossroads (1985) is another novel which explores theexperiences connected with the Zimbabwean struggle for independence.29 But,unlike A Fighter for Freedom and The Contact which place heavy emphasis onthe actual physical combat which takes place between the Rhodesian army andthe freedom fighters, Crossroads is mainly concerned about the impact of thelarger historical conflict on the lives of ordinary individuals. The fate of theseindividuals is explored against the background of mounting guerrilla pressure onWhite Rhodesia during the latter part of the 1970s. Caught up in the crisis areseveral individuals who have planned their lives without taking into account thefact that the straggle for freedom will affect them in a fundamental way.For instance, here is how Priscilla, who is married to David Moyo and whofinds herself compelled to supply drugs to guerrillas, perceives her role:'True, she had started off as a kind of non-believer, an agnostic who had not quite beensaved from the sin of non-commitment. Not exactly a fence-seater [sic], for there was nofence to sit on. No one had the time to erect it.30The tide of events is so strong that Priscilla does not have the opportunity tochoose sides. Similarly, David, after much soul-searching, is compelled to forgohis role as a teacher and join the struggle, thus sacrificing his marriage in theprocess. ŁWhat ensues is a tale of woe as Priscilla gets imprisoned, humiliated andtortured by the Rhodesian security personnel. After imprisonment, Priscillacannot bear loneliness; she falls in love with a student teacher, Nwabu Zhou, whoimpregnates her but is not keen to marry her. She gives birth to a son, but as theharrowing pressures of existence increase she loses her grip on reality andbecomes insane. She has to be separated from her son. After hospital treatmentshe lives as a tramp, desperate to find her son who has been adopted by a Whitewoman named Betty. Yet the irony is that at the end of the war David is keen tore-establish contact with Priscilla. The central question raised in the novel is, Canthe national policy of reconciliation be extended further to affect the manner inwhich individuals come to terms with very private and painful experiences?Priscilla is a casualty of history who needs an enormous amount of sympathy andunderstanding. Can David overlook all that has happened in his absence andrelate to a deformed Priscilla and her illegitimate son? His dilemma is moreproblematical than that of Gikonyo in A Grain of Wheat.Similarly, the theme of reconciliation between Blacks and Whites istentatively explored in the novel. Betty is a White woman who has experiencedloneliness and lived insecurely during the war. She is glad the war is over and isanxious to reach out to Blacks:sMy husband taught me about the world. That's why I go out the way I do these days. Hetaught me about the outside world, about other people's needs and I brought up quite afew African boys and girls.29 S. M. Tizora, Crossroads (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1985).30 Ibid., 93.146 ZIMBABWEAN FICTION IN ENGLISH'They grew up in my home ... as if they were my own children; and, mind you, theywere my servants, but I treated them like my children.'31The difficulties that have to be surmounted before Blacks and Whitesunderstand each other are great To the African audience Betty is a superficialcharacter, clutching on to liberal credentials. Her mode of perception as well asher speech idiom reveal a patronizing attitude characteristic of liberals. Yet, as thestory in the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that the woman has actually looked
after Priscilla's son notwithstanding the opposition from her husband.The novel also explores the national problems which confront the newAfrican government immediately after the attainment of Independence. AsZIMCORD money starts pouring into the country, Nwabu Zhou, who is now part
of the government security machinery, wonders how the profit motives of foreign
companies can be reconciled with the original aspirations of the Black majority.On a personal level, he also wonders whether the role he is now playing, as hedrives his smart-looxing Bluebird car, can be reconciled to his original visions ofserving, with dedication, his own people in Mwauya Reserve.As a whole, Crossroads is a sensitively written novel which poses seriousquestions throughout, and it does not pretend to offer answers at all. Its limitation,
perhaps, is that it tries to do too many things at once, and none of the fundamental
issues raised in it are followed up in the end. Also the life-history of Priscilla and
Nwabu Zhou sometimes degenerates into sheer melodrama which distracts the
reader's attention away from the serious issues being raised. It is a novel whose
vision is delicately poised between hope fcr a better future and fear of betrayal.In conclusion, therefore, it is clear that the novels published since theattainment of Independence can be divided into two distinct groups on the basisof theme The first group involves works by Chinqdya, Ndhlala and Chimsoro.These works are basically looking back to the colonial era and amplifying some ofthe issues which were more ably dealt with by writers such as Mungoshi,
Marechera and Nyarnfukudza. What is significant is that new voices have
emerged to broaden the scope of the literary tradition that is in the making. The
new voices may not be as accomplished as the established writers, but they either
modify 01 confirm what the more accomplished writers have said and this is
impoi tanl. As for the second group, it is mainly a group of novels dealing with the
liberation war. As was said earlier, bo'U Chipamaunga and Mutasa are writingworks which are deeply influenced by their response to the White man'sperception of Blacks. African cultural nationalism becomes a potent forceoffering spiritual strength to Africans locked in a deadly combat against theRhodesian forces. The version they offer of that struggle is a highly partisan oneaud this ieview has tried to explain why this is so. As for Tizora's Crossroads, it isa novel that is Janus-taced: looking back to what happened to individuals as theirlives got mangled by the horrors of war as well as looking forward to another
form of struggle about thi; cultural and economic problems which face the newnation.University of Zimbabwe R. ZHUWARARA31 Ibid., 6.