Synopses & Reviews
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 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
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.