Alongside the impact of his early novels and plays, and his more recent
memoirs, these essays give new insights into Ngugi's and other writers'
responses to colonialism - there is new material here for students of
literature, politics and culture.
Renowned worldwide, as novelist and dramatist, Ngugi wa Thiongo's
contributions to the body of critical writing on African literature,
politics and society have been highly significant. His best known
critical work is Decolonising the Mind, which since publication in 1986
has profoundly influenced other writers, critics, scholars and
students.
These latest essays reflect Ngugi's continuing interests and
enthusiasms. His choice of writers is original. He makes us look again
at their novels to address his lifelong concerns with the ways to
independence, the meanings of colonialism and the takeover by
neo-colonialism, and the functions of literature in political as well
asliterary terms. They will appeal not only to his international band of
supporters. They will also introduce his views to young people
discovering African and Caribbean literature.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative
Literature at the University of California, Irvine. Ngugi is renowned
for his essays, including the seminal Decolonising the Mind (James
Currey 1986); his plays, which led to his detentionin Kenya; his
novels - the most recent works being The Wizard of the Crow (2007,
translated into English from Gikuyu) and his memoirs Dreams in a Time of
War and In the House of the Interpreter
East Africa [Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda]: EAEP
