Chalk and Cheese? A comparative study of Bessie Head (1937–1986) and Lewis Nkosi (1936–2010)

Abstract

This article brings together two giants of Southern African literature and criticism for the purposes of comparison, particularly of their experience of the Drum and Golden City Post era, and the immediate aftermath. Bessie Head and Lewis Nkosi, both journalists, first crossed paths in the Johannesburg of what Nkosi called ‘The Fabulous Decade’ of the 1950s; both, in the early 1960s, went into exile – Nkosi to America to take up a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University; and Head to Serowe in Botswana to become a teacher. Both left, after having passports refused, on one-way exit permits which meant they couldn’t return, for the duration of apartheid rule at least. There were, of course, significant differences as well: though both had difficult childhoods, Head’s struggles as a disowned illegitimate foster child were harder than Nkosi’s who at least had some family to support him in his early years; Head’s battle with mental health was not shared by Nkosi, though her dependence on alcohol was. In terms of their long-term reputations, Head was the more acclaimed novelist, while Nkosi’s acclaim was for his critical writings. This article is a preliminary step towards comparatively discussing these two exiled writers whose paths crossed briefly in turbulent personal and political times in South Africa.