WRITING VIOLENCE INTO PERSPECTIVE: A 21ST CENTURY ZIMBABWEAN SHORT STORY GENRE APPROACH

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to explain why and how violence has been an instrument and method of choice in the political, social and economic spheres of the Zimbabwean society. The motivation is that the 21 st century in Zimbabwe has been characterized by far-reaching forms of violence that have formed the backdrop of many literary narratives, particularly the short story whose genre characteristics have enabled the timely capturing of unfolding events from a fictional-historical viewpoint. In analyzing the manifestations and levels of violence, particular focus was placed on the short story writings from the year 2000. The selected short stories were: “Sewage Pipe” by John Appel; “The Sellout” by Huggins; “Torn Posters” by Gugu Ndlovu; and “The Chances and Challenges of Chiadzwa” by Edward Chinhanhu. Postcolonial theory and genre criticism are some of the theoretical approaches that were adopted in the analysis of the selected short stories. The arising conclusions were that the analysed short stories revealed that acts of violence, represented through the various characters, interrupt and even terminate social and political relations thereby increasing antipathy and acrimony in a Nation State such as Zimbabwe. It is, therefore, befitting that in the final analysis the discussion revealed and recommended that violence is avoidable for the ultimate mutual existence and socio-political development of 21 st Century Zimbabwe. Article visualizations: