Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan novelist, playwright, and poet who was arrested, jailed, and then exiled for writing his uncensored works in Kikuyu, making his Marxist political viewpoint available to broader African audiences. Wizard of the Crow is the first novel I've picked up by him, and I'm not very far along with it. But I'm enjoying it so far.
The book is set in the fictional Free Republic of Aburiria, a small, impoverished African nation under the dictatorship of a man called the Ruler. The characterization of the Ruler interests me, because he's a caricature—a man said to have come into power so long ago that generations upon generations have remembered only his rule, a man who seems tainted with Satanic dark magic, and a laughable figure of startling ineptitude whom one must nonetheless not laugh at. He's simultaneously all-powerful and powerless, and I'm appreciating Ngugi wa Thiong'o's adeptness at balancing those extremes. As many reviewers have said, the style is like that of a fairy tale, and it's also plainly political satire not only of African politics but of those of the colonizing nations.
There's always the risk that satire will seem insensitive to real suffering. But the barb is pointed at those who profit off of suffering:
The government also had to be mindful not to upset tourism by sweeping too many beggars off the streets. Pictures of beggars or wild animals were what many tourists sent home as proof of having been in Africa. In Aburiria, wild animals were becoming rare because of dwindling forests and poaching, and tourist pictures of beggars or children with kwashiorkor and flies massing around their runny noses and sore eyes were prized for their authenticity. If there were no beggars in the streets, tourists might start doubting whether Aburiria was an authentic African country. |
