Ghanaian writer, Ayi Kwei Armah, published the pillory, The Beautyful
Ones Are Not Yet Born, in 1968, to mock his society of the postcolonial
era. It is a savage attack providing no redeeming feature, except for one puny
protagonist who is derided for his high moral grounds. All around us in the
book is putrefaction, literally and figuratively. Everyone is polluted and
corrupted.
The anonymous ‘man’ is the unstained figure who can’t understand why
his countrymen and women are steeped in the sleaze enterprise. He can’t come to
terms with a society where no one seems to care for his or her compatriot, as
long as they can make some make merchandise of them, as long as they can fleece
the government and smile to the bank. So, in a word, there are no beautyful ones to find their way into
this first novel by Ayi Kwei Armah.
