Beyond the dark veil: Hope and despair in Bright Molande's Seasons

Abstract

The focus of this article is on Bright Molande's impressions of Malawi's post-dictatorship era of Bakili Muluzi in Seasons (2010), his first poetry anthology. The author argues that Molande uses his poetry to tease out elements of hopelessness and despair in the Muluzi regime, thereby giving us the impression that freedom in the second republic was an illusion. The author also examines the poet's projection of the idea of hope in the post-Muluzi regime and contends that espousing the bettering of Malawi under Bingu wa Mutharika is the poet's commitment in his poetry.

Keywords:

• Historical
• hope
• Malawi
• Molande
• mournful poetry
• repression
• socio-political

Notes

1. “Nosferatu” is a German Expressionist horror film, while “Dracula” is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. For details, see Nosferatu. http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu; and Dracula. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula

2. The Young Democratic Pioneers mentioned here is an allusion to the Young Democrats, a youth wing of the then ruling UDF in Malawi (1994–2004) under then president Eleson Bakili Muluzi. They were notoriously known for unleashing terror with ferocious speed on anyone who contradicted or “insulted” the powers-that-be.

3. Personal communication from the author (2 January 2011).