<p><b>''One of African literature''s most fascinating and unorthodox figures'' Brian Chikwava<br></b><br><i>''When all else fails, don''t take it in silence: scream like hell, scream like Jericho was tumbling down, serenaded by a brace of trombones, scream''</i><br><br>Dambudzo Marechera burst onto the literary scene in 1978 with this vivid roar of a book exploring township life in pre-independence Zimbabwe. Rejecting what he saw as the narrow stereotypes of African literature, Marechera''s stories portrayed a world flashing with violence and anarchic humour, as his narrator expresses his desperate alienation - from his family, from his student friends, from Zimbabwe itself.<br><br>''A writer who considered fiction a "form of combat", complex, challenging - and uniquely potent'' <i>Guardian<br></i><br>''Like overhearing a scream'' Doris Lessing<br><br>''A terrible beauty is born out of the urgency of his vision'' Angela Carter</p>