Chapter 2, In Exile, Botswana, 1964-1979, Notes on Novels Summary and Analysis

The final third of Chapter 2 is a series of notes that Head takes on novels. The first essay, "Some notes on novel writing" begins by noting that Head spends twenty-seven years of her life in South Africa but has trouble writing about it. One way of remedying the problem is writing in an area where people are tied by an ancient order, like Botswana. Most of Head's novels to the present day are didactic works with pre-planned conclusions and principles, but she cannot express her own experience in this way.

The education of black people in South Africa must always be political. They learn every day the fact of oppression and exploitation. Head summarizes her life experience as the knowledge of evil, its sources and true face...