Maru on the other hand, bears only scant comparison to Question. This novel is not for the faint of heart. I frequently found myself stopping, reflecting, re-reading paragraphs, and shaking my head at the inhumanity among members of the human race. Over the years I have read a few novels depicting mental illness, but Bessie Head’s work tops them all. This horrific tale of her breakdowns, nightmares, hallucinations, hospitalization was difficult to read, yet I found myself unable to put it aside. Question is the first of her works I found. A Question of Power appeared in October 1973 to immediate praise and acclaim. It is an autobiographical novel, using incidents from her early life as well as her recent nightmares.

Once on the road to recovery, she started her most difficult book, A Question of Power. Unfortunately, she suffered another breakdown in late 1971 and was again hospitalized. She had become Africa’s first great woman writer. Maru won numerous awards in Africa and Europe. With encouragement from new friends, and in a wave of creativity, she began a new novel, Maru, which was published to rave reviews in 1971. A novel, Rain Clouds was published in New York and London, and it received excellent reviews. First, the villagers who had resented her now accepted her as crazy and left her alone. Surprisingly, this setback had two helpful outcomes. In early 1969, she suffered a mental breakdown and was briefly hospitalized. In late 1965 she began writing seriously with financial help from some writer friends. In 1964, she left South Africa for a teaching job in Bechuanaland Protectorate, in a village called Serowe. After stints at few newspapers and magazines, she began her own newspaper, The Citizen, which promoted Pan-African views. In June of 1958, she resigned to become a journalist in Durban.

She immediately began teaching at the Clairwood Coloured School in Durban. In January 1956, at age 18, Bessie received a teaching certificate. As a result of her mixed-race status, she suffered greatly from discrimination by Africans.

Her mother was a Scottish woman and her father was an unknown Black South African. I did a search and found numerous websites devoted to this important African writer.īessie Head was born on July 6, 1937, in Natal. I had never heard of Bessie, but something in Walker’s description piqued my curiosity. Most of the time, books and authors mentioned in novels are as fictional as the rest of the story. In this novel, she mentions an African writer Bessie Head. I recently reviewed the great Alice Walker novel, Temple of my Familiar.

Maru by Bessie Head