Bessie Head





Bessie Head

Author profile


born
July 06, 1937 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

died
April 17, 1986

gender
female

genre

About this author


Average rating: 3.84 · 915 ratings · 110 reviews · 31 distinct works
When Rain Clouds Gather
3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 209 ratings — published 1969 — 10 editions
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A Question of Power
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 187 ratings — published 2009 — 7 editions
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Maru
3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 186 ratings7 editions
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The Collector of Treasures ...
3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 1992 — 3 editions
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A Woman Alone: Autobiograph...
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4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 1990 — 2 editions
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Serowe, Village of the Rain...
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4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1981 — 2 editions
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To Stir the Heart: Four Afr...
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3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2007
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The Cardinals
3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 18 ratings
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Other Voices, Other Vistas:...
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3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 1992
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Tales Of Tenderness And Power
4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 14 ratings
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More books by Bessie Head…
“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

“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

“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

Topics Mentioning This Author

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