In the Name of the Mother

'This is vintage Ngüg¿, plain-spoken, intensely committed, and passionate about the values of freedom and struggle in which he still profoundly believes.' - Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English, University of Oxford. Renowned worldwide, as novelist and dramatist, Ngüg¿ wa Thiongo's contributions to the body of critical writing on African literature, politics and society have been highly significant. His best known critical work is Decolonising the Mind, which since publication in 1986 has profoundly influenced other writers, critics, scholars and students. These latest essays reflect Ngügi's continuing interests enthusiasms. His choice of writers is original. He makes us look again at their novels to address his lifelong concerns with the ways to independence, the meanings of colonialism and the takeover by neo-colonialism, and the functions of literature in political as well as literary terms. They will appeal not only to his international band of supporters. They will also introduce his views to young people discovering African and Caribbean literature.