Detained (Masterplots II: Nonfiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Work: Memoir/cultural criticism
- Time of Work: 1978
- Setting: Kenya
- Principal Characters: Ngugi wa Thiong’o
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, Memoir
- Subjects: History, Africa or Africans, Memory, Politics, Prisoners, Colonies or colonization, Oppression, Criticism
Form and Content
In spite of its subtitle, Detained is not, strictly speaking, a “diary”: It does not record day-to-day prison experiences, nor was it written while Ngugi wa Thiong’o was in prison. It is, instead, a “memoir”; it recalls from some distance events in his life leading up to his incarceration and, according to a thematic (not chronological) arrangement, particular details during his detention that help him tell his story. Yet this story is not in intention strictly personal; it is historical and ideological: It presents a larger picture, the...
[The entire page is 3178 words long]
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