Bessie Head and the Trauma of Exile: Identity and Alienation in Southern African Fiction

This book investigates themes of exile and oppression in Southern Africa across Bessie Head’s novels and short fiction.

An exile herself, arriving in Botswana as a South African refugee, Bessie Head’s fiction serves as an important example of African exile literature. This book argues that Head’s characters are driven to exile as a result of their socio- political ambivalence while still in South Africa, and that this sense of discomfort follows them to their new lives. Investigating themes ...