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"How all life is lived, in patches": quilting metaphors in the fiction of Yvonne Vera

"How all life is lived, in patches": quilting metaphors in the fiction of Yvonne Vera
"How all life is lived, in patches": quilting metaphors in the fiction of Yvonne Vera
Zimbabwean author Yvonne Vera's fiction is radical in its disruption of the conventional form of the novel. Her writing style rejects linear plot structures, consistent symbols and conventional resolutions to the narrative crisis. The textile, commonly associated with the realm of the domestic which has consumed the energies of women's lives in Africa and around the world, is a recurring presence. The textile is perhaps a particularly useful motif to consider in light of the female centred experiences of rape, abortion, infanticide, and incest which are the focus of Vera's narratives. This chapter explores the use of the quilt as a structure within Vera's fictions and argues that the fragments of cloth that appear throughout Vera's fiction can be understood as a distinct aspect of Veras textual style, a style that does not shy away from the fragmented realities her characters endure. Through fragments of cloth, Vera evokes an alternative voice which speaks in familiar, albeit disrupted, patterns.
Yvonne Vera, quilting
3000145141
235-250
kalliope paperbacks
Hemmings, Jessica
21e2ab3b-386a-46c2-8be2-12c78fe4cc22
Weiss, B.
Hemmings, Jessica
21e2ab3b-386a-46c2-8be2-12c78fe4cc22
Weiss, B.

Hemmings, Jessica (2004) "How all life is lived, in patches": quilting metaphors in the fiction of Yvonne Vera. In, Weiss, B. (ed.) The End of Unheard Narratives: Contemporary Perspectives on Southern African Literatures. Heidelberg, Germany. kalliope paperbacks, pp. 235-250.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Zimbabwean author Yvonne Vera's fiction is radical in its disruption of the conventional form of the novel. Her writing style rejects linear plot structures, consistent symbols and conventional resolutions to the narrative crisis. The textile, commonly associated with the realm of the domestic which has consumed the energies of women's lives in Africa and around the world, is a recurring presence. The textile is perhaps a particularly useful motif to consider in light of the female centred experiences of rape, abortion, infanticide, and incest which are the focus of Vera's narratives. This chapter explores the use of the quilt as a structure within Vera's fictions and argues that the fragments of cloth that appear throughout Vera's fiction can be understood as a distinct aspect of Veras textual style, a style that does not shy away from the fragmented realities her characters endure. Through fragments of cloth, Vera evokes an alternative voice which speaks in familiar, albeit disrupted, patterns.

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More information

Published date: 2004
Keywords: Yvonne Vera, quilting

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 41049
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/41049
ISBN: 3000145141
PURE UUID: 425157c0-ded7-4662-8f6d-b744d0ef6573

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Date deposited: 14 Jul 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:24

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Contributors

Author: Jessica Hemmings
Editor: B. Weiss

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