Kemoli Mac

Urbanism in Kenyan Literature: the Soft City, an East African Literary Perspective Kemoli Mac

The East African literary experience holds Popular Literature in low esteem. More often than not, little is being done to elevate urban literature to standards worth studying. Most of the works on such topics lack adequate critical reviews. With the world becoming urban day by day, the plight of the city dweller should be of great concern to every writer. This book examines the lives of several city dwellers in three of Meja Mwangi's novels. The book traces their relationships, anguish and joys as well as their ups and downs in the face of allienation. It is this characters that this book refers to as the 'Soft City ' as their identities keep on changing and shifting in the face of allienation. Similar studies have been carried out by among others Jonathan Raban but the East African experience would give the reader, literary critic and any other person interested in urban literature in East Africa, especially Kenya a headstart. The book has used the theory of urbanism as well as sociological theory to interogate the characters as they contest for the urban space in Nairobi-Kenya.