FYI (fwd from H-Swahili)... DZO
The East African Standard | Online Edition http://www.eastandard.net Saturday December 17, 2005 Kiswahili novel opens new literary possibilities By Lennox Odiemo-Munara That a Swahili text, Musaleo! (2004), by Kyalo Wadi Wamitila, won First Prize in this year's Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, Swahili Adult Fiction Category, a feat that eluded the English texts, calls for a re-reading of contemporary Swahili writing. Judging by such works as Mafuta and Walenisi by Katama Mkangi, Siku Njema and Kufa Kuzikana (which won Second Prize in the same category) by Ken Walibora, we can begin to celebrate the emergence of a new literature in Swahili, a literature that is captivating and that aptly captures post-independent Kenya's highly problematical social and political realities. Wamitila's Musaleo! - is an intellectually arresting work because of its philosophical and ideological depths. It is a multi-layered, self-referential story that makes use of a wide array of images and tropes, sounds and rhythms to create an accomplished whole. The complex and heightened thought process that acknowledges the plurality of reality enables the reader to visualise existence in its manifestations of angst and joy. This is a mark of craftsmanship. In this novel, Mugogo Wehu, a voluntary social worker and a man in pursuit of right in order to uplift the lives of the downtrodden, endeavours to "investigate" the secrets and mysteries (both past and present) that basely define his country. This is not only a complex but also a risky undertaking, given the fear and raw terror that the nation's ruler, Mzee and liberator, Present-day Moses, and whatnot, has ruthlessly managed to sustain throughout the land. And this journey, despite the dangers encountered, like a pilgrim's progress, enables the hero and others like him, for example, the writer-scholar Kingunge, to interrogate the lies and the crude ideologies that the people have been condemned to live. In the process of his inquiry, the protagonist learns that the majority of people in the country are deprived and helpless, because the ruler and his cronies have primitively amassed so much wealth and power. He realises that the sordid conceptualisation of being in the nation is as a result of lack of human conscience among the political elite. In this unnamed but familiar African country, corruption and decay permeate every facet of the society. As he encounters the gripping tales of suffering and betrayal first-hand from helpless observers like street urchins, mendicants and even those who used to serve Mzee only to become his victims on accomplishing what he wanted, Mugogo Wehu gets so disorientated that he literally breaks down. However, the ultimate realisation of the "truth" is a re-awakening call for him and the other God's bits of wood in the text, so that when eventually the self-proclaimed life president "passes on" the nation realises the need to meaningfully re-examine itself and see how best it can redeem its people. For the scholar-writer Kingunge, it becomes a moment to reflect on how art ought to work when the constituency of fear and terror becomes much broader, more vicious. Visit East African Standard Online http://www.eastandard.net ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Know an art & music fan? Make a donation in their honor this holiday season! http://us.click.yahoo.com/.6dcNC/.VHMAA/Zx0JAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
