Bessie Head in 3D: Race, Class, Gender

Abstract

Revisiting Bessie Head, an emblematic figure of South African literature, is a necessary step towards the recognition of African women’s writings in the world literary map. Putting under focus central issues of postcolonial literature, such as the question of identity, otherness, power and gender, this author proved to be much ahead of her time and is considered by critics as a writer of the 20 th C “ marching in the 21 st C”. In her auto fiction, A Question of Power , she defines herself as an “ out and out outsider ”, thus expressing a feeling and a state of exclusion, alienation, negation and otherness in a South Africa under the Apartheid regime but also in a Botswana where she sought refuge. This article aims at re-introducing an author who succeeded in transcending the dimensions of race, class and gender - through which she will be portrayed- to finally proclaim her Universality. Keywords: South Africa, women writing, race, class, gender DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/67-03 Publication date: April 30 th 2020