This article analyses the reception of memoirs that position themselves as counter-narratives to state-sanctioned Zimbabwean storytelling. It asks whether these texts play the subversive role that one might expect from their status as counter-narratives. To study the lives of counter-narratives, I propose that it is helpful to examine their narrative communities, distinguishing between implicit and imagined narrative communities. Under scrutiny are four very different memoirs: Nkomo: The Story of My Life by Joshua Nkomo (1984), The Great Betrayal/Bitter Harvest by Ian Smith (1997/2001), When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin (2006) and These Bones Will Rise Again by Panashe Chigumadzi (2018). The article examines the counter-narrative gestures of the memoirs and then places them in the context of their narrative communities, exploring how they are reviewed and debated, particularly online. Considering audiences in Zimbabwe, the ex-Rhodesian community, the west and the Zimbabwean diaspora, the article concludes that the target audience is rarely the Zimbabwean state itself. Instead, these texts are written and read in support of a number of identity projects, serving to confirm readers’ understanding of the world. Countering the Zimbabwean state narrative is not always the prime concern of readers who, like the texts, communicate mostly with like-minded people.

本文分析了回忆录的接受情况，这些回忆录将自己定位为国家认可的津巴布韦讲故事的反叙事。它询问这些文本是否发挥了人们对它们作为反叙事的地位所期望的颠覆性作用。为了研究反叙事的生活，我建议检查他们的叙事社区，区分隐性和想象的叙事社区是有帮助的。受到审查的是四本截然不同的回忆录：Nkomo： Joshua Nkomo的《我的一生》（1984 年）、Ian Smith 的《大背叛/苦涩的收获》（1997/2001 年）、Peter Godwin 的《当鳄鱼吃掉太阳》（2006 年）和这些骨头会再次隆起作者：Panashe Chigumadzi (2018)。这篇文章检查了回忆录的反叙事姿态，然后将它们置于叙事社区的背景下，探索它们是如何被审查和辩论的，尤其是在网上。考虑到津巴布韦、前罗得西亚社区、西方和津巴布韦侨民的受众，文章得出的结论是，目标受众很少是津巴布韦国家本身。相反，这些文本的写作和阅读是为了支持许多身份项目，旨在确认读者对世界的理解。对抗津巴布韦的国家叙事并不总是读者的主要关注点，他们喜欢文本，主要与志同道合的人交流。