Ngugi's novels and African history : narrating the nation / James Ogude.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ogude, James.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historical fiction, Kenyan (English)--History and criticism.

Historical fiction, Kenyan (English).

Literature and history--Africa--History--20th century.

Literature and history.

Literature and history--Kenya--History--20th century.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1938-2025--Knowledge--History.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1938-2025--Fictional works.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ngugi wa Thiong'o is one of Africa's most controversial and renowned literary figures. This comprehensive study explores the relationship between history and narrative in his novels.

Contents:

""Contents ""; ""Acknowledgements ""; ""Introduction Writing Back and the Restoration of a Community/ Nation ""; ""Nationalism, Ethnicity and Individualism ""; ""Manufacturing Nationalism and the East African Experience ""; ""The Postcolonial Phase ""; ""Tracing Ngugi s Ideological Shift and Politics of Interpretation ""; ""1 Ngugi's Concept of History ""; ""The Contradictions of Imagining the Nation in Earlier Works ""; ""Deviation from the Standard Nationalist Portrayal of Guerrilla War ""; ""The Later Novels ""; ""Suppression and Silences ""; ""Dependency Theory and Class Dynamics ""

""2 The Changing Nature of Allegory in Ngugi s Novels """"Allegory in Ngugi's Earlier Texts ""; ""Allegory and Postcolonial Power Relations ""; ""Allegorical Satire and the Grotesque Image of the Body ""; ""Ngugi's Textual Counter-discourse ""; ""3 Character Portrayal in Ngugi's Novels ""; ""The Overdetermined Narrative Structure and the Victim Type in the Later Novels ""; ""The Individualised Character: The Intellectual/ Artist Type ""; ""4 The Use of Popular Forms and the Search for Relevance ""; ""The Use of Oral Tradition in Ngugi's Earlier Novels ""

""Redefining Oral Tradition in the Agikuyu Novel """"The Interface Between Orality and the Written ""; ""The Fantastic, Rumour and Biblical Allusions ""; ""Ngugi's Achievement ""; ""5 Allegory, Romance and the Nation: Women as Allegorical Figures in Ngugi s Novels ""; ""Romantic Relationships as Allegorical Tropes ""; ""The Portrayal of Women in the Earlier Novels ""; ""Romance and the Portrayal of Women in the Later Novels ""; ""The Problem of Women as Victims: Wanja in Petals of Blood""; ""Conclusion ""; ""6 Ngugi's Portrayal of the Community, Heroes and the Oppressed ""

""Narrating the Community and the Elite in Ngugi s Earlier Novels """"The Return of Heroism and the Crisis of the African Revolution ""; ""Ngugi's Heroes: The Example of Karega in Petals of Blood ""; ""Imagining the Subaltern Under Conditions of Marginality and Displacement ""; ""Conclusion ""; ""Conclusion ""; ""History is Subversive ""; ""Notes ""; ""Introduction ""; ""Chapter 1 ""; ""Chapter 2 ""; ""Chapter 3 ""; ""Chapter 4 ""; ""Chapter 5 ""; ""Chapter 6 ""; ""Bibliography ""; ""Works by Ngugi ""; ""Articles and Books ""; ""Newspapers and Magazines ""; ""Index""

""Abdulla [Petals of Blood]"""" 29""; "" 30""; "" 31""; "" 53-4""; ""Achebe, Chinua""; "" 1""; "" 83""; ""Agikuyu community""; "" 16""; "" 135""; "" identity 41""; "" isolation 20""; "" land ownership 19-20""; "" land ownership 21""; "" meaning of names 59""; "" myth of origin 7""; "" myth of origin 17""; "" myth of origin 18""; "" myth of origin 21""; "" myth of origin 47""; "" myth of origin 88-90""; "" myth of origin 110""; "" mythology 14""; "" mythology 23""; "" mythology 46""; "" mythology 51""; "" mythology 88-91""; "" mythology 154""

"" oathing 41""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

9780585425610

0585425612

9781849645355

1849645353

OCLC:

923330594