Narrating the Zimbabwean nation: a conversation with John Eppel

John Eppel interviewed in Scrutiny2: Issues in English Studies in Africa

Volume 17. Issue 1, 2012

Abstract

In this interview, John Eppel, a veteran of Zimbabwean writing, confirms his reputation as an “angry jester”, determined to expose what he describes as “humbug”, wherever he sees it. With his satires, Eppel has stirred the national literature with subversive laughter, ridiculing both Rhodesian society under Ian Smith and post-independence society under Robert Mugabe. With his poetry, he innovatively marries European forms with southern African content. During the crisis of the 2000s he refused exile and has been consistently critical of political and social corruption and injustice from within Zimbabwe's borders.

The full interview with Drew Shaw of the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo can be found at:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18125441.2012.706082