num_pages: 768
description: From the exiled Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic--a magisterial comic novel that is certain to take its place as a landmark of postcolonial African literature.In exile now for more than twenty years, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has become one of the most widely read African writers of our time, the power and scope of his work garnering him international attention and praise. His aim in Wizard of the Crow is, in his own words,nothing less than “to sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history.”Commencing in “our times” and set in the “Free Republic of Aburĩria,” the novel dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburĩrian people. Among the contenders: His High Mighty Excellency; the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Wizard of the Crow reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity.Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, Wizard of the Crow is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugl wa Thiong’o’s career thus far.
language: English
title: Wizard of the Crow
titlecomplete: Wizard of the Crow
genres: Politics, Africa, Literary Fiction, Novels, Magical Realism, Literature, Fantasy, Fiction, African Literature, Kenya
ratings_count: 3291
places: Republic of Aburiria
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: California Book Award
category: Fiction (Gold), awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
category: Longlist, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1199174400000
name: Tähtifantasia Award, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Pantheon Books