Cover Image

Minutes of glory : and other stories

by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1938-

Format: Print Book 2019
Availability: Available at 3 Libraries 3 of 3 copies

Available (3)
Location Collection Call #
Braddock Carnegie Library Fiction F NGU
Location  Braddock Carnegie Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Call Number  F NGU
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill Fiction Collection FICTION Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  FICTION Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Fiction NGUGI WA THIONG O
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Call Number  NGUGI WA THIONG O
 
 

Summary
A dazzling short story collection from the person Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls "one of the greatest writers of our time"

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, although renowned for his novels, memoirs, and plays, honed his craft as a short story writer. From "The Fig Tree, " written in 1960, his first year as an undergraduate at Makerere University College in Uganda, to the playful "The Ghost of Michael Jackson," written as a professor at the University of California, Irvine, these collected stories reveal a master of the short form.

Covering the period of British colonial rule and resistance in Kenya to the bittersweet experience of independence--and including two stories that have never before been published in the United States-- Ngũgĩ's collection features women fighting for their space in a patriarchal society, big men in their Bentleys who have inherited power from the British, and rebels who still embody the fighting spirit of the downtrodden. One of Ngũgĩ's most beloved stories, "Minutes of Glory," tells of Beatrice, a sad but ambitious waitress who fantasizes about being feted and lauded over by the middle-class clientele in the city's beer halls. Her dream leads her on a witty and heartbreaking adventure.

Published for the first time in America, Minutes of Glory and Other Stories is a major literary event that celebrates the storytelling might of one of Africa's best-loved writers.

Contents
Mugumo
And the rain came down!
Gone with the drought
The village priest
The black bird
The martyr
The return
A meeting in the dark
Goodbye Africa
Minutes of glory
Wedding at the cross
A Mercedes funeral
The Mubenzi tribesman
Without a shadow of doubt: My first lesson in art and film
The ghost of Michael Jackson.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Written mostly in the 1960s and '70s, this volume of short stories from the prolific Kenyan writer and scholar Ngig) Wa Thiong'o (Wrestling with the Devil, 2018), published in the U.S. for the first time, traces the consequences of European colonialism in East Africa. In 15 tales that range from allegorical to comedic, Kenyans endure droughts and corrupt politicians, wrestle with new customs and religions, and flee their villages for better lives. A homely barmaid works various beer halls, desperately seeking the attention of her affluent patrons. An ambitious young man hides his plans to attend a university in Uganda from his aging father, a conservative preacher. During a lengthy drought, an aging priest struggles to convert his congregants to the new God after a pagan rainmaker seems to have summoned a thunderstorm. A hypocritical priest is called out in the confession booth, sending him on a mad adventure to identify the boy whose ghostlike presence torments him. And a longtime servant working for English settlers considers killing his master in the wake of a murder that has the snobbish colonists on edge. Subversive and insightful, this masterful, long-overdue, yet timely collection introduces Ngig) Wa Thiong'o's fiction to American readers.--Jonathan Fullmer Copyright 2019 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Thiong'o's outstanding collection (following Wrestling with the Devil: A Prison Memoir), set over decades in Kenya, follows a range of characters: mothers and children, fighters and martyrs, secret lives and shadows and priests. "And the Rain Came Down!" is about Nyokabi, a childless woman who isn't able to have relationships with mothers due to her overwhelming jealousy. One evening, in a storm, she finds a lost child and brings him home, intending to keep him. In "The Martyr," Mrs. Hill and her European settler neighbors are shocked to learn about a Caucasian couple who were murdered in their home. Mrs. Hill, who owns a tea plantation, considers herself to be a woman who trusts her servants, but nevertheless feels unsettled. Meanwhile, Njoroge, her servant, dislikes Mrs. Hill (she flaunts her kindness, and he's been on the land longer than her) and believes that she does too much for the help, yet he finds that he has misguided loyalty. "Minutes of Glory," follows Beatrice, who scrapes by working in bars. She meets a fellow outcast and they become involved, yet a criminal act changes their trajectories. Thiong'o weaves together disparate stories of people attempting to deal with change in their lives, either chosen or forced upon them, showing his understanding of human nature, its frequent resistance to change, and its ability to surprise. This is a masterful collection. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Kenya -- Fiction.
Short stories.
Publisher New York :The New Press,2019
Edition New Press edition.
Other Titles Secret lives and other stories
Language English
Notes "First published in the United Kingdom in the Heinemann African Writers Series as Secret Lives and Other Stories, 1975"--Title page verso.
Description xi, 193 pages ; 23 cm
ISBN 9781620974650
1620974657
Other Classic View