Read more
In this volume, Ngugi wa Thiong'o summarizes and develops a cross-section of the issues he has grappled with in his work, which uses a combination of imagery, language, folklore, and character to "decolonize the mind." He also 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, Levi-Strauss, and Aime Cesaire. Yet his explorations remain grounded in his own experiences with literature (and orature) and rework the difficult dialectics of theory into richly evocative prose.
About the author
Ng¿g¿ wa Thiong'o
Summary
In this volume, Ngugi wa Thiong'o summarizes and develops a cross-section of the issues he has grappled with in his work, which uses a combination of imagery, language, folklore, and character to "decolonize the mind." He also 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, Levi-Strauss, and Aime Cesaire. Yet his explorations remain grounded in his own experiences with literature (and orature) and rework the difficult dialectics of theory into richly evocative prose.
