Writing the prison in African literature Knighton, Rachel 1989- creator author. text bibliography Criticism, interpretation, etc. enk 2019 2019 monographic eng print x, 198 pages ; 23 cm. This book examines a selection of prison memoirs by five renowned African writers: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ruth First, Wole Soyinka, Nawal El Saadawi and Jack Mapanje. Detained across the continent from the 1960s onward due to their writing and political engagement, each writer's memoir forms a crucial yet often overlooked part of their wider literary work. The author analyses the varied and unique narrative strategies used to portray the prison, formulating a theory of prison memoir as genre that reads the texts alongside postcolonial, trauma, life-writing and prison theory. The book also illustrates the importance of these memoirs in the telling of their historical moment, from apartheid South Africa to post-independence Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi--Provided by publisher. Introduction -- The individual and the collective in Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's Detained -- Prison memoir and perspectival variation in Ruth First's 117 days -- Narrating psychological breakdown and political opposition in Wole Soyinka's The man died -- Liberation and the body in Nawal el Saadawi's Memoirs from the women's prison -- Creating a prison poetics in Jack Mapanje's And crocodiles are hungry at night -- Conclusion. Rachel Knighton. Includes bibliographical references and index. f------ Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo 1938- Criticism and interpretation Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo 1938- First, Ruth 1925-1982 Criticism and interpretation Mapanje, Jack Criticism and interpretation Saʻdāwī, Nawāl Criticism and interpretation Soyinka, Wole Criticism and interpretation First, Ruth 1925-1982 Mapanje, Jack Saʻdāwī, Nawāl Soyinka, Wole 1900-1999 fast African literature (English) 20th century History and criticism Biography as a literary form Political prisoners Africa Intellectual life Prisoners in literature Prisoners' writings, African (English) History and criticism Prisons in literature African literature (English) Biography as a literary form Prisoners in literature Prisoners' writings, African (English) Prisons in literature Africa PR9340.5 .K55 2019 820.9960904 Race and resistance across borders in the long twentieth century ; 5 1788746473 9781788746472 2018049938 pda,print IEN/DLC 190103 20250318212359.0 in00004172630 eng