Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist who was widely know for his first novel “Things Fall Apart”,A very literal name for how the story goes written at just 28. He was paralyzed in 1990, but for years after he’s taught at Bard College in New York ( Caroline Toy). This novel was first published in 1958 and was set in the last 19th century. It over all tells the story of pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of what is now known as Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans. This book has been translated into 50 languages with over 11 million copies sold. The novel was praised for its intelligent and realistic treatment of tribal beliefs and of psychological disintegration coincident with social unraveling. (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica) Chinua Achebe won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for fiction.
In his novel published in 1958 he talks about culture that’s at its changing point. He wants to be able to educate people on the value of his culture. He sat down for an interview in 2008 with Jeffrey Brown. In this interview Jeffrey ask a series of questions regarding what Achebe intended by his novel 50 years ago. He feels as though it is his place to get this story of his people out to the world. He has already know so much about others and not about even his own. Achebe wanted to have the novel set in the late 19th century so it could have the element of change between the cultures. He briefly talks about religion and how “Christianity” was brought over by the Europeans, ‘foreigners’. He put it that after a while he started to think that the story about Christians wasn’t whole, so he went to understand the Igbo religion. This novel was a way for many people to connect even if it was not Nigerians. Achebe received letters from Koreans that called the novel he wrote his, they felt connected in the way that the Japanese colonized Korea (Caroline Toy). This was very much like Europeans telling Africa’s story.
References:
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Things Fall Apart”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Jul. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Things-Fall-Apart. Accessed 25 September 2021.
Transcript: “Achebe Discusses Africa 50 Years After Things Fall Apart”
Interview with Jeffrey Brown for PBS NewsHour, originally aired May 27, 2008
Transcript by PBS and Caroline Toy
Hi Grant,
As I read your post I learned a lot about Chinua Achebe as well as his book “Things Fall Apart”. For example, I learned that the book “Things Fall Apart” tells a unique story about the pre-colonial life in Nigeria. I also gained that Chinua wrote the book to share about his culture and traditions as well as how they were affected by colonialism. Overall, your post got me thinking about how my own culture and traditions in India have changed over the years. I really enjoyed reading your post.
I think it is very important that you mentioned Achebe wanted to share his story with the world. So many people are accustomed to learning about the same cultures and hearing the same stories, but there is so much more to society than that! Everyone should make it a goal to learn more about others and their experiences/culture. I am looking forward to educating myself more through this book. Overall, great job!
I thought it was very interesting that you included the part about Koreans connecting to Achebe’s story. This shows the wide impact that Achebe had and that his story travels across cultures. I also looked up Igbo religion to see what that was and it was not what I expected.
Thank you for giving more background information about Achebe. I think it’s really interesting that he chose to write about Nigeria at a turning point. I think his story is so important, because it broadens the reader’s understanding and view of the people in Nigeria while this was happening.
I think its really important to show how Achebe didn’t want Europeans telling Africa’s story. Achebe knew he needed to write this story. As a Nigerian, he needed to be the one to tell the story of his people. Without him and other African writers, the story might have been told from the perspective of the European colonizers. This story could have fell victim to the idea of single story. However, Achebe was able to prevent this by speaking from the perspective of his people.
Hi! I think you gave great background on the story and on Achebe himself. He needed to write this story to try to give background on the culture. I think your context presentation did a great job of explaining his past life and how things were.
I think that it’s really cool that Achebe’s novel has a specific plot and setting with very distinct cultural places and people, but it is still able to be universally felt by many different cultures that have gone through similar processes. I feel like it’s a really impressive feat to be able to reach so many different people through one book and have so many different cultures relate to the same story.