| dc.description.abstract | Ngugi wa Thiong'o is East Africa1s foremost novelist
and is one of Africa's most prolific and progressive
writers. As a controversial author and critic, he has
been at the forefront in calling for a vital critical
tradition as a vigorous need in the analysis of our
society's current problems. Despite the variety and
intensity of the themes which his works deal with, Ngugi
has continued to receive inordinately little positive
critical attention.
By virtue of his radical views on political,
socioeconomic and cultural issues, Ngugi represents Africa
on the platform of Third World writers who are striving
towards the total liberation of their peoples from the
effects of imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.
Critics, therefore, cannot seriously afford to ignore
Ngugi wa Thiong'o in any discussion of Kenyan, African
or Third World literature today.
No study exists to date which attempts to put
together all of Ngugi1s extant literary output and
derive a comprehensive picture of his progression from
his earlier to his more recent works, which include a
play and a novel in Gikuyu. In addition, no consistent,
cohesive, appraisal of Ngugi1s works is in evidence that
traces the development of Ngugi1s range of vision in terms
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of his concerns and preoccupations. This thesis is an
attempt to correct this discrepancy by evolving a more
comprehensive analysis which will place Ngugi's works
in their broad perspective and which will relate these
works to the continuing struggle for the realization of
a more humane society.
Since all art springs' from an ideological conception
of the world, there is no such thing as a work of art devoid
of ideological content. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's literary output
is a response to the nature of specific conditions; written
against the background of contemporary African history and
the global movement for change, it reflects the impact of
events. The context ;s imperialism - concrete and intolerably
continuing.
A cross-section of Ngugi 's works at the moment reveals
that Ngugi has progressed from the position of a cultural
nationalist to that of a revolutionary idealist. In the
process he has discarded his preoccupation with blackness,
with fatalism and pessimism. His latest works demonstrate
Ngugi's emphasis on Manis capacity to make himself, that is,
to understand his material situation and to act consciously
in order to change it andthus transform the world.
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Ngugi ;s concerned with a positive re-interpretation
of our history; he is also concerned with establishing
genuine communication between the writer and his audience,
hence his recent advocacy of writing in the"national·
languages of Kenya in order to reach, and reflect the social
condition of, the writer's chosen audience.
The first chapter delineates the problem, defines the
theoretical framework used and reviews existing representative
literature on the subject. Chapter Two deals with the early
stage in Ngugi's writing that examines the issues of cultural
conflict, education and the messianic concept. The middle
stage, focusing mainly on the freedom struggle, is examined in
Chapter Three. The fourth chapter looks at the contemporary
situation. Chapter Five forms the conclusion.
In this thesis, Ngugi's works are not seen as isolated
single works, but their content is placed along a historical
continuum so as to show how Ngug; responds to different
historical situations and how his vision has changed with
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