Linearity and cyclic conception of time in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s petals of Blood and wizard of the crow

Abstract

Any attempt to discuss the African conception of time from a Western perspective is likely to obscure unique African realities since time is conceptualized cyclically by most ethnic groups in Africa. This paper examines how Ngugi wa Thiong’o addresses the concept of time with regard to reconstruction of a people’s history. We argue that Ngugi, in Petals of Blood and Wizard of the Crow, draws heavily from a cyclic conceptualization of time to reimagine and recreate new possibilities for a continent that has to some extent stagnated due to official histories that are entrapped in linearity. The study’s discussion of Ngugi’s deconstruction of time in the rewriting of history is anchored in the Heideggerian concepts of temporality and historicity. The conclusion of the study is that literary works by critiquing officialdom of histories, through reinterpretation of the place of time in the reimagining of new realities for the Africans, provide a platform for people to redefine themselves.