The Trial of Dedan Kimathi - Softcover

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o; Micere Githae Mugo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1478611316 ISBN 13: 9781478611318

Publisher: Waveland Press, Inc., 2013

Synopsis

Kenyan-born novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o and his collaborator, Micere Githae Mugo, have built a powerful and challenging play out of the circumstances surrounding the 1956 trial of Dedan Kimathi, the celebrated Kenyan hero who led the Mau Mau rebellion against the British colonial regime in Kenya and was eventually hanged. A highly controversial character, Kimathi's life has been subject to intense propaganda by both the British government, who saw him as a vicious terrorist, and Kenyan nationalists, who viewed him as a man of great courage and commitment.

Writing in the 1970s, the playwrights' response to colonialist writings about the Mau Mau movement in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is to sing the praises of the deeds of this hero of the resistance who refused to surrender to British imperialism. It is not a reproduction of the farcical "trial" at Nyeri. Rather, according to the preface, it is "an imaginative recreation and interpretation of the collective will of the Kenyan peasants and workers in their refusal to break under sixty years of colonial torture and ruthless oppression by the British ruling classes and their continued determination to resist exploitation,oppression and new forms of enslavement."

Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press:

Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060)

Beti, The Poor Christ of Bomba (ISBN 9781577664185)

Emecheta, Kehinde (ISBN 9781577664192)

Equiano, Equiano's Travels (ISBN 9781577664871)

Head, The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601)

Head, Maru (ISBN 9781478607618)

Head, When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595)

La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251)

Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730)

Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151)

Ngugi-Mugo, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (ISBN 9781478611318)

Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011)

Oyono, Houseboy (ISBN 9781577669883)

Oyono, The Old Man and the Medal (ISBN 9781478609582)

p'Bitek, Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723)

Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575)

Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288)

About this title

About the Author

Ngugi is world famous for his novels from Weep Not, Child to Matigari and the impact of his plays, especially in Gikuyu, which led to his detention in Kenya. He is now Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies in New York University. This book reflects many of the concerns found in Decolonising the Mind and Moving the Centre.

Review

"What Ngugi offers is nothing less than a new direction for African writing." --British Book News

"The character of Miathi has too long been wrapped up in awe, mystique, and charisma without our people fully comprehending why. The Ngugi-Mugo play puts the facts bare and affords us even greater understanding of why so many shed blood that we might be free." --The Sunday Nation (Nairobi)

"I am delighted Waveland decided to republish The Trial of Dedan Kimathi. It is one of Africa's most important plays that should always be in print. Bringing it back has done East Africanists a big favor." --Myles Osborne, University of Colorado

"The character of Miathi has too long been wrapped up in awe, mystique, and charisma without our people fully comprehending why. The Ngugi-Mugo play puts the facts bare and affords us even greater understanding of why so many shed blood that we might be free." --The Sunday Nation (Nairobi)

"I am delighted Waveland decided to republish The Trial of Dedan Kimathi. It is one of Africa's most important plays that should always be in print. Bringing it back has done East Africanists a big favor." --Myles Osborne, University of Colorado

Edition details

• Publisher: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1478611316
• ISBN 13: 9781478611318
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 85