The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born – Ayi Kwei Armah
Ghana, 1968
Although I read The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born fifty years after it was first published, it felt so contemporary. I was living in Kenya at the time, where the general attitude towards corruption ranged from resignation to being celebrated – as if only a fool wouldn’t slip a little gold into his pocket if he had the chance.
The novel feels heavy under the psychological weight an individual experiences when they live against the grain. When the antihero quietly demurs and passes on an opportunity to make a quick buck, it feels like a radical act in the context of a society that views wealth as a virtue. Even his wife views him derisively.
Ayi Kwei Armah doesn’t preach. He doesn’t need to. Instead he portrays a world in which bathroom floors are covered in unidentifiable furry growth and wooden bannisters are sticky with filth. In doing so, he evokes a sense of disgust more profound than any sermon against corruption could be.
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born is available to purchase here.
-JM
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