num_pages: 250
description: This is a stunning collection of Marechera's last writings evoking city life with its many disparate facets - from the glittering fashion shops in First Street Mall to the tramps in the alleys and in Marechera's only known piece in Shona The Servants' Ball. What at first sight seems peaceful and harmless is suddenly disrupted by flashes of madness for in Marechera's universe everyday life is always haunted by the nightmares of Zimbabwe's past. In the Concentration Camp Marechera gives a poetic deeply felt voice to the dread experienced by former inhabitants of the keeps the restricted villages of Zimbabwe's War of Liberation. Often he takes a child's view to measure the horrors of adult society. Gentleness paired with sarcasm marks his hardly known children's stories.
language: English
title: Scrapiron Blues
publisher: Africa World Pr