URBAN REALITIES IN TENDAI HUCHU’S THE HAIR DRESSER OF HARARE

Abstract

Urban life and experiences have diversely occupied the context of African literary creativity. The delineation of experiences into thematic thrusts draws a great deal from veracities caused by urbanisation. The city has always remained and occupied the central position in literary thought and creativity. This generally implies that most expression of experiences by many African writers continue to draw their creative imagination from metropolitan environment(s) and experience. Thus, such realities like the dearth of basic infrastructure, the despicable housing structures all provide a glimpse to the complicated dynamics of urban life as represented in African fictions. Using Realism as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the mysteries of city life in The Hair Dresser of Harare to expound how Tendai Huchu represents typically, the social life of multi-cultural codes, relationships, fashionmongers, etcetera, co-exist. The paper also takes a look at a detailed appraisal of the economic life of the city to decipher how the juxtaposed civic life and financial system of the city thrives, and how this afflux works side by side with political activities and the life of politicians in urban areas. The conviction in this evaluation is that the social, economic and political spectrum of Africa’s phenomenology is critically depicted in fiction to allow for an introspective acknowledgement of Africa’s quandary realistically as symbolised in African novels.