Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance

Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o has been a force in African literature for decades: Since the 1970s, when he gave up the English language to commit himself to writing in African languages, his foremost concern has been the critical importance of language to culture. In Something Torn and New, Ngugi explores Africa's historical, economic, and cultural fragmentation by slavery, colonialism, and globalization. Throughout this tragic history, a constant and irrepressible force was Europhonism: the replacement of native names, languages, and identities with European ones. The result was the dismemberment of African memory.

Seeking to remember language in order to revitalize it, Ngugi's quest is for wholeness. Wide-ranging, erudite, and hopeful, Something Torn and New is a cri de coeur to save Africa's cultural future.

Binding Type: Paperback
Author: Wa Thiong'o, Ngugi
Published: 02/24/2009
Publisher: Civitas Book Publisher
ISBN: 9780465009466
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.60d