These two contemporary writers (Ayi Kwei Armah and NgugiWaThiongo) differ mainly in the sources of their influences. Yet, in spite of Ayi Kwei Armah’s absorption

in the ideas of Frantz Fanon, and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s alignment with a folksy kind of Marxism, both writers explore the actual, spiritual and moral terrain of African

life and history. Both express a concern for African wholeness; both are disturbed by a history of European exploitation in Africa; both have attacked the notion

that economic relationships among people can be meaningfully studied from emotional and moral concerns; and yet both writers seem convinced that humans

cannot produce good work unless they are themselves good. This course will study the complete up-to-date writing of these two writers with a view to assessing

the value of their contribution to modern African thought.