The quote–which I love–comes from a comment on Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s Dust, which I very much enjoyed. This comes from the always impressive Africa Is A Country folks:
http://africasacountry.com/lots-of-little-kenyas-a-conversation-with-yvonne-adhiambo-owuor/
I have not listened to the interview, but I was struck by the long quote describing Dust which, while not at all from my perspective, captures, I think, what captivated me about the story, namely
… Dust tackles some big questions inside the story of a family tragedy — a man is killed right at the beginning of the novel and his sister wants to know why. What does Kenya mean? How do English, Swahili, Silence and Memory serve as national languages? Ah, but the beauty of the novel lies in Owuor’s excellent ear. She uses Luo, Kikuyu, Swahili, Turkana among other Kenyan languages liberally and nails local accents so beautifully it makes me want to cry. Msee, and I can hear it. Mzee, and I know that it’s someone else and where he or she is from. If Kenya is a colonial construct, it’s also a collection of myths. “You can’t live in the songs of people who do not know your name,” is a cynical refrain, but perhaps, some day we can. For those who need verbs to temper the lyrical prose, be assured that I found three: see, feel, hear. It’s a very good novel. Read it.