Dobrota Pucherová is a researcher, author, and editor specializing in world literature.
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The 18th-century Bildungsroman '"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000073-QINU`"'René, or: A Young Man’s Adventures and Experiences'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000074-QINU`"', critiqued hegemonic systems of church and state through the artful combination of multiple literary genres.
More about this author
Dobrota Pucherová is a senior researcher at the Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, and a lecturer in comparative literature at the University of Vienna. She earned her D.Phil. in English from the University of Oxford. She is the co-editor, with Erika Brtáňová, of René, or: A Young Man’s Adventures and Experiences, translated by David Short (Liverpool University Press, 2025).
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What Is African Woman?
Transgressive Sexuality in 21st-Century African Anglophone Lesbian Fiction as a Redefinition of African Feminism
Research in African Literatures | July | 2019
In this article, Pucherová argues that African lesbian fiction in English is rapidly redefining African feminism, femininity, and society. By moving away from Afrocentric feminist theory, these authors chronicle a shift in the formation of African women’s subjectivity.
Co-authors: Moses Magadza | Munyori Literary Journal | May | 2012
Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera, known for his bold personality and experimental style, died 25 years ago but still fascinates readers. A new book, Moving Spirit, explores his lasting influence. Marechera was expelled from universities in Zimbabwe and Oxford, yet critics praised his genius, and his book The House of Hunger won a major award. The collection discusses why his risky, creative writing continues to inspire scholars and artists. Editor Dobrota Pucherova explains how the book grew from an Oxford festival celebrating Marechera’s life, work, and unique artistic impact.
Publications by this author
Routledge | 2022
This book re-reads the last 60 years of Anglophone African women’s writing from a transnational and trans-historical feminist perspective, rather than postcolonial, from which these texts have been traditionally interpreted. Such a comparative frame throws into relief patterns across time and space that make it possible to situate this writing as an integral part of women’s literary history.
Revisiting this literature in a comparative context with Western women writers since the 18th century, the author highlights how invocations of "tradition" have been used by patriarchy everywhere to subjugate women, the similarities between women’s struggles worldwide, and the feminist imagination it produced. The author argues that in the 21st century, African feminism has undergone a major epistemic shift: from a culturally exclusive to a relational feminism that conceptualizes African femininity through the risky opening of oneself to otherness, transculturation, and translation. Like Western feminists in the 1960s, contemporary African women writers are turning their attention to the female body as the prime site of women’s oppression and freedom, reframing feminism as a demand for universal human rights and actively shaping global discourses on gender, modernity, and democracy.
The book will be of interest to students and researchers of African literature, but also feminist literary scholars and comparatists more generally.Essays on Post-Communist Literatures and Cultures
Brill; Rodopi | August | 2015
This collection of essays looks at Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 through a postcolonial viewpoint. It argues that both Western and Soviet empires grew out of European modernity, so the region should be included in global postcolonial discussions. The book suggests that adding East-Central Europe to ideas of European identity can help address modern forms of colonialism. The essays explore topics like changing landscapes, migration, memory, trauma, and the power of language. Together, they connect postcolonial and post-communist ideas while examining literature and visual art from the region.
The Legacy of Dambudzo Marechera in the 21st Century
Co-authors: Julie Cairnie | LIT Verlag | April | 2012
This multimedia book is inspired by the life and writing of Zimbabwean author Dambudzo Marechera (1952–1987). It shows how his influence continues to grow among writers, artists, and scholars around the world. The collection encourages readers to rethink his work and how it fits into ideas like modernism, postmodernism, and postcolonialism. It also includes a DVD with creative videos and rare archival materials. The book will interest students and experts in African literature, postcolonial studies, and the arts.
Media by this author
Feature | October | 2025
In the late 1700s, Slovak priest Jozef Ignác Bajza wrote René, the first Slovak novel and a bold exploration of faith, power, language, and identity. The Church partly banned it, and censorship almost erased it, but it survived and was rediscovered during the communist era. The book became a symbol of freedom and cultural pride. This video, based on an essay by Dobrota Pucherová, explains how Bajza used literature to challenge ignorance and helped shape Slovak identity before the nation even existed.
Feature | June | 2023
Dobrota Pucherová presented her book Feminism and Modernity in Anglophone African Women’s Writing at the Vienna University Library. The book looks at 60 years of African women’s writing through a global feminist lens instead of the usual postcolonial one. By comparing African writers with Western women writers since the 1700s, Pucherová shows how patriarchy everywhere uses “tradition” to control women and how similar women’s struggles are worldwide. She argues that 21st-century African feminism is becoming more open, global, and focused on the female body, human rights, and shaping modern ideas about gender and democracy.
