Who is matigari ngugi

When the ensuing extensive search across the country finally revealed that Matigari was only a fictional hero, the book which had given birth to this phantom, this Matigari … was immediately confiscated and banned from circulation. Odun Balogun. Who is Matigari? Is he young or old; a man or fate; dead or living… or even a resurrection of Jesus Christ? The book was outlawed in Kenya because it was thought to be a literary provocation to violence.

This might be true. The main character, returning from war, attempts to use peaceful means to unite his family representative of the country but finds that, in order to survive, he must return to the violence that he had previously buried with his weapons of war. It is a beautifully-realized work that doesn't get due credit, largely because most readers are unfamiliar with the historical context from which the book was born.

I would recommend reading some of the accounts of Mau Mau fighters several have been published before tackling Matigari , since one's appreciation of the themes and the emotional landscape of the book are dependent on some familiarity with the suffering and idealism of the Mau Mau fighters. Lots of major themes in this! I don't think this book is for everyone But if you appreciate African oral literature and post-colonial stuff - read this!

It is indeed powerful. There were orders for his immediate arrest, but the police discovered that Matigari was only a fictional character in a book of the same name. In February , the police raided all the bookshops and seized every copy of the novel. Matigari, the fictional hero, and the novel, his only habitation, have been effectively banned in Kenya.

With the publication of this English edition, they have joined their author in exile. The novel's main concern is the everlasting fight against neo-colonialism, as it is the main theme of the author.

However, Matigari is different from Ngugi's earlier works, being written in exile, the commitment and idealism we are used to are somewhat reduced. In the words of my professor, in Matigari, Ngugi attempts to tell a universal tale. Matigari is neither confined by space nor time, it is a story for everyone.

The colonial setting makes it applicable for most African countries, but the message conveys transcends even that. Matigari is also an allegory of the struggle for freedom in a world full of injustice, written in magic realism, making use of oral tradition, Marxism and Christianity.

Give a little sacrifice to appease a thieving evil spirit, and this will only whet its appetite and greed for more Ngugi's feverish fantasy of the return of a struggler for African independence to his post-colonial country.

Believing he can don a 'belt of peace' and resume a civilian life with his family in the house he had built, Matigari discovers a corrupt society of scavenging children, oppressed factory workers and women forced into prostitution.

Matigari assumes the role of mentor of lost souls, then wandering questioner, and finally warrior returning to reignite the battle for liberation. He seems to the citizens of this imaginary land to be a Christ-figure mixed with the legend of a returned African hero.

He asks where truth and justice can be found in his benighted land, and the answer appears to be, nowhere but in the prospect of further struggle for freedom. A truly elegiac tale which derives its force from a wholly African style of story. Eternal joy to the memory of Matigari. Mwithiga Wa. This is my most favorite novel. From the day i read it, entire way of thinking and perception of my country Kenya changed.

I realized that true patriots who fought for our country against colonial imperialism never saw the corridors of power, neither their children. The novel gives a true picture of our country Kenya, where sons of our colonial collaborators, home guards and sell outs replaced the colonial regime leaving the true liberators in the cold. But, the struggle continues since "Justice for the oppressed comes from a sharpened spear".

Jaclyn Woods. This was, as always, an entertaining and thought-provoking read, at times funny and at others extremely sad. Dora Okeyo. Ngugi has long excelled in creating characters that embody qualities you'd recognize in those around you without much thought or struggle. In Matigari, he uses symbolism to expound on the protagonist's cause.

Matigari returns to his land after battling with settlers in the hills and forest only to discover that the battle is ongoing, and now the women and children suffer because the people live in fear. They do not speak up lest they are imprisoned or killed, and there's no respect for women and men. What follows are acts that lead the people to make him into a legend. But he finds life in the newly independent state is far from his dreams, with business continuing very much as it did before.

Using the name Matigari ma Nijiruungi, "the patriots who survived the bullets", he joins up with a worker, a prostitute, and an orphan. When he confronts the sons of those he had fought, demanding the house he built, he is locked up. He and the others in his cell tell one another their stories before miraculously escaping.

As rumours about him spread, Matigari goes in search of truth and justice. He asks in shopping centres, law courts, eating places, and farmlands. He asks old women and students and teachers and priests.