1. FRENCH VERSION: The title of the French version is transcribed as Marou. This of course is not a Setswana name nor is it a French one. "Marou" denotes the French pronunciation of Maru. It would be interesting if the French version could also capture the meaning of the Setswana noun maru which means clouds. This version though retains the current African Writers Series' illustration of a path with yellow daisies on the sides leading into a house in the horizon with clouds (maru) in the background. This is the same path one is introduced to upon reading Maru.
2. FINNISH VERSION: This is the Finnish version. It bears the designation Maru. The cover bears a female figure and some goats in a foregrounded position. Everyone else is on the background. The interpretation to this cover is two-dimensional. The first could be associated with Margaret Cadmore Junior. She is isolated and stays on the hillside and she finds company with the mother goat and her kid more than with human beings. The second one is that she was classified by her society as being below the strata of humanity, hence belonging with animals.
3. ZIMBABWEAN VERSION: The illustration of the Zimbabwean version shows two pairs of faces facing each other as if in a confrontation. Each pair comprises of a female and male figure. This perhaps could be explained better by the psychological war that erupts between two male characters and two female characters in Maru; between Maru and Moleka over Margaret and between Margaret and Dikeledi over Moleka respectively (although this is not presented as a psychological war in the novel itself). The background depicts a real African setting of traditional African huts.
4. DANISH VERSION: This one is entitled Gul Marguerit. The only illustration is just a portrait of a face. Although much cannot be said about this portrait, what could not go unnoticed is the curly hair which the picture portrays. Some people think that Basarwa have slightly different hair from other Southern Africans, but in any case this portait attempts to show a characteristically "Mosarwa" face.
Head, Bessie. Marou. 1971. Trans. Christian Surber. Geneva: Editions Zoé, 1996.
---. Maru. 1971. Trans. Kristiina Drews. Helsinki: Kääntöpiiri, 1988.
---. Gul Marguerit. 1971. Trans. Birte Svensson. Copenhagen: Københavns Bogforlag, 1985.
---. Maru. 1971. Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985.
Copyright © 2003 the authors.
Last updated 12 June 2003