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Wizard of the Crow
by Ngugi wa'Thiong'o
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780375422485 |
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Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
From the exiled Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic — a magisterial comic novel that is certain to take its place as a landmark of postcolonial African literature.
In exile now for more than twenty years, Ngugl wa Thiong'o has become one of the most widely read African writers of our time, the power and scope of his work garnering him international attention and praise. His aim in Wizard of the Crow is, in his own words,nothing less than "to sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history."
Commencing in "our times" and set in the "Free Republic of Aburlria," the novel dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburlrian people. Among the contenders: His High Mighty Excellency; the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Wizard of the Crow reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity.
Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, Wizard of the Crow is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugl wa Thiong'o's career thus far.
Review:
"The fictional Republic of Aburiria chronicled in this sprawling, dazzling satirical fable is an exaggeration of sordid African despotism. At the top, a grandiose Ruler with 'the power to declare any month in the year the seventh month' and his sycophantic cabinet plan to climb to heaven with a modern-day Tower of Babel funded by the Global Bank; beneath them, a cabal of venal officials and opportunistic businessmen jockey for a piece of the pie; at the bottom are the unemployed masses who wait in endless lines behind every help-wanted sign. Kamiti, an archetypal New Man with two university degrees and no job prospects, sets up shop as a wizard; with the help of Nyawira, member of both an underground dissident movement and a feminist dance troupe, he dispenses therapeutic sorcery to a citizenry that finds witchcraft less absurd than everyday life. Kenyan novelist Thiong'o (Petals of Blood) mounts a nuanced but caustic political and social satire of the corruption of African society, with a touch of magical realism — or, perhaps, realistic magic, as the wizard's tricks hinge on holding a not-so-enchanted mirror to his clients' hidden self-delusions. The result is a sometimes lurid, sometimes lyrical reflection on Africa's dysfunctions — and possibilities." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"In the year in which the despotic leader of the fictional African nation of Aburiria announces a grand scheme to build the world's tallest building, Kamiti, a luckless job seeker, wakes up on a rubbish heap to find himself possessed of magical powers. So begins 'Wizard of the Crow,' Ngugi wa Thiong'o's epic African political satire, his first novel in 20 years. Daunting in its ambition and..." Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:
The translation, by the author himself from his native Gikuyu, is fluid and manages to convey a vivid sense of African storytelling. Recommended for all collections of literary fiction." Library Journal
Review:
"[W]ith Wizard of the Crow, Ngugi has flown over the entire African continent and sniffed out all of the foul stenches rising high into the air: complacency toward despotism, repression of women and ethnic minorities, widespread corruption and...a neocolonial system in which today's lending banks and multinationals have supplanted yesterday's European overlords." New York Times
Review:
"[T]his unforgettable love story reveals the magic power of the ordinary in people and in politics." Booklist
Synopsis:
In exile now for more than 20 years, the author has become one of the most widely read contemporary African writers. This volume is an ambitious attempt to sum up the Africa of the 20th century in the context of two thousand years of world history, exploring themes of globalization, greed, power, love, corruption, and resurrection.
About the Author
Ngugl wa Thiong'o has taught at Amherst College, Yale University, and New York University. He is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, and is director of the university's International Center for Writing and Translation. His books include Petals of Blood, for which he was imprisoned by the Kenyan government in 1977. He lives in Irvine, California.
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
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Steve Ellerhoff, September 26, 2006 (view all comments by Steve Ellerhoff)
I was first introduced to Ngugi's novels in my African literature class when I was an undergrad. My mentor, Peter Nazareth, who also teaches an incredible course on Elvis Presley, went to college with Ngugi in Uganda and postgraduate school in Leeds, England. The only writer from Africa I'd read up until that course was Achebe, but there are so many truly amazing novels by Africans out there that most Americans simply don't know about--a whole literature that goes far beyond Things Fall Apart: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Armah, Maru by Bessie Head, A Season of Migration to the North by Salih, The Famished Road by Okri, The Palm-Wine Drunkard by Tutuola, The Book of Secrets by Vassanji, Nehanda by Vera, A Walk in the Night by La Guma, The General Is Up by my mentor Peter Nazareth, and on and on. The best storyteller among them all, however, I must say, in my own opinion, is Ngugi wa Thiong'o. From his first works on up, they've just been better and better. A Grain of Wheat was the first I read, all about England giving up colonial power over Kenya, the Mau Mau movement, and Gikuyu culture. Another of his novels I love and have read several times is Devil on the Cross. He was detained by the Kenyan government in the late seventies after his novel Petals of Blood sparked the popular imagination and made him a threat to the regime. While in detention, he wrote Devil on the Cross, I'm told partly on toilet paper as it was all there was to write upon. Soaring with magic realism, it gives a mythic, moral critique of the Kenya he was experiencing. It's one of the great books I've read. And until this summer, it was my favorite of his works.
His latest book is Wizard of the Crow and I literally don't have the skills to convey how great it is. It's been awhile since he published a novel. His last novel before this was Matigari, which he wrote in 1983-84, first in Gikuyu and then translated it himself into English (as he'd done with Devil on the Cross). Over twenty years, then, since he finished his last novel. As it's published, it's 766 pages long, his longest work. And, I have to say, it is his best. It is the kind of story that cannot be written quickly, it's scope encompassing much more than most novels do. This was a book that demanded incubation.
Wizard of the Crow isn't so much an African novel as it is a novel that explores Africa in a global context. It focuses on a fictitious country called Aburiria, which is controlled by a dictator called The Ruler. He's completely bonkers, and it isn't hard for me to see Idi Amin in this leader--the Ngatho - Acknowledgments at the end also point back to the Moi dictatorship of Kenya. But he, and his cabinet (with men who've undergone impossible plastic surgeries in Europe to have lightbulb-sized eyes and forearm-length ears--so as to be the eyes and ears of the country), aren't the only villains in this book. There's also the greedy businessmen and the Global Bank, who come to consider giving The Ruler money to build his very own tower of Babel so that he can speak to God every morning. On top of that, the country's money is cursed, giving off an overpowering stench to those people sensitive enough to such things as corruption, greed, and evil.
There are good guys, too, though. Of course there are. Ngugi isn't one of those writers who turns his back on hope. Kamiti is a young man, educated postgrad in India, who has been homeless and unemployed for several years after graduating--no one in Aburiria will hire him. He falls into his role as the Wizard of the Crow after pulling a prank to get a cop off his tail. He doesn't believe the mumbo jumbo he speaks, but everyone around hears of his powers and believes he's a healer and incredible sorcerer. Nyawira is a young woman he meets and the two of them develop an intense bond. She's tough, secretly being one of the top members of an underground movement that is against The Ruler and his barbaric administration. She also, interestingly, comes to wear the mantle of the Wizard of the Crow.
Ngugi's satirical edge is sharper than it's ever been, and he really cuts open the lies and shams of the world to get down to what's really moral and good in human beings. I can't recommend this novel enough. If you're already into novels by African writers, you'll love this and might be amazed, as I have been, at how he ties the African experience together within the bigger picture. And if you haven't read any novels by Africans before, well, this is the one to read. It's got it all.
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Edward, September 4, 2006 (view all comments by Edward)
A cross between Gabriel Garcia MArquez and Cervantes. Ngugi Wa Thiongo has writen a masterpiece which wil be praised and treasured for generations! He has done for Africa what Marquez did for Columbia and Cervantes did for Spain. The Wizard of the Crow is remarkable!
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Edward, September 4, 2006 (view all comments by Edward)
Have you read Tolsoy's war and Peace? What Tolstoy did for Russia, Ngugi Wa Thiongo has done for Africa. A truely superb novel and one that will be treasured for generations to come. Remember that orgasm after reading War and Peace? After reading Wizard and the Crow that orgasm will happen again!
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Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780375422485
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Libri
- Author:
- Author:
- Author:
- Author:
- Author:
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Africa
- Subject:
- Power (Social sciences)
- Publication Date:
- August 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 768
- Dimensions:
- 9.26x6.42x1.88 in. 2.62 lbs.
