ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 begins by examining how Marechera’s conceptualisation of literature hints at a utopian function of literary texts. To Marechera, literature is the device that has the potential to create not only an alternative future but a better alternative future. It is a crediting of the utopian function of literature that is also prominent in Ernst Bloch’s theorisation of utopianism. In order to offer the foundation for discussions about Marechera’s utopian impulse in other chapters, Chapter 1examines Marechera’s understanding of literature and its relationship with utopian thinking. This chapter focuses on his conceptualisation of the utopian function in literature in light of Bloch’s theorisation of utopian thinking.
