The Aesthetic of Decay in Ayi Kwei Armah's The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Meja Mwangi's Kill Me Quick

International audienceThrough the analysis of the daily life of the protagonists, the ordinary people and events, this essay examines the socio-political, economic and moral decay/de-generation of post-independence Ghanaian and Kenyan society as portrayed in both novels. The postcolonial disenchantment and bitterness which are pervasive in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Kill Me Quick are due to the gnawing corruption, embezzlement and nepotism that grip the whole society. To denounce these permeating evils, both authors turn to scatology, decay, putrefac-tion, filth and everything connected with human waste from the body such as odour, vomit, piss, blood, phlegm and spittle as literary devices