Summary

In the Preface, Ngũgĩ describes the relationship between writers and universities and describes writers in general as the “surgeons of the heart and souls of a community” (ix) because they both share a “passion for truth” (ix). He then cites the influence of an invitation from Auckland University and the generosity of the Maori people. Ngũgĩ also thanks a number of other writers, noting that any work is “not the result of an individual genius but the result of a collective effort” (x) and that all words are “a product of a collective history” (xi); he also thanks the home department at the University of Nairobi and the Kamĩrĩĩthũ Community Education and Cultural Centre.

Ngũgĩ cautions that he is not criticizing writers who use English, French or Portuguese, but is, in fact, criticizing the neocolonial and imperial...