Reading The Trial of Robert Mugabe will send you to Yvonne Vera's Stone Virgins

Reading Chielozona Eze's The Trial of Robert Mugabe is sending me to Yvonne Vera again. Eze's novel commits its Part 2 to Gukurahundi, and the section is told by a character named Yvonne Vera, author of The Stone Virgins (FSG). You can tell Eze adores Vera the way I love Toni Morrison, and that's a good thing. I like a writer who challenges me to make connections among literary icons, and one of the strengths, basically a treat for literature lovers, is how The Trial of Robert Mugabe gets into the Derridean "structure and play" mode, invoking everyone from Yeats, Conrad, Achebe, Marechera, to Vera. Marechera is one of the judges listening to he testimonies against Mugabe, given by the victims of his regime. The witnesses' stories are given in Part 1; then Vera takes us through Part 2, by bringing to life the characters of The Stone Virgins, but you need to have read Vera's novel to follow Eze's story. Yes, Eze trusts the reader to be well-read, because he makes constant references to other books of fiction and critical theory.

So now I am rereading The Stone Virgins , more closely. Vera is a skillful writer who distills the story until tragedy and craft merge into a piece of fine art. First off, she gives a grand depiction of Bulawayo streets (I love the city, and my stubborn mind still pictures the Bulawayo I last saw in 1995, not the Bulawayo of Christopher Mlalazi's stories). Then, she tackles Kezi, one of the sites of Gukurahundi.

I will see how the two Veras compare, the one in Eze's novel, and the author of The Stone Virgins.

Check this place for a more detailed review of the two books.