Talk:Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

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The photo?

The title says he is signing Wizard of the Crow, while the same photo appearing in Chinua Achebe is assumed to be about Weep Not, Child?

I suggest deleting the photo in Achebe's article because it is not that relevant to that article. This comment may be better posted over there but its talk page seems to be inactive now. LunaFan (talk) 21:26, 30 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Link to Gikuyu language; new article on Gikuyu authors?

I added a link to Gikuyu language in the text, and one on that page to this - surprised they were not already there. Two quick questions:

Would a link to the article on Ngugi (when it is written) in the Gikuyu edition of Wikipedia be appropriate?
Would an article on literature (and other writing) in Gikuyu language, that highlights other Gikuyu language authors as well, be useful? Perhaps in connection with the article at Vernacular literature? - which, interstingly, already had links to both this article and the Gikuyu language one. --A12n 13:08, 16 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dead link -- cached copy?

The reference to the Nairobi Standard article is dead. Perhaps something like the Wayback Machine has another copy?

Try Allafrica.com Even though they charge for access to their archives the article should have acopy there 11:26, 16 May 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kimemia Maina (talk • contribs)

Quotes in opening paragraph

Someone has hacked and trolled the introductory paragraph with a number of unfavourable quotes (some unattributed) relating to Ngugi. They should be placed in a "criticisms" section or removed surely? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.145.207.102 (talk) 15:00, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They have been removed and the article sanitised. One wonders however why unfavourable quotes actually attributed to Ngugi are not included and why so many embellishments and inaccuracies are present in this article ... almost like it is being written to further a particular narrative? 2001:8003:70F5:2400:6011:9B2C:DACE:20E9 (talk) 19:31, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Torture of mother

I notice that a request for a citation has been placed against the statement that Ngugi's mother was tortured. The incident is not mentioned in Ngugi's childhood memoir "Dreams in a time of war" (Harvill Secker 2010) in which he recounts how his mother was questioned. It is possible that it happened after the memoir ends in January 1955, but by then the Mau Mau uprising was coming to an end. I suggest that if no citation for the statement is provided, it should be deleted.--MWLittleGuy (talk) 11:11, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am starting to wonder if Ngugi's mother ever existed, let alone the torture. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 13:03, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ngugi himself seems not to have been tortured in long periods of exile in white countries. He was running away from Moi, a fellow African. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 13:07, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

His mother would have been a middle-aged woman in the 1950's, not a major threat to the British government. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 13:11, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The citations now provided are a third party who regurgitates the claim and a fictional source. No direct citation is provided however as it is clumped in together with a whole bunch of other stuff. Ngugi as you say never said it occurred at the time and has since alluded to it through fictional characters. Perhaps someone would elect to ask him the question directly? 2001:8003:70F5:2400:6011:9B2C:DACE:20E9 (talk) 19:50, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Diacritical marks in his name

What is the HTML character code for making a U or an I with a tilde? I tried ũ and ĩ and they're not rendering in Internet Explorer or Firefox. Wikipedia seems to be the only site that shows these characters properly. Burnbrae (talk) 21:26, 22 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The page currently shows these characters correctly. FLoris Löffler (talk) 22:13, 28 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Dates

This article is notably lacking dates. When did he first come to the USA? totake up the NYU position? When did he go to UC-Irvine? This would give more veracity. His Kenyan publisher was key to his success but is not mentioned. At present, this entry differs little from the author's website. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donnezmoi (talk • contribs) 20:39, 3 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not a crystal ball

The theory that Ngugi might get the Nobel prize is silly speculation and should not be here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 12:51, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Will Ngugi soon get a prize for maths, too? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 13:26, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The fact that he's regularly mentioned as a favorite for the prize is, to me, a useful indicator that he's considered a top figure in his field. He seems unlikely to get a top prize in maths, but if you can find multiple reliable sources that say so, we can consider adding it to the article. -- Khazar2 (talk) 13:42, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fanon

If, as he says, Ngugi advocates Fanon and African languages, it will be interesting to hear which langages Fanon should write in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.246.90 (talk) 13:46, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well that is obviously an interesting question as for those not in the know; Fanon was not African and to the best of my knowledge spoke no African Language! What is more interesting to me is that Fanonist Communism seems to have been the pivotal moment in Ngugi's life. What exactly is Fanonist Communism (manifesto?) and does Ngugi/wa Thiong'o still adhere to it? 2001:8003:70F5:2400:6011:9B2C:DACE:20E9 (talk) 20:03, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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Previous name

Currently, the opening paragraph says that his original name was "James Thiong'o Ngugi", and a subsequent paragraph says that he was "baptised James Ngugi".

What is right?

Also, should the previous name appear in the first paragraph? According to Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography#Changed names, it should appear only if the subject was notable under that name. He published books before he changed his name, but the cover of Weep Not, Child, for example, shows the name as "James Ngugi" and not as "James Thiong'o Ngugi", so I'm not sure what's the right thing to do. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 11:23, 20 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

First name of patronimic?

Why most of the article calls him by his first name, Ngũgĩ, and not by the patronimic, wa Thiong'o? The article about Shakespeare keeps saying William or says Shakespeare?

-- 77.75.179.1 (talk) 05:56, 23 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

He was not the first writer from East Africa to be published in English.

This statement: "His debut novel, Weep Not, Child, was published in May 1964, becoming the first novel in English to be published by a writer from East Africa." is wrong!

Numerous authors from East Africa had published novels in English decades before this date. He may have been the first Kikuyu to publish a novel in English. 2001:8003:70F5:2400:6011:9B2C:DACE:20E9 (talk) 19:20, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Major Accomplishment

3 intersting facts 41.114.234.224 (talk) 20:30, 19 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Surname is not Ngũgĩ.

Right at the top of the article it says "In this article, the surname is Ngũgĩ."

There might be some confusion because he changed his name from James Ngũgĩ to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. His first name is Ngũgĩ and the surname is wa Thiong'o: Ngũgĩ son of Thiong'o.

This is mentioned in the beginning of this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOXqc-8zCPE Wamandus (talk) 00:26, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]