Bessie Head
Author profile
born
July 06, 1937
in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
died
April 17, 1986
gender
female
genre
About this author
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When Rain Clouds Gather
— published 1969 — 10 editions |
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A Question of Power
— published 2009 — 7 editions |
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Maru
— 7 editions |
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The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales
— published 1992 — 3 editions |
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A Woman Alone: Autobiographical Writings
by Bessie Head, Craig MacKenzie — published 1990 — 2 editions |
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Serowe, Village of the Rain Wind
by Bessie Head, Ronald Blythe — published 1981 — 2 editions |
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To Stir the Heart: Four African Stories
by Bessie Head, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o — published 2007 |
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The Cardinals
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Other Voices, Other Vistas: Short Stories from Africa, China, India, Japan and Latin America
by Bessie Head, Charles Mungoshi, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala — published 1992 |
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Tales Of Tenderness And Power
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“The contradictions were apparent to Makhaya, and perhaps there was no greater crime as yet than all the lies Western civilization had told in the name of Jesus Christ. It seemed to Makhaya far preferable for Africa if it did without Christianity and Christian double-talk, fat priests, golden images, and looked around at all the thin naked old men who sat under trees weaving baskets with shaking hands. People could do without religions and Gods who died for the sins of the world and thereby left men without any feeling of self-responsibility for the crimes they committed. This seemed to Makhaya the greatest irony of Christianity. It meant that a white man could forever go on slaughtering black men simply because Jesus Christ would save him from his sins. Africa could do without a religion like that. 135”
― Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
― Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
“I once sat down on a bench at Cape Town railway station where the notice "Whites Only" was obscured. A few moments later a white man approached and shouted: 'Get off!' It never occurred to him that he was achieving the opposite of his dreams of superiority and had become a living object of contempt, that human beings, when they are human, dare not conduct themselves in such ways.”
― Bessie Head, A Woman Alone: Autobiographical Writings
― Bessie Head, A Woman Alone: Autobiographical Writings
“That is, adoration was patient and waiting while love or, if you liked, plain sexual passion banged everything about. It either shouted or thought it knew too much, and it had always left him cold and had not involved his heart. Therefore, if he wanted to get involved now it would be on his own terms and at his own pace.”
― Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
― Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great African Reads: Visiting Djibouti in July & Aug! | 59 | 56 | Jul 16, 2010 07:07pm | |
| Reading with Style: RwS Completed Tasks | 927 | 213 | Dec 01, 2010 06:41am | |
| Bookish: For 2011, I Hope to Read | 592 | 147 | Dec 11, 2011 01:56pm | |
| Around the World ...: Botswana | 3 | 35 | Feb 09, 2012 04:17am |























