Ngugi wa Thiong'o

by Simon Gikandi

Overview

Simon Gikandi's study offers a comprehensive analysis of all the published works of the influential Kenyan dramatist, novelist, and critic Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Gikandi traces Ngugi's literary career from the 1960s through to his role in shaping a radical culture in East Africa in the 1970s and his imprisonment and exile in the 1980s. Focusing also on Ngugi's engagement with nationalism, empire and postcoloniality, this book provides fresh insight into the author's life and the historical and cultural context surrounding his work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521119016
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/03/2009
Series:	Cambridge Studies in African and Caribbean Literature , #8
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

Chronology; 1. Introduction: reading texts and contexts; 2. Narrative and nationalist desire: early short stories and The River Between; 3. Educating colonial subjects: the 'Emergency' stories and Weep Not, Child; 4. Representing decolonization: A Grain of Wheat; 5. The poetics of cultural production: Petals of Blood; 6. Performance and power: the plays; 7. The prisonhouse of culture: Detained and Devil on the Cross; 8. The work of art in exile: Matigari; 9. Writing freedom: essays and criticism; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"Gikandi has done historians a favor with this wide-ranging book." International Journal of African History

"Solid, mainstream postcolonial criticism, Gikandias book should be [in] all libraries supporting serious study of postcolonialism and/or African literature and history." Choice

"Gikandi is one of the most erudite and insightful critics we have ... and, with his latest offering, he may very well have produced the best extant monograph on Ngugi wa Thiong'o." Research in African Literature

"Gikandi has written a scholarly bokk on an important African writer that all serious scholars of Ngugi and of African literature will find indispensable...this book is the best so far on Ngugi wa Thiong'o...Gikandi's book is a first-rate work on Ngugi and his place in the African literary canon." World Literature Today Nov 2001

From the Publisher