Ngugi wa Thiong'o / Simon Gikandi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gikandi, Simon, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in African and Caribbean literature ; 8.

Cambridge studies in African and Caribbean literature ; 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1938---Criticism and interpretation.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo.

Kenya--In literature.

Kenya.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 328 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Kenyan dramatist and novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a hugely influential African writer respected not only for his creative work but also for his criticism of wider cultural issues - issues such as nation and narration, power and performance, language and identity, empire and postcoloniality. Simon Gikandi's study, first published in 2000, offers a comprehensive analysis of all Ngugi's published work and explores the development of the major novels and plays against a background of colonialism and decolonisation in Kenya. Gikandi places the works in a context that examines the way they engage with the changing history of Africa. Tracing Ngugi's 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, this book provides fresh insight into the author's life and the historic events that produced his work.

Contents:

Introduction: reading texts and contexts

Narrative and nationalist desire: early short stories and The river between

Educating colonial subjects: the "emergency stories" and Weep not, child

Representing decolonization: A grain of wheat

The poetics of cultural production: the later short stories and Petals of blood

Performance and power: the plays

The prisonhouse of culture: Detained and Devil on the cross

The work of art in exile: Matigari

Writing freedom: essays and criticism

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780511887154

0511887159

9781139085717

1139085719

9780511554117

0511554117

Publisher Number:

2027/heb07588 hdl