Ngugi wa Thiongo, leading author and academic, dies at 87

The passage of Kenyan writer, Ngugi wa Thiongo (previously James Ngugi) at age 87 is a most significant development in Africa’s cultural life. Along with foremost writers like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka (of Nigeria) and Alex La Guma, Bessie Head and Alan Paton (of South Africa), Ngugi occupied a unique and spectacular place in the use of literature to further Africa’s liberation from colonial trauma and imperialist blackmail.

The role of literature and culture in Africa’s confrontation with alien cultures in the colonial era is well documented. It was the place of the African writer to place on record the authenticity of our society and culture before the coming of European influence under colonial rule. It also fell on the African creative writers to recreate the tragic encounter between our continent and colonial conquerors. Ngugi wa Thiongo belongs in the first rank of writers who deployed creative power to capture the heated moments of that cultural encounter. His earlier works, ‘The River Between’, ‘Weep Not, Child’ and ‘A Grain of Wheat’, capture the essence of that culture clash.

In the case of Kenya, the anti-colonial struggle involved a protracted armed struggle between the British colonial forces and indigenous Kenya liberation forces namely the Mau Mau guerilla movement led by pioneers like Dedan Kimathi, Jomo Kenyatta and Odinga Odinga. Even up to the 20th and 21st centuries, the bitterness of the Kenya’s liberation struggle has continued to be an active part of her history and relations with Britain in particular.

Perhaps in no other former colony has the anti-colonial struggle so stubbornly remained an active part of modern-day diplomatic relations between Britain and its former colony. The survival of this frosty relationship in the form of imperialism has featured as a central theme of Ngugi’s post-colonial writings. His subsequent work, especially the epic novels, ‘Petals of Blood’ and ‘Devil on the Cross’ place this anti-imperialist struggle at their thematic centre.

For Ngugi, the literature of the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle was not just a cultural pastime and thematic digression. The work needed to permeate the very practice of literary practice. As a teacher and academic, Ngugi relentlessly explored ways of using his indigenous Kikuyu language and literary traditions to convey his perennial anti-imperialism in works such as ‘I Will Marry When I Want’. For him, fiction and drama were the favourite genres. He similarly explored the infinite power of polemical essays and speeches to transmit his essential revolutionary content and message.

In later life, his works came to resonate with repeated recollections of childhood memories of growing up under colonial rule and the emergency rule of the British challenged by the liberation fighters at great human cost. Against the post-colonial Kenyan authorities, Ngugi was equally unsparing as he frequently lampooned and caricatured their foibles and corruption in titles like ‘Wizard of the Crow.’

It is no surprising that Ngugi experienced frequent friction with Kenya’s post-colonial authorities. He was repeatedly hounded, as captured in his prison notes ‘Detained’ which has been compared to Soyinka’s prison diary, ‘The Man Died’. Members of his family also shared in his numerous travails. It is on record that in the encounter between the current William Ruto government and youthful protesters over harsh living conditions last August, Ngugi took a critical public stance against the government as well. He remained unfailingly predictable in his commitment to public good and anti-imperialist stance to the very end.

Ngugi’s literary method was undisguisedly patriotic and unwaveringly anti-imperialist. These features did not earn him much friendship within the Western cultural establishment. But he was unbending in his conviction. In his passing, Africa has lost a monumental voice of conscience, patriotism as well as a wellspring of wisdom and undeniable creativity.