'In 1981 Jack Mapanje was a budding poet and scholar in Malawi. His
first collection of poetry, Of Chameleons and Gods had just been
published and reviewers were already hailing it as the work of a
new and important African voice. His scholarly work in linguistics
was also transforming language and literary studies in Central
Africa and drawing international attention to the works of writers
and critics from the region. Mapanje's poetry was remarkable not
only because of his keen sense of sound and place, but also its
tense relationship with its context: here was a compelling lyrical
voice, producing a musical and touching verse in a country that was
under the iron heel of a self-proclaimed dictator and
life-president, Kamuzu Banda, Ngwazi. That Mapanje had been able to
write such powerful poetry under official rules of censorship was a
remarkable feat. But two years later, the state ordered the
withdrawal of Mapanje's poetry from all schools, institutions of
higher learning, and bookstores. In 1987, after attending a
regional language conference in Zimbabwe, Mapanje was arrested by
the Malawian secret police and bundled off to prison where he was
to stay under lock and key, without any formal charges, until 1991.
This book is a recollection of those years in prison. Written in
the tradition of the African prison memoir, and often echoing the
works of other famous prison graduates such as Wole Soyinka (The
Man Died) and Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Detained), the memoir represents
Mapanje's retrospective attempt to explain the cause and terms of
his imprisonment, to recall, in tranquillity as it were, the terror
of arrest, the process of incarceration, and the daily struggle to
hold on to some measure of spiritual freedom.' - Simon Gikandi,
Professor English, Princeton University Jack Mapanje is a poet and
linguist and was head of the English Department, Chancellor
College, University of Malawi when he was arrested and detained
without charge or trial in 1987. After an international campaign,
which included his being promoted as one of Amnesty International's
'Prisoners of Conscience', he was released in 1991. His published
works include: Of Chameleons and Gods (1981); The Chattering
Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993); Skipping Without Ropes (1998);
Last of the Sweet Bananas (2004); and Beasts of Nalunga(2007).
General
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