The GATE Grind

GATE 2024 XH2 (English) – Question 32

Comparative and World Literatures in English Translation · Multilingualism, translation studies and the politics of language in literary production · 1 mark · Multiple choice

“I started writing in Gikuyu language in 1977 after seventeen years of involvement in Afro-European literature, in my case Afro-English literature … wherever I have gone, particularly in Europe, I have been confronted with the question: why are you now writing in Gikuyu? Why do you now write in an African language?”
Identify the author of this passage.

  1. Nadine Gordimer
  2. Wole Soyinka
  3. Ngugi wa Thiong’o
  4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Practise this question in The GATE Grind →

Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (C) Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Explanation

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o gave up writing in English in the 1970s and wrote in Gikuyu. The passage is from his Decolonising the Mind.