News

Renowned novelist and playwright Ngugi Wa Thiong'O talks to Davina Morris about his latest work

Renowned novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o returns to the literary world with new fiction novel Wizard of the Crow. Regarded as one of the most influential and significant African writers of our time, the Kenyan author was imprisoned, without trial, in Kenya in 1977 because of the uncensored political message of his play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want). Upon his release from prison, he was subjected to constant harassment and eventually forced into exile from his homeland. Now a professor at the University of California, Thiong'o tells us more about his latest work...

"Wizard of the Crow explores the struggle between material and spiritual demands against the background of the postcolonial and global economic forces. These forces dwell, in particular, on a post-colonial dictatorship in the era of globalization where the forces of decay and renewal are in mortal struggle for the domination of the soul of Africa and the third world."

MOISM

Best known for novels such as Weep not Child and Petals of Blood, Thiong'o was detained in Mamiti Maximum Security Prison from 1977-78, under the orders of Kenya's then vice-president, Daniel arap Moi. Thiong'o reflects on his incarceration and subsequent exile from Kenya to London.

"My imprisonment without trial - because of my books and plays - should have rang a bell about the Moi dictatorship that later - from 1978-2002 - engulfed Kenya in a vast sea of moral decay. Moi was the Vice President and Minister for Home Affairs under the ageing President Jomo Kenyatta when he signed papers for my incarceration. After my release from prison in December 1978, I was barred from any positions in schools, colleges and Universities in Kenya - then later in July 1982, I was forced into exile."

He continues: "I was in London in July 1982 to help in the promotion of the London publications of my books, Devil on the Cross and Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary, when I got a tip-off that a 'red carpet' welcome awaited me at Jomo Kenyatta Aiport on my return. 'Red carpet' meant elimination. It was like being shipwrecked - and one has no choice in the location of a shipwreck. The Moi dictatorship was to pursue me in London, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda - wherever in the world I went.

DISAPPEARED

Many democrats in Kenya were tortured, imprisoned and others disappeared, or were killed openly, under the suspicion that they had been in contact with me or had read my books. Despite all this, I don't feel the need for vengeance against the individuals involved in my imprisonment. But I feel strongly against the system they represented - which I call 'Moism'- with or without Moi. It was a neo-colonial system and I like to feel that my books are still relevant in the struggle against that system."

During a return visit to Kenya in 2004, Thiong'o discovered that he still hadn't escaped harassment in his homeland. Robbers broke into the author's apartment, brutally attacked him and raped his wife.

"The attack was no ordinary robbery. There is no doubt in my mind that its roots were political and I don't rule out the forces that had always pursued me; the ones that had always perceived my writing as threat."

Still, Thiong'o remains undeterred in his work, as new novel Wizard of the Crow proves. Never one to shy away from offering scathing political statements about Africa, Thiong'o, in this novel, dramatises a battle for control of the souls of the people in the 'Free Republic of Aburira'- the fictional place where the novel is set. One wonders what Thiong'o makes, not only of post-colonial African leaders, but of Western leaders, who tend to criticise African leaders such as Robert Mugabe - yet, of course, never acknowledge their own part in war.

"This is another theme that I explore in my books, especially in Wizard of the Crow. The roots of African problems are neither entirely internal nor entirely external. It is a combination of the two. A good example is the 20th century dictatorships in Africa, which often served the West in the politics of the cold war. Even today, the West is basically hostile to any genuine democracy in Africa and the third world because any genuine democracy in the continent should mean first and foremost Africa's resources serving the people of Africa. But up to now, the West proposes and disposes. But African regimes are also to blame for allowing themselves to become willing tools of the continued division and repression of the continent."

As a novelist, playwright and teacher, there are many feats of which Thiong'o can be proud of. But he regards his decision to abandon using English as the primary language of his work in favour of Gikuyu - his native tongue - as one of his greatest achievements. But being in prison meant that Thiong'o had to find an unconventional way to pen a novel...

"Whilst in prison, I made the irrevocable decision to write my future fiction and plays in Gikuyu language. I immediately put that decision into effect by writing my novel, Devil on the Cross in Gikuyu- on toilet paper."

Wizard of the Crow is out on August 10, published by Harvill Secke

Published: 11 August 2006
Issue: 1230

site comments powered by Disqus