Abstract
This dissertation explores how madness is portrayed in three African novels using liminality and the Third Space as theoretical lenses with which to examine the trope of literary madness. I argue that the combination of multiple liminal identities which each protagonist carries produces their descent into madness in these novels. This analysis is carried out through close-readings of Bessie Head’s A Question of Power, K. Sello Duiker’s The Quiet Violence of Dreams, and Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater. The close-reading examines the contribution of each text’s depiction of madness to the broader scope of African literature as it pertains to how madness is portrayed in this field. I first focus on A Question of Power, using intersectionality, marginalisation, and the various identities that the protagonist, Elizabeth, has as a focus point to uncover the cause of her descent into madness. I then move onto a discussion of The Quiet Violence of Dreams and discuss the history of institutionalising the insane in a South African context as Tshepo is institutionalised in a mental health institution in the novel. I also explore how his madness and fluid sexual identity are connected. Freshwater is then discussed through a decolonial lens as I examine the novel’s depictions of gender, race, and madness through the character the Ada who is a bridge between worlds. Finally, I explore each novel’s individual conclusions regarding the trope of literary madness and how effective liminality and the Third Space are as theories to examine literary madness in these African novels.