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Meja Mwangi began his prolific writing career in the
1970s, a decade after his more well-known compatriots such
as Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Grace Ogot had been publishing
their works. When he burst onto the scene with the award-
winning Kill Me Quick in 1973, Mwangi was hailed in various
quarters as a rising star in the East African literary
constellation who was helping to disprove Taban lo Liyong's
oft-cited claim that East Africa was a literary desert (Taban
1965, Nazareth 1976). Since then, Meja Mwangi has gone on
to establish himself as one of the most prolific of Kenyan
writers, publishing eleven novels in seventeen years in
addition to short stories, children's books and working with a
variety of projects in film. Mwangi's works have received
awards in Kenya and abroad, they have been translated into
six languages, and there are film versions of two of his novels.
If there is a single writer whose work is representative of the
entire range of Kenyan narrative fiction today, it is Meja
Mwangi. What is common to practically all of Kenyan--indeed,
we might even say African—writing is its major thematic
preoccupation with the dynamics of how tradition and
modernity interact in African society. This thematic
preoccupation has led in a number of directions, of course,
with major concerns being the disintegration of village life
following the arrival of the Europeans in the colonial era, the
disequilibrium caused by European formal education, the
torment of the "been-to", the influence of the missionaries,
and in the post-colonial setting the development of a new
African political and economic elite and the dilemmas of life in
the modern African city.
While Mwangi has touched on all of these concerns, we might
divide his work into three major categories. The first
comprises his Mau Mau novels. For many Kenyan writers, the
armed resistance to British colonialism in Kenya, which came
to be known as the Mau Mau revolt and reached its height in
the 1950s, was a far-reaching experience. Mwangi has
"exhumed his Mau Mau ghost" in his two novels Carcase for
Hounds and Taste of Death (note). The'thrillers that Mwangi
began to write during the late 1970s and 1980s form a
second category of texts, and have put him at the heart of a
raging critical debate in the Kenyan literary establishment
over the merits of serious versus popular literature. The third
category of Mwangian writing, in fact written before Mwangi
began his popular writings, is that of the urban novel.
Mwangi's urban trilogv--Kill Me Quick. Going Down River
Road, and The Cockroach Dance—is a compelling and
innovative set of texts dealing with what is arguably the most
pressing contemporary social problem in Kenya: the rapid
urbanization the country has experienced since
independence in 1963 and its accompanying social problems.
It is fair to say that critical acclaim for Mwangi as a writer has
come predominantly from these tales of city life.
| "... i find this novel, The Big Chiefs, a great piece of literature, impressive and despairingly reflecting the realities, despite its ending. I actually virtually saw it as a piece of theatre and could very well imagine it performed on stage. It has a power reminding me of Waiting for Godot". ruedi küng Schweizer Radio DRS |
| Weapon of Hunger is perhaps Meja Mwangi's best book yet. The picture he paints of the relentless quest for modern Africa is grim. What is most depressing, is that there seem to be no solutions. Western philanthropists, such as Jack Rivers, are portrayed in a favourable light as sincere people. All their energies, however, are expended on trying to understand Africa's problems and once they understand them they realise that the problems are beyond them. As for the Africans themselves, they could have provided solutions, but since they are lined up in warring factions, that is impossible. While the two sides fight on to the finish, will million of ordinary people continue to starve to dead? That is the questions which Meja Mwangi asks himself and which he asks the readers of weapon. Lyne Mansure Weekly Review |
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| photo by Heidi Zingg Knöpfli |
