1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827832603321

Autore

Ogude James

Titolo

Ngugi's novels and African history : narrating the nation / / James Ogude

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; Sterling, Va., : Pluto Press, 1999

ISBN

0-585-42561-2

1-84964-535-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (192 p.)

Disciplina

823

Soggetti

Historical fiction, Kenyan (English) - History and criticism

Literature and history - Africa - History - 20th century

Literature and history - Kenya - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents ""; ""Acknowledgements ""; ""Introduction Writing Back and the Restoration of a Community/ Nation ""; ""Nationalism, Ethnicity and Individualism ""; ""Manufacturing Nationalism and the East African Experience ""; ""The Postcolonial Phase ""; ""Tracing Ngugi   s Ideological Shift and Politics of Interpretation ""; ""1 Ngugi's Concept of History ""; ""The Contradictions of Imagining the Nation in Earlier Works ""; ""Deviation from the Standard Nationalist Portrayal of Guerrilla War ""; ""The Later Novels ""; ""Suppression and Silences ""; ""Dependency Theory and Class Dynamics ""

""2 The Changing Nature of Allegory in Ngugi   s Novels """"Allegory in Ngugi's Earlier Texts ""; ""Allegory and Postcolonial Power Relations ""; ""Allegorical Satire and the Grotesque Image of the Body ""; ""Ngugi's Textual Counter-discourse ""; ""3 Character Portrayal in Ngugi's Novels ""; ""The Overdetermined Narrative Structure and the Victim Type in the Later Novels ""; ""The Individualised Character: The Intellectual/ Artist Type ""; ""4 The Use of Popular Forms and the Search for Relevance ""; ""The Use of Oral Tradition in Ngugi's Earlier Novels ""

""Redefining Oral Tradition in the Agikuyu Novel """"The Interface Between Orality and the Written ""; ""The Fantastic, Rumour and Biblical Allusions ""; ""Ngugi's Achievement ""; ""5 Allegory, Romance and the Nation: Women as Allegorical Figures in Ngugi   s Novels ""; ""Romantic



Relationships as Allegorical Tropes ""; ""The Portrayal of Women in the Earlier Novels ""; ""Romance and the Portrayal of Women in the Later Novels ""; ""The Problem of Women as Victims: Wanja in Petals of Blood""; ""Conclusion ""; ""6 Ngugi's Portrayal of the Community, Heroes and the Oppressed ""

""Narrating the Community and the Elite in Ngugi   s Earlier Novels """"The Return of Heroism and the Crisis of the African Revolution ""; ""Ngugi's Heroes: The Example of Karega in Petals of Blood ""; ""Imagining the Subaltern Under Conditions of Marginality and Displacement ""; ""Conclusion ""; ""Conclusion ""; ""History is Subversive ""; ""Notes ""; ""Introduction ""; ""Chapter 1 ""; ""Chapter 2 ""; ""Chapter 3 ""; ""Chapter 4 ""; ""Chapter 5 ""; ""Chapter 6 ""; ""Bibliography ""; ""Works by Ngugi ""; ""Articles and Books ""; ""Newspapers and Magazines ""; ""Index""

""Abdulla [Petals of Blood]""""   29""; ""   30""; ""   31""; ""   53-4""; ""Achebe, Chinua""; ""   1""; ""   83""; ""Agikuyu community""; ""   16""; ""   135""; ""  identity  41""; ""  isolation  20""; ""  land ownership  19-20""; ""  land ownership  21""; ""  meaning of names  59""; ""  myth of origin  7""; ""  myth of origin  17""; ""  myth of origin  18""; ""  myth of origin  21""; ""  myth of origin  47""; ""  myth of origin  88-90""; ""  myth of origin  110""; ""  mythology  14""; ""  mythology  23""; ""  mythology  46""; ""  mythology  51""; ""  mythology  88-91""; ""  mythology  154""

""  oathing  41""

Sommario/riassunto

Ngugi wa Thiong'o is one of Africa's most controversial and renowned literary figures. This comprehensive study explores the relationship between history and narrative in his novels.