All specialists in the history of Swahili literature agree on the crucial role that Shaaban Robert (1909-1962) played in the move towards modernity. While efforts were being made to create a standardized Swahili that would meet the expectations of the modern world, there was an urgent need for a literature that would go in hand with such a linguistic development. Shaaban Robert's aim has been to create a literary corpus that stands as the reference point for a new language that was specifically created to be able to serve new circumstances and demands. This body of work is par excellence transitional. It is the meeting point for traditional forms: poems clearly inspired by the Swahili poetic tradition, tales that are retold and adapted from A Thousand and One Nights; and also for new literary forms such as prose fiction.

Not by chance is the father of the Swahili novel also a poet dedicated to the classical tradition. A writer such as Shaaban Robert is not part classical and part modern: he has always responded to the dynamism of Swahili poetry, with its centuries-old desire for innovation. Didactic intent applies to both his prose and poetry. His narrative style can be described as a series of scenes that reveal the process of self-development. Characters are always ‘in progress’ or, more exactly, they are always on the move. The function of the narrative is to describe these inner changes through the actions of the characters.