In the House of the
Interpreter – a memoir by Ngugi wa Thiongo, Pantheon Book, NY, 2012
This is the second installment of a memoir by the noted
Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiongo. In the
first book Dreams in a Time of War
(reviewed on this site in May 2010) Ngugi recounted his childhood in Limuru as
first WWII then the Mau Mau insurgency swept down upon his family. In the
House of the Interpreter picks up where that memoir left off. Now we find
Ngugi on his way to the renown Alliance High School. At the time the only, and perhaps still
today, the most prestigious secondary school for Africans. He explains the origins of Alliance in the
1920s as a vocational school organized by a consortium of missionary
organizations designed to educate and create an elite group of African males.
By the 1950s when Ngugi enrolled, Alliance was indeed doing
that. A knowledgeable reader will recognize names, which Ngugi drops often, as those of men who
went on to prominence in Kenyan society.
But to his credit Ngugi does not remark upon what these boys became,
rather he elucidates what they were then – how they impressed or not – their
colleagues and teachers.
For village boys like Ngugi, Alliance was another world. He
was unfamiliar with European accoutrements such as eating utensils, flush
toilets, hot showers, and a bed of his own.
Nonetheless, he and his fellows quickly adjusted. Under the strict tutelage of headmaster Cary
Francis, the school ran like clock work. Academics were foremost and the day
was devoted to learning. Not
unsurprisingly, Ngugi excelled. He was always
near the top of his class. The odd title
of the book comes from the fact that for Kenyan youngsters (a handful of girls
were enrolled), Alliance High School was the place where western knowledge –
science, literature, manners and mores were interpreted for them.
Yet Alliance was more than a school, especially for the
Kikuyu kids, it was a refuge from the Mau Mau nastiness going on around them in
the late 1950s. An Alliance uniform drew
great respect from most Africans and indeed recognition from Europeans. It
provided a sort of cloak of immunity from the harassment that was a regular
part of life. For example, on his first
visit home, Ngugi found that his family home, indeed his whole village had been
razed by colonial authorities. Soon
passes and passbooks were needed for all movement. Ngugi feared he would be
denied these because his brother was a Mau Mau fighter. Culminating this reign of terror, in spite of his Alliance association Ngugi was
on one occasion arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned.
Such incidents give heft to the memoir as Ngugi recalls his
formative and coming of age years.
Alliance truly opened the door to a bigger world for him and for all of
his cohorts. His description of it all
is a worthy read.
