A Question of Power

Bessie Head · 1937–1986 · South Africa / Botswana

Why it matters

A mixed-race exile in a Botswana village descends into mental collapse, wrestling visions of good and evil. Head's most personal novel renders race, madness, and the search for belonging with raw, visionary force.

At a glance

Fevered, hallucinatory interiority tracks a breakdown with little stable narrative ground.