Zimbabwe is a short story country

Head Judge, Ruby Magosvongwe

On September 5th I posted an article about the Cover to Cover short story competition. I made the mistake of not uploading the speech by head Judge Ruby Magosvongwe (Above). Needless to say, that made quite a few people upset. I’ve been reminded of this sin of omission enough times and so now I repent and correct the error of my ways:

Speech by Head Judge Ruby Msagosvongwe at the Cover to Cover Short Story Competition Awards Ceremony, 5 September 2008

Let me on behalf of the panel of adjudicators make a few remarks on the 2008 edition of the Cover To Cover short story writing competition.

Let me begin with the conclusion because by the time I come to the end of my beat, you will all have gone to sleep! The conclusion is: All the contestants, their teachers and their schools need to be recommended for generally a very high standard of entries.

We were dealing with short stories and for us in the contest of Zimbabwean literature that is very important for the following reasons: Nearly every, I emphasise EVERY Zimbabwean who has become prominent today started with short stories or has a short story collection somewhere along the way. Here we go: Dambudzo Marechera’s House of Hunger, Charles Mungoshi’s Coming of the Dry Season, David Mungoshi’s Broken Dream and Other stories, Yvonne Vera’s Why Don’t You Carve Other Animals, Stanley Nyamfukudza’s Aftermaths, Chenjerai Hove’s Matende Mashava…

Indeed we are a short story country!

Even the so called novels from Zimbabwe tend to be merely long-short stories sometimes called novellas. There are various reasons for this and please get in touch with me if you are anxious to know more.

Head Judge, Ruby Magosvongwe

^ Ruby Magosvongwe

Category Grade 6-7 responded well to their questions. “Stuck in the mud” and “Caught in The Storm” allowed the writers to dwell on their real summer mud storms or to go metaphoric and refer to the disabling circumstances that we often get caught up in. Essays on My Hero/Heroine got relatively weaker responses. The writers tended to think that only heroes are politicians and public figures. Sometimes text got lifted from the public sphere and history books.

Category Form One-Two did fairly well to above average. The topic ‘A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous’ tended to attract hilarious and comical stories. The title about the father crossing the fishing line attracted stories with the sense of tragedy. The title about the season that promised a bumper harvest got the least number of responses. Maybe it is because young writers tend to prefer the dramatic and the grotesque.

The Ordinary Level category produced maybe ‘the best quality per unit area,’ to quote one of the adjudicators. The title ‘an embarrassing meeting’ could easily pass as the title of 2008 contest brought together. In these stories, PEOPLE met PEOPLE in the wrong bedrooms! Some supposedly devout Christians bumped into their beloved pastors at the n’anga’s place, consulting like all heathens. The second title about an outgoing that ended in tragically attracted similar stories. The quality of imagination at Ordinary Level showed a certain level of relaxation and probity on the part of the writers.

Memory Chirere

^ Another member of the panel of judges Memory Chirere, listening attentively to the speech

The Advanced Level category showed maturity, but, unfortunately, a certain level of restraint. These children, I dare say, tend to mellow a little at the dawn of adulthood. ‘We didn’t think she would do it’ attracted very good stories but they tended to be always about women who achieve against all odds. The title on domestic violence made us all want to cry. These children have seen a lot. The beatings, not only of women by men, but also of husbands by wives are so resounding in these stories that you count the blows as you read. And the victims of domestic violence in almost all cases tend to suffer quietly. The title on looking before you jump attracted stories about regret. In these stories, girls become pregnant by the wrong people and boys go to prison.

Overally this was an edition worth remembering, save for a few stories that were lifted from the Arabian Nights and science fiction. We were happy to apprehend these young culprits and got them disqualified. The very extremely good stories, which are many, are reasons for us to gather here today and celebrate!

Let this be a short story night. To our young writers of short stories, one word from the great short story writer, Hemmingway: Easy writing makes hard reading and hard writing makes easy reading.

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Written by fungaijames on October 7th, 2008 with 7 comments.
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HIFA is looking for Writers (November 28th, 2008)
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7 comments

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Emmanuel Sigauke
#1. October 7th, 2008, at 2:12 AM.

Good speech. Let’s, however, cultivate a readership that hungers for longer, multi-genre works? I think the Zim story is becoming a grand affair, and should, appropriatley, demand the emergence of the great Zimbabwean novel, sooner or later.

NB: I’m working on short stories too, but I believe a stronger readership (one that moves beyond the class) needs to be nurtured.

fungaijames
#2. October 7th, 2008, at 4:26 AM.

Yes. We really need some great novels if we are to make a mark as the global literary powerhouse that we are.

juliana Gabari
#3. October 7th, 2008, at 1:26 PM.

I disagree with you Emmanuel and Fungai. It is stereotypical and Victorian to think that writers and national literatures only become great when they produce the novel. Zvakatiurayira shona literature! The novel in shona imitated Dickens, hardy and Bronte pakungoratidza munhu achirwisana nenhamo pakukura. it only changed when Mungoshi Charles came along.Munhu wese kubva wati munovel sika? Aiwa! Ukazvitarisa, iye Mungoshi might never go beyond Coming of The Dry season! I mean in terms of vision, clarity netruthfulness of idiom. Akazoikunda House of Hunger iye Marechera. Mashort stories ake House, zvamboko zvega zvega. We need to invite Ruby Magosvongwe on this foumn to clarify her view. But I agree that zim is a short story country. zimbos write short stories effortlessly! Musakanganwe Kanengoni’seffortless Tears (short stories zvakare) NaChinodya shimmer’s Can We talk? Iwe!!

Emmanuel Sigauke
#4. October 8th, 2008, at 1:59 AM.

Juliana,

Tanga tichiti zvatava nyanzvi demashort story acho, anofarirwa chaizvo nevaverengi vedu, we much embrace the fully (even lavishly) cultivated world of the novel. Tinawo manovel anonwisa mvura (Ignatius Mabasa, Mungoshi wacho, ko iye Chinodya), asi ngative naana Chimamanda veduwo, towedzera vanaTagwira, hezvi Gappah achaburitsa rake gore rinouya. Tichiaruka kudaro, ngatisngogumira pakurudira kunyorwa kwayo chete; ngatikurudzirewo uwandu hwevaverengi. I know kuti mashort story edu anotapira, asi ndodawo kuti tinakirwe nemanovels takawanda, tigobaika hedu nekuatenga akawanda. Hongu, vaverengi vedu vazhinji pari zvino vari kurwisana nezvingutsa matumbu, asi zvanzi zvicharamba zvakadaro here? As we rebuild many aspects of Zim life, let’s also cultivate a readership that continues to enjoy the short story while taking big bites of the novel. Unozviona sei?

sam zano
#5. October 9th, 2008, at 12:50 PM.

I see what all of you mean. It is also very valid, cdes. My point is that the learned lady made a point we hadn’t noticed all these years. It is like saying Zambia is copper country. It does not mean that Zambians do not mine any other thing or should not try other minerals. It means, whatever we mine in zambia, let us take note that in copper we have done extremely well and we are known for copper more than anything! An identity. Nigeria, or West Africa, I notice is NOVEl territory. South Africa has always been DRAMA territory. Russia is huge novel territory: Tolstoy and Doestovesky wrote them big. Somebody must dopaper on this. Or maybe its just like why is it madhumbe anoita kwaMutare? Tipei mhinduro muzvinafundo Magosvongwe!

Mention from Zimbablog.com
#6. October 11th, 2008, at 8:59 AM.

Ruby Magosvongwe and Steven Millhauser on the short story : Zimbablog - Many Zimbabweans. One Blog.: Steven Millhauser who presented the short story as more important than the novel. Speaking at a high ...

Ruby Magosvongwe
#7. October 23rd, 2008, at 1:13 PM.

Indeed, like Juliana Gabari rightly observes, Zimbabweans write short stories effortlessly. The evening of 5thSeptember, 2008 remains memorable in its recognition of the talent of the young short story writers from our schools through The Standard Newspaper’s Cover to Cover children’s short story writing competition.Though the entrants are young in every sense of the word, their creativity, imagination,ideas and uncorrupted experiences will never be young.
Zimbabwe, indeed, is a short story country.The canonical trend setters of Zimbabwean Literature, escaped the throttling grip, noose and net of the Rhodesia Literature Bereau via the short story. Marechera and Mungoshi are classic examples as shown in some of their short stories in Coming of the dry season and The House of hunger respectively.
The brevity and incisiveness of the short story has also allowed many a Zimbabwean to capture the defining moments in Zimbabwe’s history with considerable ease. Like poetry, the short story has also given both writer and reader the leeway to interpret events in the manner they best comprehend. The forthcoming Cover to Cover anthology of children’s short stories, perhaps, does bear testimony to how much ground the short story has covered and can cover in Zimbabwe.