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Article: Ngugi wa Thiong'o. (Kenya).
- Article from:
- World Literature Today
- Article date:
- June 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Simon Gikandi. Ngugi wa Thiong'o Cambridge, England. Cambridge University Press. 2000. xii + 328 pages. $64.95 ISBN 0-521-48006-X
SIMON GIKANDI'S BOOK is a detailed and critical analysis of the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o's oeuvre since he started writing in the early 1960s. Gikandi argues that Ngugi is complex, subtle, and nuanced, and to understand him the reader must understand the historical settings in which his books have been produced. The author further contends that the autobiographical aspects of the writer's life must be understood as well. In Secret Lives Ngugi himself stated, "My writing is really an attempt to understand myself and my situation ...