Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction Writing Back and the Restoration of a Community/ Nation -- Nationalism, Ethnicity and Individualism -- Manufacturing Nationalism and the East African Experience -- The Postcolonial Phase -- Tracing Ngugi s Ideological Shift and Politics of Interpretation -- 1 Ngugi's Concept of History -- The Contradictions of Imagining the Nation in Earlier Works -- Deviation from the Standard Nationalist Portrayal of Guerrilla War -- The Later Novels -- Suppression and Silences -- Dependency Theory and Class Dynamics -- 2 The Changing Nature of Allegory in Ngugi s Novels -- Allegory in Ngugi's Earlier Texts -- Allegory and Postcolonial Power Relations -- Allegorical Satire and the Grotesque Image of the Body -- Ngugi's Textual Counter-discourse -- 3 Character Portrayal in Ngugi's Novels -- The Overdetermined Narrative Structure and the Victim Type in the Later Novels -- The Individualised Character: The Intellectual/ Artist Type -- 4 The Use of Popular Forms and the Search for Relevance -- The Use of Oral Tradition in Ngugi's Earlier Novels -- Redefining Oral Tradition in the Agikuyu Novel -- The Interface Between Orality and the Written -- The Fantastic, Rumour and Biblical Allusions -- Ngugi's Achievement -- 5 Allegory, Romance and the Nation: Women as Allegorical Figures in Ngugi s Novels -- Romantic Relationships as Allegorical Tropes -- The Portrayal of Women in the Earlier Novels -- Romance and the Portrayal of Women in the Later Novels -- The Problem of Women as Victims: Wanja in Petals of Blood -- Conclusion -- 6 Ngugi's Portrayal of the Community, Heroes and the Oppressed -- Narrating the Community and the Elite in Ngugi s Earlier Novels -- The Return of Heroism and the Crisis of the African Revolution -- Ngugi's Heroes: The Example of Karega in Petals of Blood.

Imagining the Subaltern Under Conditions of Marginality and Displacement -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- History is Subversive -- Notes -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Bibliography -- Works by Ngugi -- Articles and Books -- Newspapers and Magazines -- Index -- Abdulla [Petals of Blood] -- 29 -- 30 -- 31 -- 53-4 -- Achebe, Chinua -- 1 -- 83 -- Agikuyu community -- 16 -- 135 -- identity 41 -- isolation 20 -- land ownership 19-20 -- land ownership 21 -- meaning of names 59 -- myth of origin 7 -- myth of origin 17 -- myth of origin 18 -- myth of origin 21 -- myth of origin 47 -- myth of origin 88-90 -- myth of origin 110 -- mythology 14 -- mythology 23 -- mythology 46 -- mythology 51 -- mythology 88-91 -- mythology 154 -- oathing 41 -- allegory -- 44-67 -- 76 -- 77 -- 109-25 -- 157 -- 159-60 -- as textual counter-discourse 67 -- definition of 45 -- of race 50 -- of race 51 -- romantic relationships 109 -- romantic relationships 110-15 -- women as victims 113 -- women as victims 115-24 -- Amuka, Peter 105 -- Anderson, Benedict 5-6 -- Armah, A.K. 102-3 -- artist type -- 76 -- 81-6 -- audience -- 87 -- 88 -- 97 -- 108 -- Bakhtin, Mikhail -- 55 -- 58 -- 65 -- 97 -- Barthes, Roland 108 -- Bayart, J-F. -- Bayart, J-F 61 -- Bayart, J-F 65 -- belly, politics of -- 49 -- 58-9 -- 60 -- 61-2 -- Benjamin, Walter -- 45 -- 151 -- Bennet, Tony -- 3-4 -- 93 -- Berman, B.J. -- 36 -- 38 -- 40 -- biblical allusions 90-1 -- binarism -- 65-6 -- 67 -- 157 -- 158-9 -- Boro [Weep Not, Child] -- 24-5 -- 48 -- 49 -- 130 -- 131 -- Brett, E.A. -- Brett, E.A 11-12 -- Brett, E.A 27 -- Breweries Workers' Union 142 -- Brother Ezekiel [Petals of Blood] 29 -- Buijtenhuijs, R. 129 -- Cabral, A. 156 -- Caminero-Santangelo, B. -- Caminero-Santangelo, B 22 -- Caminero-Santangelo, B 92.

Caminero-Santangelo, B 132 -- capitalism -- and Devil 's feast 57 -- and Kenya 12 -- and Kenya 27 -- and self-interest 51 -- and women 120 -- and women 121 -- and women 123-4 -- Chaka 156 -- Chakava, Henry 108 -- characters -- 68-86 -- allegorical symbols 99 -- allegorical symbols 108 -- allegorical symbols 159 -- and narrative 68 -- and narrative 100 -- and narrative 108 -- as symbols of social classes 7 -- as symbols of social classes 86 -- as symbols of social classes 113-14 -- motivation and free will 68-9 -- motivation and free will 71-2 -- motivation and free will 75 -- motivation and free will 80 -- motivation and free will 108 -- Chatterjee, Partha 7-8 -- Chege [The River Between] -- 18 -- 68 -- choices -- 82 -- 84-6 -- Christian Siriana missionary centre 90 -- Christianity -- 6 -- 110 -- and loyalists 37 -- and oppression 29 -- and oppression 41 -- and politics 41-2 -- morality 102 -- morality 123 -- mythology 91 -- reinterpreted 91-2 -- Chui, Mr [Petals of Blood] -- 54 -- 139 -- circumcision, female -- 16 -- 70 -- city, and degradation 48 -- class dynamics 38-43 -- Clifford, Gay 99-100 -- Clough, Marshall 36 -- Cloward, Richard A. 148 -- collaboration -- 64-5 -- 81 -- and resistance 35-6 -- and resistance 157 -- collective identity 90 -- colonialism -- and comprador class 57 -- and comprador class 62-3 -- and conflict 27-8 -- and self-interest 51 -- and women's liberation 120 -- continuing 28 -- continuing 35-6 -- continuing 53 -- continuing 132-3 -- corrosive effects of 18 -- dependency 64 -- history distorted by 1 -- history distorted by 2 -- history distorted by 8 -- history distorted by 154 -- legacy of 150 -- portrayed as Devil 57 -- portrayed as Devil 62 -- response to 157 -- coloniser/colonised, portrayal of 48-9 -- community -- restoration of 70 -- restoration of 130.

restoration of 134-5 -- and socialism 15-16 -- comprador bourgeoisie -- 52 -- 57 -- 58 -- 62-3 -- and borrowed power 65 -- betrayal 64 -- exploiter type 76 -- exploiter type 81 -- Cooper, Brenda -- 93 -- 101 -- Cooper, Frederick -- 5 -- 8 -- 9 -- 11 -- 156 -- cultural imperialism 27 -- culture, fusion of Western and African -- 91-2 -- 102 -- 110 -- Davidson, Basil 1 -- de Man, Paul 50 -- decolonisation 26-7 -- Decolonising the Mind 88 -- democracy -- 27 -- 32 -- 34 -- 43 -- dependency theory -- 26 -- 27 -- 32-3 -- 34 -- 38-43 -- 157 -- Desai, G. 93 -- Detained -- 56 -- 62 -- Devil 's feast -- 57-8 -- 64 -- and gender discrimination 116 -- and the fantastic 30 -- and the fantastic 101-5 -- journey motif 98-9 -- narrator 95 -- narrator 96 -- narrator 97-8 -- oral language 94 -- overdetermined narrative structure 68 -- overdetermined narrative structure 77-80 -- past and present 54 -- plot 56 -- subnarratives 62-4 -- workers 31-2 -- workers 137 -- workers 146 -- Devil on the Cross -- 28 -- 30 -- allegory 46 -- allegory 48 -- allegory 56-8 -- allegory 83 -- artist type 82-6 -- didactic writing -- 101 -- 159 -- displacement, social -- 30 -- 151-2 -- dispossession -- 17 -- 28-30 -- 37 -- 45 -- education -- and black history 139-40 -- and loyalists 37 -- and salvation 69 -- for unity 21-2 -- for unity 72 -- for unity 111 -- for unity 127 -- for unity 128 -- for unity 130 -- elders, respect for 37 -- elite -- betrayal 135 -- and struggles of people 130 -- and struggles of people 131 -- and Western capitalism 27 -- and Western capitalism 29 -- ill-prepared 151 -- in nationalist narratives 25 -- Kenyan 128-9 -- nation building 129 -- role of 126 -- role of 129 -- role of 130 -- role of 136 -- Empire, allegorised 49 -- ethnicity -- backward-looking 16 -- backward-looking 17 -- backward-looking 110.

and nationalism 5 -- and nationalism 7 -- and nationalism 15 -- and nationalism 20 -- and nationalism 110 -- and nationalism 129 -- construction of 39-40 -- instrument of power game 40-1 -- invention of colonialism 39 -- mechanism of control 39-40 -- need for roots 70 -- exploitation -- 53-4 -- 121 -- exploiter type -- 76 -- 80 -- Fanon, F -- African revolution 27 -- African revolution 28 -- African revolution 42 -- African revolution 137 -- fragmentation in Africa 151 -- national bourgeoisie 30 -- workers 31 -- . 10 -- . 12 -- . 158 -- fantastic, and character development 101-5 -- Faust theme 88 -- fiction, and history 4 -- fire, and purification 122-3 -- Foucault, Michel 56 -- fragmentation, social -- 151-2 -- 157 -- Fraudsham, Mr [Petals of Blood] 139 -- Furedi, F. 12 -- Gallagher 17 -- Gatuiria [Devil on the Cross] -- 56 -- artist type 82-6 -- lack of commitment 84-5 -- music and patriotism 83-5 -- relationship with Wariinga 78 -- relationship with Wariinga 79-80 -- relationship with Wariinga 113 -- stories 63-4 -- gender relations 115-16 -- Gicaandi player -- 91 -- 95 -- 96 -- Gikandi, S. -- Gikandi, S 1 -- Gikandi, S 46-7 -- Gikandi, S 81-2 -- Gikandi, S 140 -- Gikandi, S 142 -- Gikandi, S 144 -- Gikonyo [A Grain of Wheat] -- betrayal 74 -- and independence 48 -- and independence 52 -- and independence 132 -- capitalist accumulation 133-4 -- founder of Agikuyu community 135 -- reconciliation 111-12 -- Gikuyu -- 18 -- 21 -- 70 -- 89 -- Gitahi [Devil on the Cross] -- 32 -- 80-1 -- 113 -- Gitutu [Devil on the Cross] -- 29 -- 58-9 -- 64 -- 81 -- Glenn, Ian -- 4 -- 86 -- 128 -- 130 -- good and evil -- 102-5 -- 147 -- 158-9 -- Grain of Wheat, A -- allegory 48-9 -- allegory 51 -- allegory 111 -- and educated elite 126 -- and independence 11 -- and independence 132 -- betrayal 74-5 -- betrayal 133.

character portrayal 68.