Harsh homecoming for Ngugi

In "Homecoming," a collection of essays published 30 years ago, Ngugi wa Thiong'o assessed various forms of violence, some of which he considered justified to achieve social ends and some of which he dismissed as just plain thuggery. Ngugi, who went into exile from Kenya in 1982 to escape political repression, is in the midst of a remarkable homecoming of his own. He has been given a hero's welcome and has seen the political progress that Kenya has made. But on Wednesday night, while Ngugi was resting in a Nairobi apartment between speaking engagements, four robbers barged in and brutalized him, his wife and a friend. So brazen was the attack, some Kenyans have speculated it might have been carried out by former enemies.