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3 7 4 AFRICAN AFFAIRSHuketi mahali tuli hawaza matcso yanguTabu ilonikabli nalilia moyo wanguM oliwa nipa sahali Kitue kOio changuNalaumu moyo wangu Kupenda usipotakwaI sit in a quiet place and think of my sufferingsThe trouble that confronts me and I weep for my heartM y G od , give me easement for my crying to ceaseI blame my heart if it is not wanted for loving.

W hile there are' some signs of the impatience and self-adulation of im-maturity, in general one can only marvel at Ahmed Bhalo's capacity for self-analysis and wide scope of subject in one so young. In many places the poemsconvey the impression that Ahmed would like to leave the cage in which heis confined and soar high. Those w ho know Kuze, where he lives, will not besurprised. His is a wail of anguish, but he realizes nevertheless that he mustbe resigned to the will of fate.Wisconsin A L I AHMED JAIIADMY

A Grain of W heat, by James N gu gi Heinemann, 1967. 280pp. 25s.There is a mom ent in James Ngugi's new novel where two ex-detainees are

talking bitterly on the eve of independence in Kenya. Gikonyo die risingbusinessman says to Mugo die village solitary :It is people like you who ought to have been die first to taste thefruits of independence. But now, whom do we see riding in long carsand changing diem daily as if motor cars were clothes ? It is thosewho did not take part in the movement, die same who ran to dieshelter of schools and universities and adm inistration. At politicalmeetings you hear diem sh ou t: Uhu ru, Uh uru , we fought for. Fought where ? They were mere uncircumdsed boys. They knewsuffering as a word . . .The historical irony to which diese words direct our attention is not centralto Ngugi's concern ; we are aware of it as something diat is happening along-side die novel's main action, in die larger world where die fruits of nationalpower are fought for and won.Ngugi's central group of characters belongs to die generation diat wasjust grown up in 19S2. In die flurry of reassessment that precedes indepen-dence in December 1963, the only safe figure among diem is die deadresistance leader Kihika, hanged by die British eight years earlier at die height

of die R ebellion. Kihika made no compromises, public or secret, widi anenem y he cou ld still see as single and vulnerable. His friends and contempor-aries include G ikonyo, a veteran of d ie camps who ' confe ssed' in order toreturn to M umbi, a wife who had meanwhile born another man's child ;Karanja, a collaborator doing well out of the Emergency, who is die father ofMumbi's child; and Mugo, who has acquired a reputation for courage andendurance as a so-called ' hard-core' detainee.

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BOOK KEVIBWS 3 7 5But these superficial facts are all misleading. Mugo is in fact a traitor, thebetrayer of Kihika to the British, and a psychological cripple. Mum bi re ally .loves Gikonoyo and is waiting to resume life with him when he awakes fromhis sullen stupor of resentm ent Karanja's mom ent of success is over with the

departure of his white masters ; he is a lonely, frightened man anxious only tosurvive. E ven the forest fighters , General R and Lieutenant K oinandu, haveelements in their pasts that they are eager to suppress by pursuing a single-minded vengeance on Kihika's betrayer.By weaving this plot to and fro between the events of the 1950s and 1963,and between the lives of his characters, Ngugi manages to bring all thesefactors to a climax in the events of Independance Day itself, when all thesemen race each other on the local playing-field at Rung'eL But the verymarginality of the event away from the real seat of power in Nairobi and

neglected by all the new leaders, emphasizes its essential irrelevance. Thu sall the sufferings of the Emergency are like a grain of wheat that falls intothe ground and dies. And, in die words of I. Corinthians which precedeNgugi's story:that which thou sowest, them sowest notthat body that shall be. . . .

With this novel Ngugi has brought up to date the preoccupations whichdominated his first two works, The River Between and Weep Not, Child, andhas subjected them, implicitly, to the judgement of the present. This is mu ch,but the new book still leaves the reader with a sense of disappointment.Ngugi is not an eloquent writer: his dialogue does not work closely, nor doeshis writing generally exhibit any interest of texture. In these respects hecompares badly with that great chronicler of African village life, ChinuaAchebe. Ngug i has no real interest in physical presence of appearance, thetelling detail, phrase or gesture which bring the living, speaking man beforeus. And once again, the intended simplicity of his ending has led him intobanality. Th is inability to end his novels effectively is related to his w eaknessfor symbolism is diffuse and uncontrolled (Gikonoyo's stool in this novel is anotable example), and he would be wise to eschew it in favour of a style atonce more realistic and more sensitive to the richness of life.

University of Sussex GERALD MOORE

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