Daphne Merna Wilson, who wrote as Merna Wilson, was a Zimbabwean journalist, poet and novelist. She became active as a writer in pre-independence Rhodesia.
Life
Merna Wilson was born in Kwekwe and educated at Mutare High School. She was a correspondent for African World from 1965 to 1967, and later worked as a buyer.
The plot of Wilson's first novel Explosion (1966) depicted nationalist politics playing out in a mining compound. The novel, typically for white Rhodesians at the time, treated nationalist leaders as cynically power-hungry rather than having popular legitimacy. The book gave a fictional portrayal of Terrence Ranger as 'Professor Granger', a pro-Communist manipulator of liberal opinion outside Rhodesia.
Wilson won the Rhodesian P.E.N. award in 1978. She was on the editorial board of Two Tone.
Works
- Explosion. London: Robert Hale, 1966. Novel.
- Turn the Tide Gently. London: Robert Hale, 1967. Novel.
- Reap the Whirlwind. London: Robert Hale, 1968. Novel.
- 'The Muriel Mine and those who built it', Rhodesiana, No. 21 (December 1969), pp.55-60
- A Ring Has No End. Salisbury: Gazebo Books, 1977. Poetry.
- Python Cave. Gwelo: Modern Press, 1977. Children's story. (First serialised without the author's permission in The Children's Newspaper, 1973.)
- The Country of the Mind. Salisbury: Kailani Books, 1981. Poetry.
- (ed.) The Wilder Shores of Love. Harare: Gemini, 1984. Poetry anthology.
References
- ^ "WILSON, Daphne Merna". Who's who of Southern Africa. 1986. p. 603.
- ^ Style, Colin; Style, O-lan, eds. (1986). Mambo Book of Zimbabwean Verse in English. Mambo Press. p. 402. ISBN 0869223674.
- Chennells, Anthony (2008). "White Rhodesian Fiction". In Roscoe, Adrian A. (ed.). The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945. Columbia University Press. pp. 77–8. ISBN 978-0-231-13042-4.
- McCracken, John (June 1997). "Terry Ranger: A Personal Appreciation". Journal of Southern African Studies. 23 (2): 176. Bibcode:1997JSAfS..23..175M. doi:10.1080/03057079708708531. JSTOR 2637616.
- "Annual bibliography of Commonwealth literature". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 13: 12. 1978.
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