Angus Shaw

Ranka Primorac (University of Southampton)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born Feb 1949
Activity 1979-ongoing

Places

Born in Zimbabwe
Active in Zimbabwe

Activities

Primary

Journalist
Novelist

Resources

Shaw's Works

Save to Bookshelf

In a Zimbabwean literary landscape which, until recently, seemed strictly bifurcated – with “white” novels to one side and “black” novels on the other – the work of Angus Shaw has played a role in allowing consideration of a truly national canon. Many of the early “white” novels dating from the days of Rhodesia during the years of UDI (the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith’s white minority government) had plot structures and characterisations borrowed from metropolitan adventure novels. Action and an unswervingly unidirectional sense of triumph based upon moral superiority were hallmarks. After majority rule was finally won, a generation of black novelists used exactly the same mode of writing about the war, eulogising the black guerrillas in the moral…

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594 words

Citation: Primorac, Ranka. "Angus Shaw". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5406, accessed 21 November 2024.]