Enmeshment of Zimbabwean law and literature in Petina Gappah’s Rotten Row (2016)
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
JULACE
Abstract
This article assesses the relationship between Zimbabwean literature and Zimbabwean law. This is done by closely reading two short stories, namely from Petina Gappah’s 2016 anthology “Rotten Row”. A discussion of the ever-burgeoning literature and law movement is conducted in order to situate the article within the broader law and humanities interdisciplinary effort. Images of legal figures and legal institutions are assessed in order to determine the portraits they produce in the fiction. The close relationship of the Zimbabwean court judgement and the judgement as storytelling method in fiction is highlighted and explained. It is concluded that Gappah’s fiction is strongly connected to the law and that this is a deliberate story telling strategy.
Description
CITATION: Dube, N. Enmeshment of Zimbabwean law and literature in Petina Gappah’s Rotten Row (2016). JULACE: Journal of University of Namibia Language Centre 5(2) 2020. doi.10.32642/julace.v6i1
The original publication is available at: https://journals.unam.edu.na/index.php/JULACE/issue/view/108
The original publication is available at: https://journals.unam.edu.na/index.php/JULACE/issue/view/108
Keywords
Petina Gappah, Law and literature, Zimbabwean literature, Zimbabwean law, African literature, Rotten Row
Citation
Dube, N. Enmeshment of Zimbabwean law and literature in Petina Gappah’s Rotten Row (2016). JULACE: Journal of University of Namibia Language Centre 5(2) 2020. doi.10.32642/julace.v6i1