Group+3+Chinua+Achebe,+Things+Fall+Apart

[[image:http://news.brown.edu/files/imagecache/main_image/article_images/Achebe2_0.jpg align="right" caption="Chinua Achebe dicussing poetry at Brown University"]]
=__Chinua Achebe__=

__Brief History__
Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian-born writer. Currently, Achebe is a professor at Brown University. He was born on November 16, 1930 to his Christian parents Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam. Achebe was raised in an Igbo town called Ogidi.10 Since storytelling is an important tradition in Igbo society, it was natural that a young Achebe would beg his mother to tell him stories. While attending St. Phillips' Central School in 1936, Achebe showed exceptional studious skills when a teacher noted that his handwriting and reading skills were excellent. Unlike common schooling in the U.S., Achebe left his home when he was twelve to go to another village. He enrolled into a different school in the village of Nekede, where his brother John taught. Later on, when Achebe reached secondary school, the main language that was enforced was English. In the secondary school called Government College, the intense academic program was not too much for Achebe. He finished the five-year program in four years. His academic proficiency was great enough to allow him a scholarship for undergraduate studies. Once Achebe took an entrance examination into the college, he was considered a Major Scholar since his marks were so high. During Achebe's time in his ungraduate studies, he became interested in writing. This is also when he showed an interest in the variety of religions around the world in addition to a traditional African culture. After Chinua Achebe graduated from college he began to look for work. It was then, he got a teaching position at a poorly run school called Merchants of Light in Oba. By 1954, Achebe was offered a job at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service. By the time that Chinua Achebe was twenty-eight years old, he had written his first novel, Things Fall Apart which was published in 1958.

__Chinua Achebe as a Teacher/Professor__
During Chinua Achebe's experience with writing novels relating to African Literature, he became a Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. After 19 years of teaching at Bard, Achebe became part of the faculty at Brown University starting in the 2009-10 school year. At Brown University, students have the privilege of having Achebe as their Professor of Africana studies. According to Brown, Achebe published an article on Igbo culture and theology in October 2009 by the University of Notre Dame Press. Achebe will also oversee the Chinua Achebe Colloquium on Africa. The purpose of the colloquium is to inspire or encourage others to have a greater knowledge of Africa. Achebe also delivered a major lecture to launch the colloquium at the start of Fall 2009 semester. Two years before Achebe's induction into Brown University, he recieved the Man Booker International Prize for outstanding fiction. On top of this, Achebe modestly carries 40 honorary degrees, one of which is a Doctor of Humane Letters from Brown. = =

__Achebe and Writing in English[[image:http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/postgrad/Nasir.Abdulsalam/nigeria.gif width="294" height="341" align="right" caption="Map of Nigeria"]]__
One of Chinua’s discussions is about how to define African literature. In “English and the African Writer”, Achebe includes points about the history of Colonialism in Africa. After this he writes about his personal experience writing with the English language, compared to other native ways. Achebe states that:

"A national literature is one that takes the whole nation for its province, and has a realised potential audience throughout its territory. In other words a literature that is written in the //national// language…If you take Nigeria as a an example the national literature, as I see it, is the literature written in English; and the ethnic literatures in Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, Effik, Edo, Ijaw, etc., etc" (343).

The importance of Nigeria having a national literature is important in the eyes of Achebe because it allows for a larger group of people to read it. When a territory only has an ethnic literature, the potential is not fully realized. The literature will only be available to a select group of people that can read and understand the specific language.

In regards to history, Achebe states that the important aspect to realize is “Africa in the second half of the twentieth century will appear to be the rise of the individual nation states. I believe that African literature will follow the same pattern” (343). It seems that Achebe’s prediction was correct, since he actually began writing novels shortly after the second half of the twentieth century. In addition to Achebe, some other notable Nigerian authors with published novels are Uwen Akpan, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Elechi Amadi.

__**Things Fall Apart**__
//Things Fall Apart// is by far Achebe’s most well-known novel. Written in response to what Achebe saw as a generally inaccurate representation of Africans by British authors, the novel tells the story of the Igbo tribe, living in a village in Nigeria, and more specifically the man Okonkwo, who tries- and fails- to maintain his traditionalist cultural values in a rapidly changing world. //Things Fall Apart// was one of the first novels by an African author to garner worldwide acclaim, and this is one of the main reasons that it is so interesting. Because Achebe was born in Nigeria, and because he is an African writing in English about Africans, Achebe created what could almost be called a new genre with //Things Fall Apart:// it was the first of its kind//.// The novel chronicles the trials of an African people coming up against colonialism.

Achebe’s novel is in part so influential because although it is fiction, it is historically sound. In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of nfluence received international recognition and in the following year, the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came under the control of the British Government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On January 1, 1901 Nigeria finally became an official British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world power at the time. During the 1890’s, British missionaries were constantly entering territories such as what we now know as Nigeria, in a heavy precursor to technical British colonialism. Achebe’s story is set in the 1890s, when missionaries and colonial government made its intrusion into Igbo society. It is during this time that our protagonist Okonkwo is destroyed, because his unwillingness to change sets him apart from the community and he is left fighting alone against colonialism.

Prior to //Things Fall Apart//, the canon of literature concerning Nigeria by Nigerians consisted almost exclusively of traditional folklore and poetry which had been passed down through the culture for many years. With this one novel, Achebe introduced into the world of acclaimed literature a Nigeria with complex social and psychological issues, and he made the literary world stand up and take notice of his work as being on par with, and even a level above, some of the most praised literature of the century, in an international arena. Achebe's deft use of subjectivity to draw the reader in and make him experience colonialism the way his protagonist experiences it is crucial in creating sympathy from a non-African reader.

One of the most famous quotes from the novel, "Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten," can apply not only to the characters in the book but also to the book itself. Achebe's language is richly metaphoric without being superfluous or fancy. The novel as a whole can stand as a proverb for life: 'things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.'

**__Other Works__**
Following //Things Fall Apar//t, Achebe wrote two more novels to complete what has been named "The African Trilogy", which was originally all going to be published in one volume. All together, the three novels comprise a very personal and yet unsentimental tale of an African tribe faced with the problems created by modern colonialism, and ultimately, in each novel, Achebe's protagonists are defeated by the forces they set out against. //No Longer At Ease//, the second book of the trilogy, was published in 1960, hot on the heels of Achebe's success with //Things//. This second book follows the grandson of Okonkwo, the protagonist of //Things Fall Apart//, as he deals with the pressures and demands of an increasingly modern world while still, just as Okonkwo in //Things Fall Apart//, trying to hold onto his traditionalist cultural values. The third book in the trilogy, //Arrow of God//, came slightly later, in 1964. Although it is the third installment in the trilogy, the storyline veers away from Okonkwo's family and deals with a different tribe in Nigeria, but still under the influence of British power.

In addition to "The African Trilogy", Achebe has also written two additional novels, //A Man of the People//, published in 1966, and //Anthills of the Savannah//, published in 1987. Both deal with power and corruption in Africa by Africans, one set in Nigeria and the other in the imaginary country Kangan.

Achebe has also written numerous short stories, and many volumes of poetry and essays. All of his writings deal in some way with the peoples of Africa and his identity as an educated Nigerian. He has been widely recognized by academic institutions for his essays, and has been asked to speak and teach on them at universities around the world.



__Total Works__

 * Novels**:

//Things Fall Apart, 1958 No Longer At Ease, 1960 Arrow of God, 1964 A Man of the People, 1966 Anthills of the Savannah, 1987

//Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems, 1971 // //Don't let him die: An anthology of memorial poems for Christopher Okigbo,// 1978 //Another Africa//, 1998 //Collected Poems//, 2005
 * Poetry**: //

References: 1. [] 2. [] 3. [] 4. [] 5. [] 6. [|http://www.answers.com/topic/chinua-achebe] 7. [|http://aalbc.com/authors/chinua.htm] 8. [] 9. [] 10. [] 11. [] 12. [] 13. Achebe, Chinua. "English and the African Writer." __Transition__ 75/76 (1997): 342-49.