An Evaluation of Form in Selected Autobiographical Writings From Kenya

Abstract

This study evaluates the style of selected autobiographical writings from Kenya, written between 1981 and 2010 by academics. The study evaluated the selected subgenres of Autobiography including the epistolary, the diary novel, and auto/biography and compared and contrasted the journey motif in specific auto/biographies. Generally, expected elements such as linearity and narration of facts, among others, legitimise Autobiography and silence other equally legitimate life narratives that do not necessarily include these elements of autobiography. Innovative style choices in these selected Kenyan autobiographical writings challenge the range of expectations regarded as fundamental to the effectiveness of autobiographical narration. This thesis argues that the selected autobiographical writings achieve individualised forms unique to themselves alone, through significant style choice, unlike the general assumptions that they need follow patterns based on inclusion of traditionally prescribed elements. A theoretical framework that engages aspects of the Theory of Autobiography, African Feminism, and Autobiographics guided the analysis of selected autobiographical writings by Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Benjamin Kipkorir, and Wangari Maathai. Textual analysis was the dominant method employed since this is an evaluative and interpretative work. The study established that both Wanjiku Kabira and Ngugi wa Thiong’o have effectively used the epistolary and the diary forms. Their formal choices may be a political act and a rebellious statement of opposition to the power structure. Also, while Maathai uses the journey motif in her Auto/biography to reflect on her life to overcome the challenges and the roadblocks brought forward by the patriarchal system, Kipkorir uses the journey motif to tell the story of his efforts toward overcoming poverty. Therefore, despite similar genre choices, Kipkorir and Maathai articulate alternative perspectives to lived stories in a politically manipulated and gendered manner that offers different meanings to a single stylistic choice. This dynamism is identifiable in their subjectivities, legitimising their stylistic choices. I conclude that writers narrate their lives in evolving ways, demonstrating how the choice of a form may significantly relate to the purpose and intent for which the writer tells his life, its interpretation, and significance. While writers may or may not include elements of autobiography in genres of choice and opt for those peculiar to themselves, they still effectively perform the autobiographical act and tell legitimate narratives.