The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s <i>Devil on Cross</i> (1987) and <i>Matigari</i> (1980)

Saliou Dione; Mamadou Diop

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980)

Saliou Dione, Mamadou Diop

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 6, Issue 6)

Received: 25 October 2018 Accepted: 22 November 2018 Published: 11 January 2019

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Abstract

Postcolonial African literature has been mainly concerned with the misfortunes engendered by slavery, colonization, imperialism, globalization, and neo-colonization in Africa as it uncovers the interactions between the former colonizing and colonized countries. Therefore, many African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have through fiction and magic realism, as natural outcome of postcolonial writing which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors and that of the conquered realistic representation - lay bare the devastating aftermath of these plagues. Unfortunately, most critics have been more interested in the issues that the authors exhibit rather than how they are displayed. As a committed writer, he has broached profusely some Africa’s existential problems as reflected in many of his literary text (s), context (s), and pretext (s). In fact, leaning on axiology, as the philosophical study of value, ethics, and aesthetics - value theory and meta-ethics -, this article is a rhetorical reading of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari (1980) and Devil on the Cross (1987) with a view to deciphering the underpinning ramifications of postcolonial irony in the two novels. To this end, it analyzes how text and form are interwoven in the two literary texts as the author sets out to depict the (post) colonial and neo-colonial effects in Africa and how they contribute to the understanding of his political advocacy and philosophy.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 6, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15
Page(s)	223-230
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Africa, Rhetoric, Irony, Colonialism, Neo-Colonial, Politics, Leadership, Existence

References

[1]	Joseph and al. (1995), The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literature and Cultural Criticism, Columbia University Press, p. 25.
[2]	Ngugi waThong’O (1980), Matigari, London: Heinemann, p. ix.
[3]	M. H. Abrahams (1957), A Glossary of Literary Terms, Cornell University Press, p. 15.
[4]	Juuso Aarnio (2008), Rhetoric and Representation: Exploring the Cultural Meaning of the Natural Sciences in Contemporary Popular Science Writing and Literature, Helsinki University.
[5]	Robert Glenn Howard (2005), A Theory of Vernacular Rhetoric: The Case of the “Sinner’s Prayer” Online, Dublin University college, pp. 172-188, p. 6.
[6]	Simona klimkova (2015), History and Fiction: Ngugi wa Thiong’o’, VisionNitra University, p. 2.
[7]	Paolo Abis (2001), “Class Struggle, Elitism and Social Collectivism in Ngugi, Devil on The Cross”, Thesis Dalarna university, 1, p. 12.
[8]	Ngugi waThiong’o (1987), Devil on The Cross, London: Heinemann, p. 121.
[9]	Ana Lúcia Tinoco Cabral (2014), The Concept of Justice: Argumentation and Dialogism, 9 (1): 19-35, university of ManoelFranisco Guaranha, p. 7.
[10]	Roberts Willian Rhys (2008), Aristotle The Art of Rhetoric, Megaphone ebooks. p. 13.
[11]	Lucien Ayissi (2008), Corruption et Gouvernance, L’Harmattan, p. 86.
[12]	W Russell Belk (1994), “Accounting For Materialism in Four Cultures ‘University of Utah USA, p. 177.
[13]	Saliou Dione (2018), “The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi waThiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo”, International Journal of Literature and Arts. Vol. 6, N⁰. 3, 44-53, p. 3.
[14]	F. Odun Balogun (1995), “Matigari: An African Novel as Oral Narrative Performance,” Delaware State University Press, 129-6, p. 28.
[15]	Ayi Kwei Armah (1973), Two Thousand Seasons, Nairobi, East African Publishing House, p. 40.
[16]	Paulo Freire (1993), the Pedagogy of The oppressed, NewYork: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, p. 14.
[17]	Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1986), Writing Against Neocolonialism. Wembley, UK: Vita Books, p. 3.
[18]	Thomas W. Pogge (1994), “An Egalitarian Law of Peoples”, Blackwell Publishing, p. 2.
[19]	Albert Memmi (1980), The Colonizer and the Colonized, Souvenir Press London, p. 151.

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Saliou Dione, Mamadou Diop. (2019). The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 6(6), 223-230. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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Saliou Dione; Mamadou Diop. The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 6(6), 223-230. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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Saliou Dione, Mamadou Diop. The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;6(6):223-230. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15,
  author = {Saliou Dione and Mamadou Diop},
  title = {The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980)},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {223-230},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20180606.15},
  abstract = {Postcolonial African literature has been mainly concerned with the misfortunes engendered by slavery, colonization, imperialism, globalization, and neo-colonization in Africa as it uncovers the interactions between the former colonizing and colonized countries. Therefore, many African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have through fiction and magic realism, as natural outcome of postcolonial writing which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors and that of the conquered realistic representation - lay bare the devastating aftermath of these plagues. Unfortunately, most critics have been more interested in the issues that the authors exhibit rather than how they are displayed. As a committed writer, he has broached profusely some Africa’s existential problems as reflected in many of his literary text (s), context (s), and pretext (s). In fact, leaning on axiology, as the philosophical study of value, ethics, and aesthetics - value theory and meta-ethics -, this article is a rhetorical reading of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari (1980) and Devil on the Cross (1987) with a view to deciphering the underpinning ramifications of postcolonial irony in the two novels. To this end, it analyzes how text and form are interwoven in the two literary texts as the author sets out to depict the (post) colonial and neo-colonial effects in Africa and how they contribute to the understanding of his political advocacy and philosophy.},
 year = {2019}
}

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AB  - Postcolonial African literature has been mainly concerned with the misfortunes engendered by slavery, colonization, imperialism, globalization, and neo-colonization in Africa as it uncovers the interactions between the former colonizing and colonized countries. Therefore, many African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have through fiction and magic realism, as natural outcome of postcolonial writing which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors and that of the conquered realistic representation - lay bare the devastating aftermath of these plagues. Unfortunately, most critics have been more interested in the issues that the authors exhibit rather than how they are displayed. As a committed writer, he has broached profusely some Africa’s existential problems as reflected in many of his literary text (s), context (s), and pretext (s). In fact, leaning on axiology, as the philosophical study of value, ethics, and aesthetics - value theory and meta-ethics -, this article is a rhetorical reading of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari (1980) and Devil on the Cross (1987) with a view to deciphering the underpinning ramifications of postcolonial irony in the two novels. To this end, it analyzes how text and form are interwoven in the two literary texts as the author sets out to depict the (post) colonial and neo-colonial effects in Africa and how they contribute to the understanding of his political advocacy and philosophy.
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Author Information

Saliou Dione

Department of Anglophone Studies, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal
Mamadou Diop

Department of Anglophone Studies, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal

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APA Style

Saliou Dione, Mamadou Diop. (2019). The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 6(6), 223-230. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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ACS Style

Saliou Dione; Mamadou Diop. The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 6(6), 223-230. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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AMA Style

Saliou Dione, Mamadou Diop. The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980). Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;6(6):223-230. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15,
  author = {Saliou Dione and Mamadou Diop},
  title = {The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980)},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {223-230},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20180606.15},
  abstract = {Postcolonial African literature has been mainly concerned with the misfortunes engendered by slavery, colonization, imperialism, globalization, and neo-colonization in Africa as it uncovers the interactions between the former colonizing and colonized countries. Therefore, many African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have through fiction and magic realism, as natural outcome of postcolonial writing which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors and that of the conquered realistic representation - lay bare the devastating aftermath of these plagues. Unfortunately, most critics have been more interested in the issues that the authors exhibit rather than how they are displayed. As a committed writer, he has broached profusely some Africa’s existential problems as reflected in many of his literary text (s), context (s), and pretext (s). In fact, leaning on axiology, as the philosophical study of value, ethics, and aesthetics - value theory and meta-ethics -, this article is a rhetorical reading of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari (1980) and Devil on the Cross (1987) with a view to deciphering the underpinning ramifications of postcolonial irony in the two novels. To this end, it analyzes how text and form are interwoven in the two literary texts as the author sets out to depict the (post) colonial and neo-colonial effects in Africa and how they contribute to the understanding of his political advocacy and philosophy.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Rhetoric of Irony in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on Cross (1987) and Matigari (1980)
AU  - Saliou Dione
AU  - Mamadou Diop
Y1  - 2019/01/11
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 223
EP  - 230
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180606.15
AB  - Postcolonial African literature has been mainly concerned with the misfortunes engendered by slavery, colonization, imperialism, globalization, and neo-colonization in Africa as it uncovers the interactions between the former colonizing and colonized countries. Therefore, many African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have through fiction and magic realism, as natural outcome of postcolonial writing which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors and that of the conquered realistic representation - lay bare the devastating aftermath of these plagues. Unfortunately, most critics have been more interested in the issues that the authors exhibit rather than how they are displayed. As a committed writer, he has broached profusely some Africa’s existential problems as reflected in many of his literary text (s), context (s), and pretext (s). In fact, leaning on axiology, as the philosophical study of value, ethics, and aesthetics - value theory and meta-ethics -, this article is a rhetorical reading of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari (1980) and Devil on the Cross (1987) with a view to deciphering the underpinning ramifications of postcolonial irony in the two novels. To this end, it analyzes how text and form are interwoven in the two literary texts as the author sets out to depict the (post) colonial and neo-colonial effects in Africa and how they contribute to the understanding of his political advocacy and philosophy.
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
ER  -

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