The Endless Battle

As the late Maya Angelou said, a bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. The Endless Battle is yet another song from Andrew Nyongesa's copious literary harp. Through careful management of language able to yield pleasure owing to the splendour of the linguistic manipulation, the novel brings out an unsparing instinct for reality to bear on the platitudes and pieties of society. The concreteness of texture of the language employed evokes and recreates sensory perceptions that, without being preachy, bring out the projected meaning. The sense of human tragedy fortifies the main character, Eugene, against despondency, self-deception and easy consolation. As Robert Frost would say, the author of The Endless Battle has "truly been acquainted with the night." And because he knows the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understands the ordeals as well as the triumph of the human spirit, in this novel, just in like his earlier works, Mr. Nyongesa holds a deep faith in the spirit of humans, and it is hardly an accident that he couples Literature and power, for he sees Literature as the means of saving power (or imaginations of it) from itself. When power in whatever form leads people towards arrogance, Literature reminds them of their limitations. When power narrows the areas of people's concern, Literature reminds them of the richness and diversity of their existence and the need to promote healthy vibrant societies, to ameliorate human suffering, to promote a more thoughtful, substantive, empathic world order. When power corrupts, literary art cleanses; for Literature establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. I congratulate Andrew Nyongesa for being faithful to his personal vision of reality. And in The Endless Battle, through the physical and psychosomatic journeys of the main character, the author remains a champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an unfeeling, narcissistic and intrusive society. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, like the main character, the author often sails against the currents of time. This is not a popular role. But he soldiers on like a true artist.