Ngugi's Novels and African History

This study of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's work analyzes one of Africa's most controversial and internationally renowned literary figures. James Ogude claims that previous critiques of Ngugi have divorced him from historical and social contexts. Through perspectives of history, ethnicity and gender, Ogude sets about examining Ngugi's representation of postcolonial Kenya, looking at Ngugi's entire novelistic output, including his major works, "The River Between", "A Grain of Wheat" and "Petals of Blood and Matagari". Aware of Ngugi's radical and also ambivalent attitude towards independence (Uhuru) and the manufacturing of nationhood, Ogude looks at the wider notion of the distinct boundaries between history and fiction which postcolonial literatures have sought to question. He fuses this historical overview with an in-depth critique of Ngugi's use of characterization and allegory and the interweaving of oral and written forms to show the problems faced by an African author trying to reach both a universal and local audience.