Having encountered Dambudzo Marechera's work, readers may express broadly similar responses, even if those responses are immediately qualified or rejected. For example, the generic status of his works, so often apparently autobiographical, becomes a source of concern that leads various commentators to insist that his works are definitely not self-obsessed: David Pattison writes that, ‘I stress the personal and idiosyncratic nature of Marechera's writing but argue that such an approach was neither exclusive nor narcissistic.’ Then, of course, it is fairly suggested that his work is not only individualistic but is in fact unique. So, to take but one example, according to Brian Evenson, Marechera on his own constitutes ‘Zimbabwe's Beat Generation.’