"The novelist is haunted by a sense of the past. His work is often an attempt to come to terms with 'the thing that has been', a struggle, as it were, to sensitively register his encounter with history, his people's history. And the novelist, at his best, must feel himself heir to a continuous tradition. He must feel himself, as I think Tolstoy did in War and Peace or Sholokov in And Quiet Flows the Don, swimming, struggling, defining himself, in the mainstream of his people's historical drama. At the same time, he must be able to stand aside and merely contemplate the currents. He must do both: simultaneously swim, struggle and also watch, on the shore."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
PhilosophersNon-fiction authors from KenyaAcademics from KenyaEssayists from KenyaNovelists from Kenya
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong'o
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
75 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o →
Related Quotes
"Our fathers fought bravely. But do you know the biggest weapon unleashed by the enemy against them? It was not the Ma…"
"In any case how many took the oath and are now licking the toes of the whiteman?No, you take an oath to confirm a cho…"
"The Whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced…"
"As long as he did not know the truth, he could interpret the story in the only way that gave him hope: the coming of …"
"I die for you, you die for me, we become a sacrifice for one another. So I can say that you, Karanja, are Christ. I a…"
"The whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced…"
"They looked beyond the laughing face of the whiteman and suddenly saw a long line of other red strangers who carried …"
"[Mugo] had always found it difficult to make decisions. Recoiling as if by instinct from setting in motion a course o…"
"At Githima, people believed that a complaint from [Karanja] was enough to make a man lose his job. Karanja knew their…"
"(Preface , Page Ix)"