A legendary work of African literature, Devil on the Cross is one of the cornerstones of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's enduring fame--and at the heart of his perennial contention for the Nobel Prize. An impassioned cry for a Kenya free of dictatorship and for African writers to work in their own local dialects,it has had profound influences on Africa and on African literature.
Written on toilet paper while Ngugi wa Thiong'o was in prison, this novel tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a young woman who moves from a rural Kenyan town to the capital, Nairobi, only to be exploited by her boss and later a corrupt businessman. As Wariinga struggles to survive, she begins to realize that her problems are only symptoms of a larger societal malaise and that much of the misfortune stems from the Western, capitalist influences on her country. Climaxing in an unforgettable scene of the "Devil's Feast," a satirical parable of Western culture and business practices, Devil on the Cross is an essential story of the post-colonial African experience.
For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
The great Kenyan writer and Nobel Prize nominee'snovel that he wrote in secret, on toilet paper, while in prison-featuring an introduction by Namwali Serpell, the author of the novelThe Old Drift
One of the cornerstones of Ngũgĩwa Thiong'o's fame, Devil on the Cross is a powerful fictional critique of capitalism. It tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a young woman who moves from a rural Kenyan town to the capital, Nairobi, only to be exploited by her boss and later by a corrupt businessman. As she struggles to survive, Wariinga begins to realize that her problems are only symptoms of a larger societal malaise and that much of the misfortune stems from the Western, capitalist influences on her country. An impassioned cry for a Kenya free of dictatorship and for African writers to work in their own local dialects, Devil on the Cross has had a profound influence on Africa and on post-colonial African literature.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Author Biography:
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine. He lives in Irvine, California.
Namwali Serpell (introducer) has won the Windham-Campbell Prize, the Caine Prize for African Writing, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. The author of the novel The Old Drift, she was born in Zambia and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is a professor of English at Harvard.
