Cemetery of Mind (African Writers Library) [Hardcover]

Dambudzo Marechera (Author), Flora Veit-Wild (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0865437327 | ISBN-13: 978-0865437326 | Publication Date: April 1999 | Edition: 1st Africa World Press, Inc. ed

This is a book of poems by Dambudzo Marechera, representing the whole spectrum of the young writer's growing literary maturity. The poems sparkle with Marechera's unique wit, always quickened by his uncanny ability to use language to subvert all conventional cultural and political pieties.

"Cemetery of Mind" demands serious attention and reveals, through the sharpest of the poet's voice, the real world inside us all.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"A profound even if exaggeratedly self-aware writer, an instinctive nomad and bohemian in temperament, Marechera was a writer in constant quest for his real self, quarrying towards a core that he once wryly expressed in the cry, "My whole life has been an attempt to make myself a skeleton in my own cupboard." The reward of "Scrapiron Blues" is that he has succeeded largely in laying the ghost of that skeleton, and bringing his tormented humanity to bear on the plight of others, their loves, their little tragedies, their sense of mockery and love of life." - Wole Soyinka

"Dambudzo Marechera was and is an important voice in African literature. Although he died young and his output was regrettably small, the difference in his voice, in his concerns and in his attitude added something special and enduring to the body of African literature." - Dennis Brutus --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Dambudzo Marechera, a Zimbabwean who died at the young age of 35 in 187, is also the author of the award winning novel, "House of Hunger." He left behind a large number of unpublished literary works. "The Black Insider", "Cemetery of Mind", and "Scrapiron Blues" comprise many of his poems and short stories that were published after his death. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Africa World Pr; 1st Africa World Press, Inc. ed edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865437327
• ISBN-13: 978-0865437326
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,410,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comet's Tail, August 2, 2004

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RH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cemetery of Mind (African Writers Library) (Paperback)

This posthumous poetry collection reveals the many different sides to Dambuzo Marechera, once Zimbabwe's enfant terrible novelist, who was, perhaps, also a genius. Like Louis-Ferdinand Celine or Basquiat, his fame was all too short-lived and fickle. His life was comprised of striking contradictions (as any artist's is) but in CEMETARY OF MIND he seems to be reveling in them. In certain poems he is a Third World anarchist revolutionary, whereas in others he seems perfectly at home in urban London and disdainful towards his mother country. Some poems are scatalogical, nihilistic ravings-- these are my favorites-- and yet in the interview with Flora Veit-Wild included at the end of the book he appears calm, very very well-read, and wise beyond his years. Some of his later poems are obtuse and experimental, although the majority of poems have very clear imagery and are aimed at the gut level.
Marechera knew which words are inherently charged-- words like rape, belly, murder, sun. He fired on all cylinders at all times. He was as intense a poet as they come; I think the titles of some of the poems are worth using as evidence for this: 'Which One of You Bastards is Death?" "Punkpoem," "Where the Bastard is God?" and the absolutely perfect "Bar-stool Edible Worm."
This is not a book to be read in one sitting. It's too rich for that. And HOUSE OF HUNGER is a better starting point for those unfamiliar with Marechera's work. Hopefully some day American readers will "discover" the one and only Dambudzo Marechera, and grant his poetry the attention it deserves. Until then, consider him one of the best kept secrets in late 20th century literature.