Imagining the Malawian urban space in Lawrence Kadzitche’s Katakwe Kutauni

Abstract

There is a growing trend in African literature to examine the works of literature as windows into contemporary city life, where the city ceases to be a mere background, but is imagined as an organic reality that gives life to, and is sustained by, the denizens living in it. Many cities have become the focus of such studies. In this article, the city in focus is Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, imagined in James Kadzitche’s Chichewa language novel, Katakwe Kutauni (‘Katakwe in Town’). The aim is to use the indigenous language literary text to read how the author imagines the entry of homo ruralis into the Malawian urban space, and how the Chichewa language is effectively used to describe the character and his setting. Specifically, the article critically discusses the exploits of Katakwe as a character, highlighting the disillusionment that is created by the modern African city in various individuals. The discussion also illustrates how the writer does not conform to the facile dichotomy of the city as evil and the country as innocent.