Novel
The Trial of Christopher Okigbo
Ali Mazrui · 1971
Synopsis
Recently dead, Hamisi, a Muslim Kenyan, awakes in After-Africa, the hereafter where the continent's dead dwell. Without legal training, he must defend there the Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo, accused of having put society before art. Facing him, the Ghanaian Kwame Apolo-Gyamfi, a brilliant mind who died during his studies at Oxford, leads the prosecution. The two lawyers are themselves on trial, and each of the three characters embodies one aspect of the tragedy of Biafra.
Context
The book appeared in London in 1971 in Heinemann's African Writers Series, the same year as Charles Mangua's Son of Woman; it is the author's only work of fiction, his other books being essays. Mazrui explained that he wrote it as a tribute to a martyr whose cause he did not share, choosing fiction because, in Swahili culture, deep grief is expressed in poetry. The novel argues against the armed commitment of poets in the service of a political cause.
Who it is for
For reading an African allegory on art and political commitment, available in English only.
Prizes and reception
The complete-review site judges it an allegory at times heavy-handed but skilful, and recommends reading it.
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