A story for all time

Kenyan-born Ngugi wa Thiong’o is an acclaimed novelist and playwright, and a perennial favourite for the Nobel Prize. His writing has unflinchingly explored the effects of colonisation, Empire, capitalism, racism and the suffocation of culture.

In the House of the Interpreter is a volume of memoir, his second, following on from 2010’s Dreams in a Time of War. A familiarity with this previous book is beneficial but not strictly necessary, because it stands as an independent and thoroughly absorbing read, one possessed of a clear focus: to chart the author’s intellectual journey against the war-torn backdrop of country, village and family. It is a quest for enlightenment and freedom; an attempt to balance striking dichotomies that even, with the perspective of time, seem untenable; and, throughout, a struggle for simple survival.