Novel · A way to begin
Weep Not, Child
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o · 1964
Synopsis
Njoroge, a young Kikuyu boy, is the first in his family to go to school, where he becomes close to Mwihaki, daughter of Jacobo, a wealthy African landowner close to the settlers. His father, Ngotho, farms for Mr Howlands land that once belonged to his ancestors and awaits the prophecy that will return it to his people; Boro, the elder brother, back embittered from the war in which another brother died, joins those who want to rise up. During a strike, Ngotho strikes Jacobo and loses his job, while the state of emergency descends on the country.
Context
Written during the author's student years in Uganda, the manuscript was shown to Chinua Achebe at the African writers' conference of June 1962, and the book appeared in May 1964 in Heinemann's African Writers Series, under the name James Ngugi. It is the first novel in English published by an East African writer. Its first part follows the boy's education, the second the rise of the Mau Mau movement, and Jomo Kenyatta appears to the characters as a messiah. It was translated into French by Yvon Rivière in 1983, then by Dominique Lanni in 2019.
Who it is for
For those who want to discover the years of the Kenyan insurrection through a child's eyes, in a short book.
Prizes and reception
According to African Literature and Its Times, it launched the career of the most famous of Kenyan novelists.