Topographies of Power and Pain in A Question of Power

A focus on Head’s complex use of a discourse of location – outer and actual as well as social or psychic (imagined) – is employed as an interpretative strategy by means of which to map a reading of A Question of Power. Head’s articulation of her struggles to relocate successfully to Botswana from South Africa through evocations of Elizabeth’s experiences, thoughts and feelings is shown to employ references to place, social and geographical placement as well as imagined, often horrific ‘settings’ or contexts. In interpreting these many references as interlinked in the text by means of Head’s careful verbal structuring, the reading presented serves to demonstrate that taking the topographies of power and pain seriously offers a way of navigating the psychic and social processes Elizabeth undergoes in the course of her narrative