Abstract
ABSTRACTNoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel We Need New Names depicts social conflict, government abuse, linguistic imposition, displacement and migration through the sceptical voice of ten-year-old Darling, first in a Zimbabwean slum and then in the USA. Darling’s precarious economic situation is portrayed in a humorous tone, rendering what this article calls an “Afropolitan picaresque” that uncovers relations of inequality. Other defining features of the picaresque represented in the novel are the scatological metaphor, the episodic structure, the anti-essentialist stance, the comic voice, the realistic style, marginality and the autobiographical form. The first part of the article identifies the main features of the picaresque and examines the influence of the genre in African postcolonial fiction. The second half offers a close reading of Bulawayo’s debut novel, considering how the picaresque mode helps the writer to interrogate notions of privilege, agency and access to resources.
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