The Perfect Nine
eBook - ePub

The Perfect Nine

The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Perfect Nine

The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi

About this book

A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent”

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and was annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world.

In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters—called “The Perfect Nine” —and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice.

Ngũgĩ’s epic is a quest for the beautiful as an ideal of living, as the motive force behind migrations of African peoples. He notes, “The epic came to me one night as a revelation of ideals of quest, courage, perseverance, unity, family; and the sense of the divine, in human struggles with nature and nurture.”

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Yes, you can access The Perfect Nine by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literature General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
The New Press
Year
2020
eBook ISBN
9781620975268
Edition
0

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Contents
  4. Notes on the Perfect Nine: The Story of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
  5. 1. Prologue
  6. 2. Supplication for Power to the Tongue
  7. 3. The Perfect Nine
  8. 4. The Wind and the Ostrich
  9. 5. Feast Song and Dance
  10. 6. Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
  11. 7. Trials, Falls, and Triumphs
  12. 8. Mission to the Mountain of the Moon
  13. 9. The Journey
  14. 10. The Ogre and the Cure-All Hair
  15. 11. The Ogre of Endless Darkness
  16. 12. The Ogre That Fumed Fire and Fury
  17. 13. The Ogre That Shat Without Stopping
  18. 14. The Ogres with Bags That Never Filled Up
  19. 15. The Hyena and the Vulture
  20. 16. Ogres in White Masks
  21. 17. The Hair that Cures All Illnesses
  22. 18. Betrothal
  23. 19. Adoption and Clan Names
  24. 20. The First Marriage
  25. 21. Warigia
  26. 22. Warigia and the Lion
  27. 23. Cementing Relations Between In-Laws
  28. 24. Epilogue: The Will of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
  29. Acknowledgments
  30. About the Author
  31. Copyright