Allegorical depiction of East Africa in Kenyan Swahili novel of the 21st century

Abstract

Allegory as a literary device and an artistic form¹ has been widely used in modern Swahili literature since its earlier times – suffice it to recall Shaaban Robert’s “modern tales” Kusadikika and Kufikirika, written in the 1940s and 1950s. In Kenyan Swahili writing of the second half of the 20^th century the most well-known allegorical texts are Katama Mkangi’s novellas Mafuta (Oil, 1984) and Walenisi (Them Are Us, 1995) (cf. Вertoncini et al. 2009:52, 57, Wamitila 1998). In Kenyan Swahili literature of the current century allegory is extensively used in a host of literary genres and forms. This study analyses the use of allegory in several novels by the leading Kenyan authors of Swahili expression, published within the first decades of the current century. In these novels the writers, in order to perform their artistic tasks, present their allegorical visions of the past, present and even the future of the region.