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366338

Anecdote of the Enfant Terrible: The Stigma of Madness in the Works of Dambudzo Marechera

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Madness has always been a recurring theme in many literary works. Consequently, there was a growing critical interest in studying the representations of madness in literature. Later, the theme of madness gained a new level of interpretation since it has become a pretext for violations committed by authorities. It was used as a tool to restrict many non-conformist writers by censoring or banning their literary productions, in addition to different forms of torture to silence their voices. This paper addresses the question of madness in the legacy of the enfant terrible, the Zimbabwean poet, novelist, and sociopolitical critic Dambudzo Marechera (1952- 1987), in the light of Michel Foucault's interpretation of madness and power. Since some of Marechera's writings present the correlation between madness and power, the Foucauldian paradigm presents a valid theoretical explanation for his works. Marechera faced sociopolitical turbulence in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe at his time; he also experienced many problems during his scholarship in England which all eventually contributed to his suffering from psychological and mental crisis. Insights from Foucault can explain how the literary trajectory of Marechera was affected by the authority's definition of madness and its practice of power. Marechera has been stigmatized as mad, yet he tried to challenge such stigma as reflected in The House of Hunger (1978), Mindblast (1984), and Cemetery of Mind (1992).

DOI

10.21608/misj.2024.259843.1052

Keywords

Dambudzo Marechera, Michel Foucault, power, madness, Stigma, madness in Africa, The House of Hunger, Mindblast, Cemetery of Mind

Authors

First Name

Omnia

Last Name

Elkholy

MiddleName

Ṇaguib Mohamed Mounir

Affiliation

Faculty of Women for Arts, Science, and Education-Ain Shams University- Egypt

Email

omnia.nageeb@women.asu.edu.eg

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Jehan

Last Name

Fouad

MiddleName

Farouk

Affiliation

Faculty of Women for Arts, Science, and Education-Ain Shams University- Egypt

Email

j_farouk@yahoo.com

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Hanafy

MiddleName

Sayed

Affiliation

Faculty of Women for Arts, Science, and Education-Ain Shams University- Egypt

Email

marwasayed@women.asu.edu.eg

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

Volume

4

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

49062

Issue Date

2024-03-01

Receive Date

2024-01-01

Publish Date

2024-03-01

Page Start

94

Page End

119

Print ISSN

2682-4116

Online ISSN

2682-4124

Link

https://misj.journals.ekb.eg/article_366338.html

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https://misj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=366338

Order

5

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,102

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Miṣriqiyā

Publication Link

https://misj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Anecdote of the Enfant Terrible: The Stigma of Madness in the Works of Dambudzo Marechera

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Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024