Name: Devil on the Cross
SKU: 48425122
Price: 14.76 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
ISBN: 9780143107361

Type

Physical Book

Author

Illustrated by

Introduction by

Publisher

Year

2017

Language

English

Pages

320

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

19.3x12.7x1.5 cm

Weight

0.23 kg.

ISBN13

9780143107361

Edition No.

Synopsis "Devil on the Cross "

The great Kenyan writer and Nobel Prize nominee's novel that he wrote in secret, on toilet paper, while in prison--featuring an introduction by Namwali Serpell, the author of the novel The Old DriftOne of the cornerstones of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's fame, Devil on the Cross is a powerful fictional critique of capitalism. It tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a young woman who moves from a rural Kenyan town to the capital, Nairobi, only to be exploited by her boss and later by a corrupt businessman. As she struggles to survive, Wariinga begins to realize that her problems are only symptoms of a larger societal malaise and that much of the misfortune stems from the Western, capitalist influences on her country. An impassioned cry for a Kenya free of dictatorship and for African writers to work in their own local dialects, Devil on the Cross has had a profound influence on Africa and on post-colonial African literature. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

(Author)

View Author's Page

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938–2025) was a Kenyan writer, academic, and cultural activist, whose work marked a before and after in postcolonial literature. His essay Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986) remains a fundamental text in postcolonial studies, and his later novels and plays, written in Kikuyu, solidified his advocacy for African languages as a tool for cultural liberation.

Ngũgĩ died on May 28, 2025, in Buford (Georgia, USA), at the age of 87. Although he never won a literary award like the Nobel, he was a recurring candidate and received significant recognitions such as the PEN/Nabokov Award (2022) and the Premi Internacional Catalunya (2019). His passing stirred emotions worldwide: Kenyan President William Ruto described him as an “emblematic figure of African letters”.

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