Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature

Ng gً describes this book as a summary of some of the issues in which I have been passionately involved for the last twenty years of my practice in fiction, theatre, criticism and in teaching of literature . . .

. . . the lectures on which this book is based have given me the chance to pull together in a connected and coherent form the main issues on the language question in literature . . . .

Ng gً was regarded by the younger generation as probably the most important contemporary writer from the African continent. He wrote his first novels and plays in English. Weep Not Child, The River Between, A Grain of Wheat and Petals of Blood together with plays such as The Black Hermit and The Trial of Dedan Kimathi have added lustre to the great English tradition. However, even before his detention without trial in Kenya during 1978 he was determined to write in Gًk y so that ordinary people could understand his work. The novel which he later translated into English as Devil on the Cross became a popular success with people reading it aloud in bars. The original Gًk y edition of the play I Will Marry When I Want emerged from his work with Ng gً wa Mًrًً at the Kamًrًًth Community Centre which was destroyed by Askaris in March 1982. He starts with a statement: This book, Decolonising the Mind, is my farewell to English as a vehicle for any of my writings. From now on, it is Gًk y and Kiswahili all the way.