Memory Chirere
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Emmanuel Sigauke Interviews Memory Chirere
Can you talk about how you became part of the presentation team at
the 2009 Dambudzo Marechera Celebration at Oxford University? The
process, whether it was by invitation or application.
They put up a standard call for papers on the internet and I responded and
got invited.
What does the concept of a celebration of a writer's life and works
mean to you? Is it something that you think should happen often?
Celebrating a writer, in its positive sense, and in the case of a phenomenal
writer like Marechera, is about meeting to exchange a wide variety of views on
his works.
Marechera Celebrations have occured in Harare over the years. How
do some of these compare to the Oxford one?
Each of these events has been unique depending on focus, place, character
of attendance, time and funding. The last two Harare celebrations tended to
have a very local Zimbabwean flair and also were more of commemorations.
We had very exciting testimonies from Marechera’s Zimbabwean buddies like
Musaemura Zimunya and Olley Maruma. We had recitations from the likes of
Albert Nyathi and Chirikure Chirikure. We had academic discussions ably
anchored, I remember, by David Mungoshi. Yes, the Harare events have been
packed and very close to the skin but of course you could tell that funding
was weak. The earlier Marechera event even occurred out in Bindura. It was
organized by Oscar Gwiriri and The Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe.
There was a lot of poetry reading and a key note address by Ruzvidzo
Mupfudza. Then the recent Oxford one began with a very academic-academic
approach. But on the second day it opened up to include writers, readers,
admirers of Marechera and former friends of Marechera. There was an
enriching exchange of insights. It became more engaging. However, you
cannot run away from the fact that the Oxford event was better funded and
therefore brought in readers, writers and scholars from Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Turkey, England, West Indies, Australia and so on.
Reports about the Oxford Symposium show that the presenters
brought a diverse body of scholarship and personal reflections on
Dambudzo Marechera. What influence do you think Marechera has
had on writing and scholarship worldwide?
Immense. That is only what one can say at the moment.
Let's go back to the question of celebrating Marechera. In what ways
was the conference a celebration? It could just have been a
symposium where papers on his works and life were being
presented. But celebration? What was Oxford celebrating?
It depends where you are from. I think we were opening up to one another
various ways of reading Marechera. We saw the dramatization of plays by
Marechera. We listened to very academic papers on aspects of Marechera
literature. We listened to Robert Fraser, James Currey, Norman Vance, Alastir
Niven on what it was like to have met , interacted and dealt with Marechera
the young Oxford student and subsequently Marechera, the prize winning
writer. We listened to Flora Veit Wild talk about what it meant to have known
Marechera in real life and finally the challenges she went through to put
together the inimitable work on Marechera life and literature. Comrade Fatso
from Zimbabwe gave a performance. A Zimbabwe born curator gave a one
hour video presentation, lambasting Marechera for having said there was
nothing called Shona sculpture. There was a relaunch of an even bigger
version of The House of Hunger. The new one has more short stories. Brian
chikwava launched his debut novel Harare North. So it was a celebration,
something you do not find in a thin conference.
The Standard's report stated that your presentation was on the
influence of Marechera on UZ undergraduates. What influence has
Marechera had on these literature students? Do they appreciate him
more than previous generations? What books of Marechera, for
instance, do they read these days at the UZ?
At UZ’s English department we read various Marechera texts at different
levels. I talked specifically about how the first contact with Marechera
literature, especially the novella House of Hunger is a moment of
transformation for our undergraduate students. For the whole Marechera
series, students rarely miss classes or come late and you are assured of a full
house. Reading ‘House of Hunger’ is a rite of passage of sorts. However, at
least a third of the students immediately begin to be overly outspoken. They
begin to grow their own dreadlocks. They begin to smoke and drink. They
begin to scribble their own poetry and prose and you are waylaid by young
men and women who plead with you to look at what they are writing.
Unfortunately, these students begin; afterwards to deliberately miss their
lectures and fail to hand in their assignments or fail to meet the deadlines, in
line with what they consider as the Marechera tradition. Some of them
eventually drop out of college and you never see them or hear about them
again. The more gifted of them who manage to stay on tend to be brusque
and antisocial. Sometimes they become dreamy and reserved and sit in your
class without taking down any notes. They are top of their class even when
they go on to specialize in subjects other than literature. But beyond this level,
I talked about a longstanding tendency amongst some very serious young
writers of Zimbabwe who employ Marechera style and vision as a temporary
launch pad into their own writing careers. Later, they tend to develop their
own version of Marechera and move beyond. I picked various examples of
writers from my own generation that got to meet or read Marechera in the
1980’s and 90’s and became influenced by him.
Is emphasis on the prominence of Marechera, over, say, Mungoshi,
Hove, and so on, justifiable? Is he much more representational of
Zimbabwean literature than Dangarembga, or Yvonne Vera, etc? Do
you see the world celebrating Vera on the same scale?
I honestly do not know where that view comes from. I do not think that
Marechera is more important than any other Zimbabwean writer! Each writer
we have had is unique. No, I do not think there has been over emphasis on
Marechera. I even think that Aaron Chiunduramoyo is more widely read in
Zimbabwe than Marechera.
Is the suspicion that some people who claim to know Marechera's
works have not read even a single work of his fair? This question is
necessary because such people are accused of making judgment's
on Marechera just based on what they know of his personal life. A
contrary view states that it does not matter what Marechera followers
know about him, whether it's his work they know, or biographical
details they have gleaned, they have the same entitlement of saying
what they want about Marechera as anyone else. Did this state of
affairs seem evident at the Oxford celebration?
Please, let us take a broad approach to the word ‘reading’. On the bus to
rural Mt Darwin, Guruve or Murehwa, I often find these readers, who are
usually dreadlocked, smiling at the Marechera wit in Mindblast. They want to
keep Mindblast and refer to it lavishly and out of context too. You realize that
their only joy is in knowing that they are reading ‘something by Marechera’.
These people redefine reading. For them to read is not necessarily to
comprehend, to get to the essence of the text. Some depend only on what
they get from the Marechera folk lore and choose to stick to that. Some only
go for the fearlessness that the man stood for. That is what they want to do
with him. What can you do to them?
What do you think is the influence of Marechera in contemporary
Zimbabwean writing? Ignatius Mabasa, for instance, has been called
the Marechera of Shona writing, while some emerging poets have
also been connected to some Marechera quality of other. What's the
value in establishing such a measurement?
The value is in noticing that people have read both Marechera and Ignatius
Mabasa and have found what they think are similarities in thrusts. When
people read a new writer like Ignatius Mabasa or Brian Chikwava, it is natural
for them to try to find where to fit them in the Zimbabwean literary tradition.
When people say your poetry reads like Musaemura Zimunya’s or Chenjerai
Hove’s, you must not cry! If you write what you like, allow people to say what
they like about what you write. Continue with your work.
You have published two collections of short stories, and you have
also published poetry. What are you working on currently? In the past
you have argued that Southern Africa's area of expertise is the short
story. Do you still believe so, and can you clarify this position?
Currently, I am reading what others have just published. I want to go like that
for a stretch. I am reading Petina Gappah’s An Elegy for Easterly. I think she
is wonderful. Her descriptions of childhood reminds me of Shimmer Chinodya.
Her very honest oral touch reminds me of Chenjerai Hove, especially
Ancestors and her story about a mad law student has Vera’s intensity. My
comment should not make Petina cry! I have just read Long Time Coming and
I think that you have in there the immensely fresh and talented writers like
Judy Maphosa, Sindisile Tshuma Linda Msebele and Thabisani Ndlovu who
leave you wondering, even crying: where have these gems been hibernating
all along? Very soon I will be reading Harare North by Brian Chikwava. I have
also just read Wonder Guchu’s new short story book, ‘My Children, My Home’.
I do not know why he does not do many copies of it. It is very simply written
that you realise it was not easy to write. The kind of feeling you have when
you look into a tank of very clear waters that you see to the bottom. I still
believe that Zimbabwe is a short country.
Can you talk about how you became part of the presentation team at
the 2009 Dambudzo Marechera Celebration at Oxford University? The
process, whether it was by invitation or application.
They put up a standard call for papers on the internet and I responded and
got invited.
What does the concept of a celebration of a writer's life and works
mean to you? Is it something that you think should happen often?
Celebrating a writer, in its positive sense, and in the case of a phenomenal
writer like Marechera, is about meeting to exchange a wide variety of views on
his works.
Marechera Celebrations have occured in Harare over the years. How
do some of these compare to the Oxford one?
Each of these events has been unique depending on focus, place, character
of attendance, time and funding. The last two Harare celebrations tended to
have a very local Zimbabwean flair and also were more of commemorations.
We had very exciting testimonies from Marechera’s Zimbabwean buddies like
Musaemura Zimunya and Olley Maruma. We had recitations from the likes of
Albert Nyathi and Chirikure Chirikure. We had academic discussions ably
anchored, I remember, by David Mungoshi. Yes, the Harare events have been
packed and very close to the skin but of course you could tell that funding
was weak. The earlier Marechera event even occurred out in Bindura. It was
organized by Oscar Gwiriri and The Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe.
There was a lot of poetry reading and a key note address by Ruzvidzo
Mupfudza. Then the recent Oxford one began with a very academic-academic
approach. But on the second day it opened up to include writers, readers,
admirers of Marechera and former friends of Marechera. There was an
enriching exchange of insights. It became more engaging. However, you
cannot run away from the fact that the Oxford event was better funded and
therefore brought in readers, writers and scholars from Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Turkey, England, West Indies, Australia and so on.
Reports about the Oxford Symposium show that the presenters
brought a diverse body of scholarship and personal reflections on
Dambudzo Marechera. What influence do you think Marechera has
had on writing and scholarship worldwide?
Immense. That is only what one can say at the moment.
Let's go back to the question of celebrating Marechera. In what ways
was the conference a celebration? It could just have been a
symposium where papers on his works and life were being
presented. But celebration? What was Oxford celebrating?
It depends where you are from. I think we were opening up to one another
various ways of reading Marechera. We saw the dramatization of plays by
Marechera. We listened to very academic papers on aspects of Marechera
literature. We listened to Robert Fraser, James Currey, Norman Vance, Alastir
Niven on what it was like to have met , interacted and dealt with Marechera
the young Oxford student and subsequently Marechera, the prize winning
writer. We listened to Flora Veit Wild talk about what it meant to have known
Marechera in real life and finally the challenges she went through to put
together the inimitable work on Marechera life and literature. Comrade Fatso
from Zimbabwe gave a performance. A Zimbabwe born curator gave a one
hour video presentation, lambasting Marechera for having said there was
nothing called Shona sculpture. There was a relaunch of an even bigger
version of The House of Hunger. The new one has more short stories. Brian
chikwava launched his debut novel Harare North. So it was a celebration,
something you do not find in a thin conference.
The Standard's report stated that your presentation was on the
influence of Marechera on UZ undergraduates. What influence has
Marechera had on these literature students? Do they appreciate him
more than previous generations? What books of Marechera, for
instance, do they read these days at the UZ?
At UZ’s English department we read various Marechera texts at different
levels. I talked specifically about how the first contact with Marechera
literature, especially the novella House of Hunger is a moment of
transformation for our undergraduate students. For the whole Marechera
series, students rarely miss classes or come late and you are assured of a full
house. Reading ‘House of Hunger’ is a rite of passage of sorts. However, at
least a third of the students immediately begin to be overly outspoken. They
begin to grow their own dreadlocks. They begin to smoke and drink. They
begin to scribble their own poetry and prose and you are waylaid by young
men and women who plead with you to look at what they are writing.
Unfortunately, these students begin; afterwards to deliberately miss their
lectures and fail to hand in their assignments or fail to meet the deadlines, in
line with what they consider as the Marechera tradition. Some of them
eventually drop out of college and you never see them or hear about them
again. The more gifted of them who manage to stay on tend to be brusque
and antisocial. Sometimes they become dreamy and reserved and sit in your
class without taking down any notes. They are top of their class even when
they go on to specialize in subjects other than literature. But beyond this level,
I talked about a longstanding tendency amongst some very serious young
writers of Zimbabwe who employ Marechera style and vision as a temporary
launch pad into their own writing careers. Later, they tend to develop their
own version of Marechera and move beyond. I picked various examples of
writers from my own generation that got to meet or read Marechera in the
1980’s and 90’s and became influenced by him.
Is emphasis on the prominence of Marechera, over, say, Mungoshi,
Hove, and so on, justifiable? Is he much more representational of
Zimbabwean literature than Dangarembga, or Yvonne Vera, etc? Do
you see the world celebrating Vera on the same scale?
I honestly do not know where that view comes from. I do not think that
Marechera is more important than any other Zimbabwean writer! Each writer
we have had is unique. No, I do not think there has been over emphasis on
Marechera. I even think that Aaron Chiunduramoyo is more widely read in
Zimbabwe than Marechera.
Is the suspicion that some people who claim to know Marechera's
works have not read even a single work of his fair? This question is
necessary because such people are accused of making judgment's
on Marechera just based on what they know of his personal life. A
contrary view states that it does not matter what Marechera followers
know about him, whether it's his work they know, or biographical
details they have gleaned, they have the same entitlement of saying
what they want about Marechera as anyone else. Did this state of
affairs seem evident at the Oxford celebration?
Please, let us take a broad approach to the word ‘reading’. On the bus to
rural Mt Darwin, Guruve or Murehwa, I often find these readers, who are
usually dreadlocked, smiling at the Marechera wit in Mindblast. They want to
keep Mindblast and refer to it lavishly and out of context too. You realize that
their only joy is in knowing that they are reading ‘something by Marechera’.
These people redefine reading. For them to read is not necessarily to
comprehend, to get to the essence of the text. Some depend only on what
they get from the Marechera folk lore and choose to stick to that. Some only
go for the fearlessness that the man stood for. That is what they want to do
with him. What can you do to them?
What do you think is the influence of Marechera in contemporary
Zimbabwean writing? Ignatius Mabasa, for instance, has been called
the Marechera of Shona writing, while some emerging poets have
also been connected to some Marechera quality of other. What's the
value in establishing such a measurement?
The value is in noticing that people have read both Marechera and Ignatius
Mabasa and have found what they think are similarities in thrusts. When
people read a new writer like Ignatius Mabasa or Brian Chikwava, it is natural
for them to try to find where to fit them in the Zimbabwean literary tradition.
When people say your poetry reads like Musaemura Zimunya’s or Chenjerai
Hove’s, you must not cry! If you write what you like, allow people to say what
they like about what you write. Continue with your work.
You have published two collections of short stories, and you have
also published poetry. What are you working on currently? In the past
you have argued that Southern Africa's area of expertise is the short
story. Do you still believe so, and can you clarify this position?
Currently, I am reading what others have just published. I want to go like that
for a stretch. I am reading Petina Gappah’s An Elegy for Easterly. I think she
is wonderful. Her descriptions of childhood reminds me of Shimmer Chinodya.
Her very honest oral touch reminds me of Chenjerai Hove, especially
Ancestors and her story about a mad law student has Vera’s intensity. My
comment should not make Petina cry! I have just read Long Time Coming and
I think that you have in there the immensely fresh and talented writers like
Judy Maphosa, Sindisile Tshuma Linda Msebele and Thabisani Ndlovu who
leave you wondering, even crying: where have these gems been hibernating
all along? Very soon I will be reading Harare North by Brian Chikwava. I have
also just read Wonder Guchu’s new short story book, ‘My Children, My Home’.
I do not know why he does not do many copies of it. It is very simply written
that you realise it was not easy to write. The kind of feeling you have when
you look into a tank of very clear waters that you see to the bottom. I still
believe that Zimbabwe is a short country.
Memory Chirere is the author of two short story books:
Somewhere in This Country (Unisa Press) and Tudikidiki
(Priority Publishing). He teaches Creative Writing and
African Literature at the University of Zimbabwe's
Department of English. He is a firm believer in 'the short
story'.
At the Dambudzo Marechera festival at Oxford University,
Memory Chirere presented a paper on the Influence of
Dambudzo Marechera to University of Zimbabwe
literature students.
Somewhere in This Country (Unisa Press) and Tudikidiki
(Priority Publishing). He teaches Creative Writing and
African Literature at the University of Zimbabwe's
Department of English. He is a firm believer in 'the short
story'.
At the Dambudzo Marechera festival at Oxford University,
Memory Chirere presented a paper on the Influence of
Dambudzo Marechera to University of Zimbabwe
literature students.
Memory Chirere, Tinashe Mushakavanhu,
and Brian Chikwava at Oxford during the
festival