A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master
of Arts. Johannesburg, 1993. / This dissertation examines the work of Bessie Head with
a view to sophisticating prevailing understandings of her
texts which tend to concentrate on Head's place in a
tradition of African women writers. Current critical
works emphasise selected aspects, of Head's biography and
assume her presentation of the 'tradition' and 'orality'
of Serowe to be accurate. We argue in this dissertation
that Head has constructed and manipulated concepts of
'tradition' and 'orality' in her texts to suit both her
intellectual concerns and her fictional intentions.
Broadly these are to present her works as the recorded
history of an 'oral African' society. Head's six novels
as well as aspects of her letters and interviews are
examined in order to demonstrate this assertion. / AC2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22105 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Castrillon, Gloria Ledger |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (208 leaves), application/pdf |
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