Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Dies Aged 87

Hello Gentle Reader,

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o will always be remembered and acknowledged as one of the greatest giants of contemporary African Literature. A revolutionary literary master, whose life and work sought to not only emancipate Kenya from colonial attitudes and lingering influence, but remediate and restore African languages into established and official literary canons, and became renowned as one of the most fervent and zealous advocates for traditional languages to be reintroduced not only in daily life but also in official capacities and cultural institution. This advocacy and in turns political engagement often had consequential effects on the writer’s personal relationships. In one firebrand essay Ngũgĩ criticized the legendary and venerable Chinua Achebe’s perspective that writers can ‘Africanize,’ and subvert the colonial languages of English and French to their own will. The two writers’ relationship became tense after that. There’s a hint of irony in this as well, as Chinua Achebe was instrumental in getting Ngũgĩ’s debut novel, “Weep Not, Child,” published. In turn, “Weep Not, Child,” is the first English language novel to be published by an East African writer, and was originally published under the name James Ngugi, which would later be abandoned in favour of a revitalized name he took, to push back against any lingering sentiment of colonialism and push for greater nationalism and Kenyan identity based on tradition and folklore. Literature and politics often went hand in hand for Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, whose efforts to inspire, facilitate, and maintain a proud nationalistic African identity and pride, one founded on the principles of independence, often came with violent consequences. While his earlier works were written in English, by 1977 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o began to write and publish solely in the Kikuyu language. Additionally, while Ngũgĩ’s earlier novels were preoccupied with criticizing the colonialism of the English, subsequent novels were equally scathing of an independent Kenya, which Ngũgĩ accused of becoming the old guard in a new form, full of elites who had all but abandoned the everyday Kenyan. The publication and staging of the play “I Will Marry When I Want,” found Ngũgĩ imprisoned without trial by then then president of Kenya. While imprisoned Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote his first novel in Kikuyu “Devil on the Cross,” which was drafted on toilet paper, as the writer was denied any other writing materials. While he was later freed by the new president, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o remained an unofficial political opponent to the government, and while attending a book launch in London, the writer learned of an impending plot to assassinate him back in Kenya, which led to a 22-year period of self-imposed exile. When returning to Kenya after this exile, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was welcome back as a hero, but was later brutally assaulted in his home, while his wife was violently raped. Regardless of the political violence thrust upon him, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o remains a pioneering writer and intellectual, whose promotion of indigenous languages has spurred movements seeking to preserve them. Yet sadly, as in the case of many writers before him, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was also considered a perennial Nobel Laureate in waiting, but as in the case of other magnificent writers never received the award. Regardless, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o literary reputation is safeguarded even without the award. Ngũgĩ will be remembered and studied for years to come as a vanguard and powerful force which sought to move African literature away from mere concept or theoretical possibility to a subject of serious study, and in turn working towards capturing, preserving, and promoting indigenous languages for future generations.

Rest in Peace Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
 
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M. Mary

Paul Durcan Dies Aged 80

Hello Gentle Reader,

Paul Durcan is yet another giant of Irish poetry. Ireland does seem to produce exceptional writers with a particular proclivity towards poets. Paul Durcan’s career is of no exception. Since his debut in 1967, Durcan proved himself to be an original voice, whose poetry was oppositional and adversarial as it rallied against authority, oppression, and intolerance. This took place for Durcan on both a level of the individual against society, but also the individual against the family; and while Paul Durcan loved Ireland and celebrated the absolute majesty of the Irish culture, he was not afraid to confront its failings either with brutal and eviscerating satire. Don’t mistake Paul Durcan as a poet whose work is infused with the dour atmosphere of the pissing rain of the emerald, complete with the iron chokehold of the catholic church on the eternal soul; or poems kneeling into states of subjugation, confessing, and performing acts of penance and repentance, only to be followed by rallying cries of independence turned cries of mourning due to the senseless of the violence and the human cost. Durcan’s poetry was at ease in unfurling into flights of fantasy and slipping into the surreal. Paul Durcan’s poetry readings were equally highly regarded for their intensity; while on the page Durcan is often regarded as being unpolished – a component of the poet’s style and charm – but in live recitations, the came through, the immediacy in which the poems were composed capturing the complexity and palpability of their subject, were reawakened and disseminated to the assembled. Paul Durcan’s early ambitions to become a poet is now part of his biography and legend, in part because it captures the senseless brutality and savagery of mid-century modern psychiatry, whereby the young Durcan was institutionalized by his father (a respectable, though difficult and abusive judge) for his literary ambitions under the vague diagnosis of ‘clinical depression,’ whereby for the subsequent years the young Durcan would be subject to 27 rounds of electroconvulsive therapy (shock therapy), in addition to god knows what other cocktail of drugs that were administered. According to Durcan himself, he was fortunate to get through ordeal without being lobotomized. Despite the complications felt towards Ireland, Paul Durcan was often an instrumental figure in founding and creating institutions that promote and protect Irish culture such as Aosdána; and his poetry is often found in the school curricula. Paul Durcan is a classic Irish poet, with his formidable wit and indominable spirit, whose love for Ireland is equally tempered by its unsentimental criticism of it.

Rest in Peace Paul Durcan.

 
Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
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M. Mary

– XL –

To be beyond reproach is to be dead. 

Alice Notley Dies Aged 79

Hello Gentle Reader,

Alice Notley is a poet whose name immediately elicits responses such as: difficult, challenging, uncompromising, and exacting. One might even go so far as to describe Notley as that academic poet. One whose vision is so esoteric it can only be appreciated and understood after it has been sufficiently autopsied by bespeckled professors in tweed jackets with elbow patches, who through sufficient reading and dissertations can distill the essence of the poetry into a cohesive summary with authority. In her early career, Alice Notley was lumped together with the Second Generation of the New York School of Poetry, famous for being the antithesis of the Confessional Poets. Their poetry was concerned with looking towards external stimuli rather then inwards, and their style was marked for its more cosmopolitan flare. Notley refuted being classified neatly with this chronological time stamp, and her poetry expanded far beyond the limitations of being considered a poet of the Second Generation of the New York School of Poetry. As a poet, Alice Notley is admired for her continued change of form. No two collections are alike. There is always a sense of seeking a new beginning. Notley’s poetic and thematic range moved form discussions of and tropes of popular culture, to scenes of the everyday, to ruminations on literature philosophical matters. In the later periods of her work, Alice Notley’s poetry collections became elaborate pieces of architecture, moving away from the poems being singular constructs wrangled into collection, and instead poetry collections became unified as a whole, devoted to a particular subject or engrossed in a specific form. “The Descent of Alette,” is considered a landmark piece of text, showcasing Notley’s poetic evolution. “The Descent of Alette,” is a single epic poem framed as a feminist critique of the epic poetry genre and tradition. As the panoramic new and selected poetry collection “Grave of Light,” provides the most adequate summarization of Notley’s bibliography “[. . .] work that includes intimate lyrics, experimental diaries, traditional genres, the postmodern series, the newly invented epic, political observation and invective, and the poem as novel,” which only shows just the breadth in which Notley wrote and her continued innovate approach to expanding and exploring the possibilities of poetry. It comes as no surprise to readers and lovers of poetry, why Alice Notley was often considered one of the greatest writers of the form.

Rest in Peace Alice Notley.

Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
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M. Mary

The International Booker Prize Winner 2025

Hello Gentle Reader,

This years International Booker Prize winner is Banu Mushtaq with her short story collection “Heart Lamp.” This is the first time the International Booker Prize has been awarded to a short story collection. “Heart Lamp,” is comprised of twelve stories selected from over 50 stories housed in six collections, written over the past 30 years. All of those stories were translated from Banu Mushtaq’s native Kannada which is the official language of Karnataka, a south western state of India. The stories of “Heart Lamp,” chronicle the lives of women living in patriarchal society. Of all the shortlisted titles, “Heart Lamp,” was seen as a worthy but dark horse contender. Many wrote off its chances of receiving the award because it was a short story collection, which as a form had not been honoured yet. As for the judges, according to the chair Max Porter, they deliberated for six hours, arguing before unanimously agreeing on “Heart Lamp.” Porter, also praised the collection of stories for being special in the terms of its politics, and while her quickly amended his statement to steer it away from being viewed within the lens of an activist literature, or the judges purposefully endorsing any book which supports their sociopolitical attitudes, sympathies, or causes; it inevitably exposes what made this year’s longlist and shortlist ultimately disappointing.

This year’s judges appeared to have inflected social justice commitments to their evaluations. Both the longlist and shortlist were coated in a veneer of aggrandizing social commentary over purely literary evaluation. While many congratulations are in order for Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi, whose translation of the stories has gained special praise, and the winning work “Heart Lamp,” which is exceptional to having been the first short story collection to win the award.

Thank you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
 
M. Mary