Exploring the literary representation of the rural in Before Dawn by Andrea Masiye

Resumo

This article is based on a doctoral study whose purpose was to explore the literary representation of the rural and the urban in selected Zambian fiction in English. Therefore, this article focuses on analysing the literary representation of the rural in Before Dawn by Andrea Masiye. The study was qualitative, and a desk survey was used to collect the data. The data was then analysed using thematic and content analysis were recurring patterns were identified from the content of the texts, and then themes were drawn from these. The theoretical framework applied in this article is Gerald Genette’s narrative theory. The study found that rural in Before Dawn has been represented as a physical place outside the city; as a site of traditional culture, a closely-knit society, and as being backward or lacking in social and economic aspects. The study recommends that future research be undertaken and should focus on comparative analyses between Zambian fiction and literature from other Southern African countries. Such studies could explore differences in portrayal and the influence of regional socio-political contexts on the depiction of rural and urban spaces in Zambian fiction.