In the following interview excerpt, Head discusses her exile from South Africa and the factual basis for many of her stories, including "Life."

[Beard]: You chose exile from South Africa. One of the most complex facets of your life must have been your reactions to exile.

[Head]: You know, it is such a complicated answer. Such a complicated answer. First of all, I never had feelings of sentiment about South Africa. The country, the life that had emerged there, the fact that we had the experience of white domination—it was such a choking, throttling, death-like kind of world. In contrast, there's a certain aspect to my life in Botswana which is full and rich. The difference is that for the 27 years I lived in South Africa, I had the experience of a Black South African—the poverty-stricken, slum-dweller; the feeling that there was no...