The cultural trends underlying Zimbabwe's transition from colonialism to independence and from relative prosperity to the present crisis, are broadly represented in this new work of the Zimbabwean novel and contemporary politics. It examines the complete opus of the recently-deceased Yvonne Vera and texts by five other acclaimed writers, against a backdrop of contemporary politics and literary history. The focus is on problems of literary space, which links the book to the topical Zimbabwean issue of land. Meticulous research by the author is a result of nine years of living in Zimbabwe and regular visits in recent years. Ranka Primorac deploys a sophisticated form of theory, drawn from East European influences which parallel the emergence from Marxist analysis now also taking place in Africa. She has published extensively on Zimbabwean literature, and brings to her work a deep contextual richness as well as theoretical sophistication.

Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Zimbabwean Writing and 'the Crisis' -- 1. The Novel in a House of Stone -- 2. Modes of Reading Zimbabwean Fiction -- 3.Writing against Rhodesian Space-Time -- 4. The Dead are Loved in a Different Way:Chenjerai Hove -- 5. Stories of the Unsaid: Tsitsi Dangarembga and Nozipo Maraire -- 6. The Ambivalent Spaces of the War: Shimmer Chinodya and Alexander Kanengoni -- 7.Crossing into the Space-Time of Memory: Yvonne Vera -- 8. Beyond Tears -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Index of Names.