Thiong'o, Ngugi wa - Carol M. Sicherman (essay date fall 1989)
Carol M. Sicherman (essay date fall 1989)
SOURCE: Sicherman, Carol M. “Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the Writing of Kenyan History.” Research in African Literatures 20, no. 3 (fall 1989): 347-70.
[In the following essay, Sicherman asserts that Ngugi's additions to the 1986 revised edition of A Grain of Wheat reveal the author's “understanding of the role of history and in African literature and of his own role in the rewriting of Kenyan history.”]
When Heinemann decided to reissue some of the most successful titles of its African Writers Series in a new format, Ngugi wa Thiong'o took advantage of the opportunity to revise certain details and to add significantly new passages in A Grain of Wheat.1 Two of the revisions, a change in political terminology and a correction of a historical detail, hint suggestively at my topic: the emergence of Ngugi's mature understanding of the role of history in African literature...
[The entire page is 10871 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
