The House of Hunger

''One of African literature''s most fascinating and unorthodox figures'' Brian Chikwava

''When all else fails, don''t take it in silence: scream like hell, scream like Jericho was tumbling down, serenaded by a brace of trombones, scream''

Dambudzo Marechera burst onto the literary scene in 1978 with this vivid roar of a book exploring township life in pre-independence Zimbabwe. Rejecting what he saw as the narrow stereotypes of African literature, Marechera''s stories portrayed a world flashing with violence and anarchic humour, as his narrator expresses his desperate alienation - from his family, from his student friends, from Zimbabwe itself.

''A writer who considered fiction a "form of combat", complex, challenging - and uniquely potent'' Guardian

''Like overhearing a scream'' Doris Lessing

''A terrible beauty is born out of the urgency of his vision'' Angela Carter