MARECHERA DAMBUDZO

HOUSE OF HUNGER

Dambudzo Marechera

Winner of the Guardian fiction prize, this novella and nine short stories describe life in a Zimbabwean township. They are about the brutalization of the individual's mental processes, until madness, violence and despair become the normal state of affairs for families in black urban areas.

Short Stories

House of Hunger

A deep look into the human condition at a certain time and place, with no specific time and place defined at all. Equal parts riveting, visceral, and scattered. I read this as a companion to the album ‘Church’ by billy woods. The connection is sparse but also right on point. 

Steve Williams

Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize, 1979 and first published in 1978, The House of Hunger is a selection of interconnected short stories that tell of Zimbabwe in chaos. In a style somewhat reminiscent of Joyce's Dubliners, the stories deal with psychological and social alienation. Dambudzo Marechera's work is not material typically associated with African literature. His stories are psychologically, rather than politically, motivated as his depictions of living in exile and outsiderhood show.

HOUSE OF HUNGER

Reviews