Friday, July 13, 2007

The Wise One of Ramogiland



Dear Friends and Fans,




Dear Friends and Fans,
As promised a couple of weeks ago, here comes Joseph R. Alila's last Summer 2007 literary installment in the new novel "THE WISE ONE OF RAMOGILAND" (ISBN 978-1-4303-2554-3, published by Lulu(www.lulu.com).

In The Wise One of Ramogiland, Alila employs mild satirical comedy, in an attempt to explore the life of a wise spiritual counsellor and kingmaker, The Wise One , who must strugle with the "people's burdens" and the pangs of political patronage. Very old, Nyangi The Wise One must suffer due to her longevity and the unseemly conduct of her son, and her heir-apparent (Thomas), whose ascendancy to The Stool of Inner Knowledge is long overdue.
As a Seer's Regent, she must suffer the burdens and unfulfilled political hopes of her Ramogi people. However, she must teach the Ramogi Warriors the virtues of self-abnegation and patience in leadership, even as she understands their pain and perils under the complex politics of cohabitation in a young, multiethnic, multiparty democratic space. In Alila's Ramogiland, spirituality (The Ramogi Factor) is not only central to life in general, but also to the lives of the modern political animals known as the Ramogi Warriors.

In this novel, Alila speaks to the past, the present and the future of his Ramogi (Luo) people of Kenya. He offers a rare peak into the workings of the "enigmatic" Ramogi mind (and collective communal psyche), in a carefully crafted mental tour of such themes as spirituality, health, governance and culture within the context of complexities presented by a multiethnic, multipaty democratic space.
Read on

Joseph R. Alila

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