Flora Veit-Wild | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 11, 1947 |
| Nationality | German |
| Employer(s) | Humboldt University of Berlin (Professor of African Literatures and Cultures, 1994–2012; now Emerita Professor) |
| Known for | Scholarship on African literature; memoir They Called You Dambudzo ; relationship with Dambudzo Marechera |
| Spouse | Victor Wild (divorced) |
| Partner | Dambudzo Marechera (1980s) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Frankfurt (PhD Anglistik, 1991) |
| Academic work | |
| Notable works | They Called You Dambudzo:A Memoir (2020);founder member of Zimbabwe Women Writers;literary executor of Marechera’s estate |
Flora Veit-Wild (born 11 May 1947) [1] is a German literary academic,Professor of African Literatures and Cultures at Humboldt University,Berlin. She has published on the Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera,and on the body and madness in African literature.
Flora Wild was born in West Germany in 1947, [2] and originally studied French and German languages and literature at university. [3]
She first met Dambudzo Marechera in Harare in 1983 in the office of writer and editor Charles Mungoshi. [4] [5] Veit-Wild and Marachera had a relationship,and remained close friends until his death in 1987. [6] Veit-Wild lived in Zimbabwe from 1983 to 1993. [7] In 1986 she met Dieter Riemenschneider in Harare,who subsequently supervised a PhD dissertation by Veit-Wild on the social history of Zimbabwean literature,which she gained in Anglistik from Frankfurt University in 1991. [3] She was a founder member of Zimbabwe Women Writers and of the Dambudzo Marechera Trust. [7]
In 1994 Veit-Wild became professor of African literatures and cultures at the African Studies Department,Humboldt University of Berlin, [2] where she is now Emeritus Professor of African Literature. [8]
In a 2012 essay,Veit-Wild revealed that she had tested HIV-positive in 1987 during her relationship with Dambudzo Marechera,who himself died later that year in Harare from an AIDS-related illness. [9] In her early fifties,Veit-Wild was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma,an HIV-related cancer. [10]
The academic Agnieszka Piotrowska made a 2014 film about Veit-Wild's relationship with Marechera,Flora and Dambudzo. [6]
Veit-Wild's memoir They Called You Dambudzo was published in November 2020. [11]
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