Ngugi Wa Thiongo: Legend, Writer, Legend
There are days that should be made global holidays for the events or memories stamped on them; people too who should be celebrated annually for their contribution to man’s eternal migration from the heart of darkness. One of these days is the 5th of January, and one person who deserves this honour is the literary giant, activist, and playwright, Ngugi Wa Thiongo.
It is technically hard to say when Ngugi’s true birth took place. One can claim Ngugi wa thiongo was born on that Wednesday, the fifth day of January, 1938, at Lemuru, Kenya, and they would be right; another still could argue that Ngugi’s true birth took place 40 years later, at the Kamiti Maximum security prison, where he shed the name (and identity) James Wa Thiongo Ngugi, and took on Ngugi Wa Thiongo. The second assertion would be correct too. It was in the said prison that his first Gikuyu novel Caitaani Mutharabaini was written, on toilet papers.
While the date and timing of his birth are debatable, the extent of the man’s contribution to Literature, to African literature, to Africa generally, and to Thought, is indisputable.
Ngugi Wa Thiongo: on Language
Ngugi’s politics are often considered hydra-headed. However, one can clearly see the subject of Language rearing its head again and again. The writer finds despicable the hierarchical construct on which languages ‘relate’ to each other. According to him, “The statement that my god is more of a god than your god is ungodly – the same applies to language. It is anti-language to claim and act as if one language is more of a language than other languages.’
‘I have become a language warrior on behalf of all marginalized languages in the world… I reject hierarchy of languages and cultures,’ he added.
In another interview with Kyla Marshell, Ngugi wa Thiongo reiterated his stance on the equality of language and the unnecessary concern of folks who question his commitment to writing in his native language: if I meet an English person and he says, I write in English,’ I don’t ask him, ‘why don’t you write in Vietnamese?’ But I am asked over and over again, ‘why do you write in Gikuyu?’
More history, living through resistance, Nobel Prize: Ngugi wa Thiongo
1962 saw the emergence of Ngugi the playwright. His play The Black Hermit, was performed at the National Theater in Kampala, Uganda. The play received positive reviews from critics, and wet the ground for the future bursts of his works that followed shortly afterwards. Within the period in question, he wrote about eight short stories, two one act plays, two novels, and wrote regularly for a column in the Sunday Nation.
His first novel, Weep Not Child was published in 1964. The River Between followed in ’65. He has published many other credible works since then –A Grain of Wheat; Petals of Blood; Caitaani Mutharaba-ini; The Trial Of Dedan Kimathi; Decolonizing The Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature; Dreams in a Time of War: a Childhood Memoir etc.
In 1967 he began a lecturing career at the University of Nairobi, teaching English Literature. While in this position, he orchestrated the events that led to ‘the change of name [of the faculty] from English Literature to simply Literature, to reflect world literature with African and third world literatures at the center.’ From there he would go on to lecture at Northwestern University and several other universities. Currently, he is a distinguished professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.
1977 marked the publication of Petals of Blood. That year also featured one of the most trying times in the life of the author. Ngugi’s Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), a controversial play co-written by Ngugi wa Miri, was performed before packed audiences. The play condemned the inequalities and injustices of the Kenyan society, while elevating the place and lingo of ordinary Kenyans.
The play led to his arrest and detention without charge, in December 31, 1977. He was imprisoned as a deterrent and scapegoat to other Kenyans who were against the injustices of the Kenyan authorities. It was in prison that he solidified his stance on the question the African identity and his commitment to living through resistance. Commenting on that few years, the author reiterated that ‘resistance is the best way of keeping alive,’ a mantra that surely has worked as he has outlived most of his contemporaries, and it goes without saying that his works would outlive him.
On the Nobel Prize: the number and hopes of those who expect Ngugi to clinch the Nobel Prize grows yearly. Some agitators for Ngugi’s Nobel Prize recognition consider the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah, undeserving of the award. They believe Gurnah is a disciple of Ngugi wa Thiongo, hence their disagreement with the Swedish Academy’s choice.
I am not a man of few words, but I hope I have been able to confuse you and not to convince you on why Ngugi wa Thiongo is a legend, and why we at Arts Lounge on this day, the 5th of January, join our voices with the songs accompanying the floating lanterns of the world’s wishes, to wish that senior-man a happy birthday.
