Love and Money: Erotic Materialism In Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Petals Of Blood

Felicia Annin

Abstract


This paper offers a reading of Petals of Blood (1977) in which Ngũgĩ exposes the practical, utilitarian side of intimate relationships, revealing ambiguities that complicate the romantic love ideal that is the social embodiment of his utopian political vision. It is clear that the term “materialism” in all its connotations is a central concern in Ngũgĩ’s philosophy. As a Marxist materialist, an ideological paradigm that influences the construction of the novels from his middle career, Ngũgĩ writes novels that repeatedly show how the unjust economic base of Kenyan society, and its unequal relationship with the world economy, is the root cause of many of its social ills. This paper examines materialism in the ambiance of romantic love as well as investigates the intricacies revolving around love and marriage. From the analysis, this study draws conclusion that the implications of materialist love defeat the notion of romantic love which naturally results in marriage.

Keywords


Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Erotic Materialism, Marxist Materialist, Capitalist, Love, Money, Harlot

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aizenberg, Edna. “The Untruths of the Nation: Petals of Blood and Fuentes’s “Death of Artemio Cruz” Research in African Literature. (1990). 21.4, 85-103.

Amuta, Chidi. The Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism. London: Zed. 1989. Print.

Blake, Williams. “London” 1979. www.britannica.com

Boehmer, Elleke. “The Master’s Dance to the Master’s Voice”. Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 26: l (1991): 188–97. Web. 25th June 2018

Cook, David and Michael Okenimkpe. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: An Exploration of his Writings. Oxford: James Currey. 1997. Print.

Crehan, Stewart. “The Politics of the Signifier: Ngũgĩ’s wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood.” World Literature Written in English. 26.1 (1986): 1–24. Web. 13th August 2016.

Engels, Friedrich. “Letters on Historical Materialism” The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd ed Robert C. Tucker. New York & London: W.W.Norton & Company. 1978. Print.

Evans, Jennifer. “Mother Africa and the Heroic Whore: Female Images in Petals of Blood.” Contemporary African Literature. Edited by Hal Wylie, Eileen Julien, and Russell J. 2000. Print. Linnemann, 57–65. Washington, DC: Three Continents Press. 1983. Print.

Gikandi, Simon. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Print.

Kamenju, Grant. “Petals of Blood as a Mirror of African Revolution” Gugelberger, Georg M. ed. Marxism and African Literature. London: J. Currey, 1985. Print.

Killam, G. D. An Introduction to the Writing of Ngũgĩ. London: Heinemann Educational. 1980. Print.

Leech, Geoffrey. Style in Fiction. London: Longman. 1990. Print.

Lovesey, Oliver. Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo. New York: Twayne Publishers. 2000. Print.

Marx, Karl & Frederick Engels. The German Ideology: Prat One ed. C. J. Arthur. London: Lawrence & Wishart. 19977. Print.

McLaren, Joseph. “Ideology and Form: The Critical Reception of Petals of Blood.” Paintbrush: A Journal of Poetry and Translation. 20.39 and 40 (1993): 73–91. Web. 13th August 2016.

Mwangi, Evan. “The Gendered Politics of Untranslated Language and Aporia in Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood” Research in African Literatures. 35.4 (2004): 66–74. Web. 20th July 2016.

Nazareth, Peter. ed. Critical Essays on Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. New York: Twayne. 2000. Print.

______ In Marxism and African Literature ed. Gerog M. Gugelberger, Georg. London: J. Currey. 1985. Print.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Matigari. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. 1986. Print.

_____ Petals of Blood. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. 1977. Print.

_____ “Ngũgĩ’s Petals of Blood”. African Literature Today. 10 (1979).

Ngũgĩ, James. A Grain of Wheat. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. 1967. Print.

______ Weep Not, child. England and Wales: Heinemann (Pearson Education) Ltd. 1964. Print.

____ Writers in Politics: Essays. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann, 1981. Print.

Nicholls, Brendon. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Gender, and the Ethics of Postcolonial Reading. United Kingdom: Imprint Ashgate Publishing Limited. 2010. Print.

Robson, Clifford B. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. London: Macmillan. 1979. Print.

Roos, Bonnie. “Re-Historicizing the Conflicted Figure of Woman in Ngũgĩ’s Petals of Blood” Research in African Literatures. 33.2 (2002): 154–70. Web. 23rd June 2016.

Odhiambo, Tom.“Specificities: Troubled Love and Marriage as Work in Kenyan Popular Fiction”, Social Identities. 9:3 (2003): 423–36. Web. 17th October 2017.

Palmer, Eustace. “Ngũgĩ’s Petals of Blood”. African Literature Today. 10 (1979).

Williams, Patrick. Ngũgĩ’s wa Thiong’o. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1999. Print.

Williams, Raymond. Keywords: a Vocabulary of Culture and Society. New York: Oxford. UP. 1973. Print.

Santas, Gerasimos. “Plato’s Theory of Eros in the Symposium: Abstract” Wiley: Noûs. 13.1 (1979): 67–75. Web. 23rd October 2018.

Sharma, Govind N. Sharma, Govind Narain. “Ngũgĩ’s Apocalypse: Marxism, Christianity and African Utopian in Petals of Blood” Critical Perspectives on Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o ed G. D. Killan. USA: Three Continents Press. 1984. Print.

Stratton, Florence. Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. New York: Routledge. 1994. Print.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.12n.1.p.13

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2010-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.