African
Revolutionary Writers, Part 6a
Ngugi wa
Thiong’o
Ngugi the Novelist
The linked
document is the final Chapter of Ngugi wa Thiongo’s great novel, “Petals of
Blood”.
Like Ousmane Sembène’s masterpiece, “God’s Bits of Wood”,
“Petals of Blood” is a novel of struggle, with many characters. The last
chapter debriefs the main characters, one by one.
“God’s Bits of Wood” was set in the past. “Petals of Blood”
imagines a future, or a sequel to independence, a kind of “development”, in
various senses of the word. The imaginary new town of “Ilmorog” becomes a
patchwork, or a concretisation, of different elements of Kenya life in the time
of neo-colonialism.
Ngugi was detained without trial in 1977 for a year. Even in
his fictional work it is clear that Ngugi is a committed revolutionary, with
quite a thorough grasp of revolutionary theory.
This is one of many books of Ngugi’s, and Ngugi is one of
many African writers. Those who were relatively more artistic and less
politically organised have also been a strong part of the liberation movement.
In this series of ours, Eduardo Mondlane’s writing has
already shown how significant have been the artistic productions in the
anti-colonial struggles.
In the neo-colonial anti-imperialist struggle the artists
are equally as crucial, and perhaps, as writers, they are under even greater
pressure.
A new generation of anti-imperialist artists and writers is
now needed.
- The above is to
introduce the original reading-texts: Ngugi wa
Thiong’o, Petals of Blood, extract, 1977.
- To download any of the CU courses in PDF files please click here.
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