Introduction to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a titan of modern African literature, passed away at the age of 87. He was a storyteller who refused to be bound by prison, exile, and illness. His work spanned over six decades, documenting the transformation of his country, Kenya, from a colonial state to a democracy.
Early Life and Education
Ngũgĩ was born in 1938 as James Thiong’o Ngũgĩ, when Kenya was under British colonial rule. He grew up in the city of Limuru, in a large family with low income. His parents scrimped and saved to pay for his tuition fees at Alliance, a boarding school run by British missionaries. In an interview, Ngũgĩ remembered that at the end of his term at Alliance, he returned home to find that his entire village had been destroyed by the colonial authorities.
The Mau Mau Uprising
The Mau Mau uprising, which lasted from 1952 to 1960, touched Ngũgĩ’s life in numerous, devastating ways. His family members were among the hundreds and thousands who were forced to live in detention camps during the uprising. In one of the most horrific incidents, Ngũgĩ’s brother Gitogo was fatally shot in the back because he had refused to comply with the command of a British soldier. Gitogo hadn’t heard the command because he was deaf.
Literary Career
Ngũgĩ’s literary career began when he wrote his debut novel, Weep, Child, which was published in 1964 to critical acclaim. He quickly followed with two other popular novels, A Grain of Wheat and The River Between. In 1972, the Times newspaper in Great Britain described Ngũgĩ, at the age of 33, as "one of the most outstanding contemporary writers of Africa". Then came 1977, a year that marked a significant change in Ngũgĩ’s life and career. He shed his birth name James and became Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and he also dropped English as the main language for his literature, swearing to write only in his mother tongue, Kikuyu.
Prison and Exile
In 1977, Ngũgĩ published his last English-language novel, Petals of Blood. The book attacked the new leaders of independent Kenya, representing them as an elite class that had betrayed ordinary Kenyans. Ngũgĩ did not stop there. In the same year, he wrote the play Ngaahika NdEenda (I Will Marry When I Want), which was a scorching look at Kenya’s class struggle. The play’s run was shut down by the government, and Ngũgĩ was locked up in a maximum-security prison for one year without trial. However, it was a fertile 12 months, as Ngũgĩ wrote his first Kikuyu novel, Devil on the Cross, in prison. He used toilet paper to write the entire book because he had no access to a notebook.
Later Life and Career
Ngũgĩ was released from prison after Daniel Arap Moi replaced Jomo Kenyatta as President. Four years later, while in London for a book launch, Ngũgĩ learned that there was a plot to kill him on his return to Kenya. He began self-imposed exile in Great Britain and then in the USA, where he held professorships at universities such as Yale, New York, and California Irvine. Ngũgĩ was known as one of the most important advocates for literary works written in African languages.
Personal Life
Apart from his literary career, Ngũgĩ was married and divorced twice. He had nine children, four of whom are authors. His son Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ claimed that his mother was physically abused by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Later in his life, Ngũgĩ’s health worsened, and he had a triple heart-bypass operation and began fighting kidney failure. In 1995, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and lived for three months.
Legacy
Ngũgĩ, however, recovered and added cancer to the lengthy list of fights he had overcome. But now, one of the leaders of African literature, as the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once called him, is gone, and the world of words is a little darker. Ngũgĩ’s legacy will live on through his works, which will continue to inspire and educate future generations about the importance of African languages and literature.
