Zimbabwe: The Metaphor of Madness and the Zimbabwean Writer

20 January 2014

There is something about madness that is so attractive to the psyche and inspires artistes, following modernist traits, to use it to capture the social neurosis, paralysis and malaise prevalent in modern society. Madness, in its innocence, allows the individual to poke at humanity's follies and vices through sarcasm, humour and ridicule and get away with it. It is this lack of inhibitions that excites the satirist and challenges him to look at himself from another angle.

Modernism as postulated by Ellman and Fiedson (1965) is: "A distinctive mode of imagination which derives from the enlightenment ... Strongly implies some sort of historical discontinuity, either liberation from inherited patterns or, at another extreme deprivation and disinheritance."

...

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.