Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

In the days immediately preceding Kenyan independence, Mugo, a local farmer and hero of the villagers, is asked to make a speech honouring the memory of his friend Kihika, who was hanged by the colonial administrators.

A Grain of Wheat

Christian missionaries attempt to outlaw the female circumcision ritual and in the process create a terrible rift between the two Kikuyu communities on either side of the river.

The River Between

Kevin O'Connor

Ngũgĩ (wa Thiong'o)

Ng̃ug̃i wa Thiongʼo

A summary of some of the issues in which Ngugi has been passionately involved.

The Politics of Language in African Literature

Decolonising the Mind

Ngugi wa Thiongo

This remarkable and symbolic novel centers on Wariinga's tragedy and uses it to tell a story of contemporary Kenya.

Devil on the Cross

This is a simple and powerful tale of the effects of the Mau Mau war on individuals and families in Kenya.

Weep Not, Child

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.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong̕ o

James Ngũgĩ

Ngũgĩ wa Mĩriĩ

Ngugi wa Mirii

Wa Mirii Ngugi

Ngugi wa Maria

This is the renowned play that was developed with Kikuyu villagers at the Kamiriithu Cultural Centre at Limuru.

I Will Marry when I Want

The latest addition to the Penguin African Writers Series: the great Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o's powerful fictional critique of capitalism One of the cornerstones of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's fame, Devil on the Cross was written in secret, on toilet paper, while Ngugi was in prison. It tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a young woman who moves from a rural Kenyan town to the capital, Nairobi, only to be exploited by her boss and later by a corrupt businessman. As she struggles to survive, Wariinga begins to realize that her problems are only symptoms of a larger societal malaise and that much of the misfortune stems from the Western, capitalist influences on her country. An impassioned cry for a Kenya free of dictatorship and for African writers to work in their own local dialects, Devil on the Cross has had a profound influence on Africa and on post-colonial African literature.

Wangũi wa Goro

Who is Matigari? Is he young or old; a man or fate; dead or living...or even a resurrection of Jesus Christ? These are the questions asked by the people of this unnamed country, when a man who has survived the war for independence emerges from the mountains and starts making strange claims and demands. Matigari is in search of his family to rebuild his home and start a new and peaceful future. But his search becomes a quest for truth and justice as he finds the people still dispossessed and the land he loves ruled by corruption, fear, and misery. Rumors spring up that a man with superhuman qualities has risen to renew the freedom struggle. The novel races toward its climax as Matigari realizes that words alone cannot defeat the enemy. He vows to use the force of arms to achieve his true liberation. Lyrical and hilarious in turn, Matigari is a memorable satire on the betrayal of human ideals and on the bitter experience of post-independence African society.

Matigari

the politics of language in African literature

Decolonising the mind

Should Remi, the first of his tribe go to university, return to his people from the city, marry his brother's widow under the tribal custom, or should he continue to be a "black hermit" in teh town visiting the night-clubs with his friend Jane? Should he be supporting the African Party when his people feel that colonial oppression has just been replaced by another form? These are the main dramatic conflicts in the play.

The Black Hermit

Prologue -- The wound in the heart -- A wounded land -- Reds and blacks -- Benzes, sneakers, frisbees, and flags -- Penpoints and fig trees -- Writing for the money of it -- Black dolls and black masks -- Transition and that letter from Paris -- Boxers and black hermits -- Pages, stages, spaces -- Coal, rubber, silver, gold, and new flags -- Working for the nation -- Notes and notebooks -- A hell of a paradise

A Writer's Awakening

Birth of a Dream Weaver

Barack Obama, via Facebook: “A compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.” The Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writer’s best-known novel, featuring an introduction by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

A masterful writer working in many genres, Ngugi wa ThiongÕo entered the East African literary scene in 1962 with the performance of his first major play, The Black Hermit, at the National Theatre in Uganda. In 1977 he was imprisoned after his most controversial work, Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), produced in Nairobi, sharply criticized the injustices of Kenyan society and unequivocally championed the causes of ordinary citizens. Following his release, Ngugi decided to write only in his native Gikuyu, communicating with Kenyans in one of the many languages of their daily lives, and today he is known as one of the most outspoken intellectuals working in postcolonial theory and the global postcolonial movement. In this volume, Ngugi wa ThiongÕo summarizes and develops a cross-section of the issues he has grappled with in his work, which deploys a strategy of imagery, language, folklore, and character to "decolonize the mind." Ngugi confronts the politics of language in African writing; the problem of linguistic imperialism and literature's ability to resist it; the difficult balance between orality, or "orature," and writing, or "literature"; the tension between national and world literature; and the role of the literary curriculum in both reaffirming and undermining the dominance of the Western canon. Throughout, he engages a range of philosophers and theorists writing on power and postcolonial creativity, including Hegel, Marx, Lvi-Strauss, and Aim Csaire. Yet his explorations remain grounded in his own experiences with literature (and orature) and reworks the difficult dialectics of theory into richly evocative prose.

Theory and the Politics of Knowing

Globalectics

"Lyrical and hilarious in turn, Matigari is a memorable satire on the betrayal of human ideals and on the bitter experience of post-independence African society"--Publisher's blurb.

Un compendio de los temas centrales de la obra del autor: la confrontación entre el neocolonialismo y la clase trabajadora, y su reflejo en la cultura africana. Descolonizar la mente es una referencia ineludible en el debate lingüístico que tiene lugar en el marco de los estudios poscoloniales. Reúne cuatro conferencias que el autor realizó entre 1981 y 1985, cuyo hilo conductor no es solo una reflexión sobre el papel de la lengua en la construcción de la identidad nacional, cultural, social e histórica, y su función en la descolonización, sino también sobre los acontecimientos vitales que han contribuido a elaborar el pensamiento del autor. En última instancia, Ngugi wa Thiong'o -escritor, pensador, humanista y exiliado- concibe este libro como una declaración de intenciones: en la medida en que la lengua materna es un aspecto crucial de la propia identidad, cree necesario despedirse del inglés y utilizar el kikuyu como su principal lengua de creación literaria. La presente edición contiene un prólogo de Marta Sofía López Rodríguez, reputada especialista en literatura africana y estudios postcoloniales. La crítica ha dicho... «Un clásico controvertido.» Gayatri Spivak «Ngugi es el escritor africano más célebre. Ofrece ni más ni menos que un nuevo camino para la literatura africana.» British Book News «En la cima de sus logros como artista de gran imaginación, la decisión del autor keniano de escribir en kikuyu es realmente valiente.» The Guardian

La política lingüística de la literatura africana

Descolonizar la mente

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Micere Githae Mugo

James Ngugi

Ngugi and Micere Mugo have built a powerful and challenging play out of the circumstances surrounding the trial of one of the celebrated leaders of the Mau Mau revolution.

The Trial of Dedan Kimathi

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse, full of trial and sacrifice, The Perfect Nine is a glorious epic about the founding of Kenya's Gikuyu people and the ideals of beauty, courage and unity. 'One of the greatest writers of our time' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Gikuyu and Mumbi settled on the peaceful and bounteous foot of Mount Kenya after fleeing war and hunger. When ninety-nine suitors arrive on their land, seeking to marry their famously beautiful daughters, called The Perfect Nine, the parents ask their daughters to choose for themselves, but to choose wisely. First the young women must embark on a treacherous quest with the suitors, to find a magical cure for their youngest sister, Warigia, who cannot walk. As they journey up the mountain, the number of suitors diminishes and the sisters put their sharp minds and bold hearts to the test, conquering fear, doubt, hunger and many menacing ogres, as they attempt to return home. But it is perhaps Warigia's unexpected adventure that will be most challenging of all. Blending folklore, mythology and allegory, Ngugi wa Thiong'o chronicles the adventures of Gikuyu and Mumbi, and how their brave daughters became the matriarchs of the Gikuyu clans, in stunning verse, with all the epic elements of danger, humour and suspense. 'A tremendous writer... it's hard to doubt the power of the written word when you hear the story of Ngugi wa Thiong'o' Guardian

The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi

The Perfect Nine

The Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writer’s powerful first novel Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a garbage heap and look into their futures: Njoroge is to attend school, while Kamau will train to be a carpenter. But this is Kenya, and the times are against them: In the forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the white government, and the two brothers and their family need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical Kamau, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up. The first East African novel published in English, Weep Not, Child explores the effects of the infamous Mau Mau uprising on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family in particular. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

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