‘Historical Falsehood and the Therapy of Truth: A Reader-Response Interrogation of Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Mrs. Shaw

Authors

  • Anthony Ebebe Eyang University of Calabar
  • Augustine Ayilewu Edung University of Calabar

Keywords:

Re-imaging, reader-response, deconstruction, post-colonial, historical re-orientation

Abstract

This paper examines the portrayal of two contrasting historical accounts about the African past in Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Mrs/Shaw (2015).  The text is analysed from the point of view of Reader-Response and, eclectically, with insights from theories of Deconstruction and Postcolonialism. By this theoretical approach, the study examines the author’s redefinition and re-rendition of an African historical past which hitherto had been a source of vilification, demonization and mischaracterization of Africa with the attendant denigration and unjust treatment of the people. The paper also interrogates the author’s language as a facilitator of the realization of the theme of historical re-orientation and deconstruction. The paper concludes that African writers involve in the undertaking of nation-building through literary creativity. Also, like the traditional griots, they are guardians of sacred history, as this manifest in the interrogation and re-imaging of false accounts about the people’s past

Published

2018-12-21

How to Cite

Eyang, A. E., & Edung, A. A. (2018). ‘Historical Falsehood and the Therapy of Truth: A Reader-Response Interrogation of Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Mrs. Shaw. GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis, 1(2), 147-156. Retrieved from http://gnosijournal.com/index.php/gnosi/article/view/166

Issue

Section

Articles