Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Overview

Ngugi wrote his first novels and plays in English but was determined, even before his detention without trial in 1978, to move to writing in Gikuyu.

Ngugi describes this book as 'a summary of some of the issues in which I have been passionately involved for the last twenty years of my practice in fiction, theatre, criticism and in teaching of literature.'

East Africa [Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda]: EAEP

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787443976
Publisher:	James Currey
Publication date:	06/26/1986
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	906 KB

About the Author

Ngugi is world famous for his novels from Weep Not, Child to Matigari and the impact of his plays, especially in Gikuyu, which led to his detention in Kenya. He is now Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies in New York University. This book reflects many of the concerns found in Decolonising the Mind and Moving the Centre.

Editorial Reviews

Ngũgĩ's is a many splendored book. It is the personal testimony of an author who has fought a long battle of his own to undo the colonization of his mind. At the same time the book presents a historical analysis of subversion of personal identities and cultures of the colonized peoples in the process of colonization. It is also a book on the historical development of orature and literature in Africa. Finally, it is an essay in literary theory and criticism on the role of the artist in society. Ngũgĩ writes about Africa, his analysis applies to all of the Third World.

African Studies Review

... after 25 years of independence, there is beginning to emerge a generation of writers for whom colonialism is a matter of history and not of direct personal experience. In retrospect that literature characterised by Ngugi as Afro-European - the literature written by Africans in European languages - will come to be seen as part and parcel of the uneasy period between colonialism and full independence, a period equally reflected in the continent's political instability as it attempts to find its feet. Ngugi's importance - and that of this book - lies in the courage with which he has confronted this most urgent of issues. -

THE NEW STATESMAN - Adewale Maja-Pearce

Many of the ideas are familiar from Ngugi's earlier critical books, and earlier lectures, elsewhere. But the material here has a new context and the ideas a new focus. This leading African writer presents the arguments for using African language and forms after successfully using an African language himself. -

THE GUARDIAN - Anne Walmsley

Many of the ideas are familiar from Ngugi's earlier critical books, and earlier lectures, elsewhere. But the material here has a new context and the ideas a new focus. This leading African writer presents the arguments for using African language and forms after successfully using an African language himself. - Anne Walmsley in THE GUARDIAN
... after 25 years of independence, there is beginning to emerge a generation of writers for whom colonialism is a matter of history and not of direct personal experience. In retrospect that literature characterised by Ngugi as Afro-European - the literature written by Africans in European languages - will come to be seen as part and parcel of the uneasy period between colonialism and full independence, a period equally reflected in the continent's political instability as it attempts to find its feet. Ngugi's importance - and that of this book - lies in the courage with which he has confronted this most urgent of issues. - Adewale Maja-Pearce in THE NEW STATESMAN

From the Publisher