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Achebe Discusses Africa 50 Years After 'Things Fall Apart'

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Chinua Achebe

Born

in Ogidi, Anambra, Nigeria

November 16, 1930

Died

March 21, 2013

Genre

Fiction, History, Short Stories

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Works, including the novel Things Fall Apart (1958), of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe describe traditional African life in conflict with colonial rule and westernization.

This poet and critic served as professor at Brown University. People best know and most widely read his first book in modern African literature.

Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria reared Achebe, who excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. World religions and traditional African cultures fascinated him, who began stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian broadcasting service and quickly moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention in the late 1950s; his la Works, including the novel Things Fall Apart (1958), of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe describe traditional African life in conflict with colonial rule and westernization.

This poet and critic served as professor at Brown University. People best know and most widely read his first book in modern African literature.

Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria reared Achebe, who excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. World religions and traditional African cultures fascinated him, who began stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian broadcasting service and quickly moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention in the late 1950s; his later novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe defended the use of English, a "language of colonizers," in African literature. In 1975, controversy focused on his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" for its criticism of Joseph Conrad as "a bloody racist."

When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe, a devoted supporter of independence, served as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The war ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved in political parties but witnessed the corruption and elitism that duly frustration him, who quickly resigned. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and after a car accident left him partially disabled, he returned to the United States in 1990.

Novels of Achebe focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of values during and after the colonial era. His style relied heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. He also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay collections. He served as the David and Marianna Fisher university professor of Africana studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

ollowing a brief illness, Achebe died. ...more

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Chinua Achebe’s books

Average rating: 3.75 · 439,461 ratings · 25,898 reviews · 142 distinct works • Similar authors

	Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) 3.74 avg rating — 391,610 ratings — published 1958 — 305 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Longer at Ease (The African Trilogy, #2) 3.86 avg rating — 12,149 ratings — published 1960 — 107 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Arrow of God (The African Trilogy, #3) 3.80 avg rating — 8,557 ratings — published 1964 — 90 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Man of the People 3.89 avg rating — 5,280 ratings — published 1966 — 70 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Anthills of the Savannah 3.85 avg rating — 4,386 ratings — published 1987 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra 4.03 avg rating — 2,642 ratings — published 2012 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Africa's Tarnished Name 4.41 avg rating — 2,187 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Girls at War and Other Stories 3.75 avg rating — 1,536 ratings — published 1972 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God (The African Trilogy, #1-3) 4.27 avg rating — 1,118 ratings — published 1988 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chike and the River 3.83 avg rating — 1,222 ratings — published 1966 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Chinua Achebe…

Series by Chinua Achebe

The African Trilogy (3 books)
by

Chinua Achebe

3.74 avg rating — 413,412 ratings

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Polls

January 2015 New School Classic Poll

1985, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, 348 pages

16 votes, 28.6%

1952, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 581 pages

7 votes, 12.5%

1933, Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 315 pages

7 votes, 12.5%

1958, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, 209 pages

6 votes, 10.7%

1951, The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, 160 pages

5 votes, 8.9%

1985, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, 400 pages

4 votes, 7.1%

1958, The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, 320 pages

3 votes, 5.4%

1973, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, 302 pages

3 votes, 5.4%

1985, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, 337 pages

2 votes, 3.6%

1920, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, 305 pages

2 votes, 3.6%

1916, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, 329 pages

1 vote, 1.8%

1928, Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh, 300 pages

0 votes, 0.0%

1947, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, 107 pages

0 votes, 0.0%

1958, The Bell by Iris Murdoch, 320 pages

0 votes, 0.0%

56 total votes

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