Ruby Magosvongwe and Steven Millhauser on the Short Story
There is much talk about the short story these days. The latest authoritative views about the genre are by University of Zimbabwe professor Ruby Magosvongwe and award-winning short story writer Steven Millhauser who presented the short story as more important than the novel. Speaking at a high school short story contest award ceremony recently, Magosvonge labelled Zimbabwe "a short story country." To make such a claim, one has to have a strong reason; here is hers: "Nearly every, I emphasise EVERY, Zimbabwean who has become prominent today started with short stories or has a short story collection somewhere along the way. Here we go: Dambudzo Marechera’s House of Hunger, Charles Mungoshi’s Coming of the Dry Season, David Mungoshi’s Broken Dream and Other stories, Yvonne Vera’s Why Don’t You Carve Other Animals, Stanley Nyamfukudza’s Aftermaths, Chenjerai Hove’s Matende Mashava." (Her full speech is on the Unofungei Fungai Blog ). But why is the short story ...