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Chinua Achebe (1930- ). Nigeria.Chinua Achebe is one of the most well known African authors of his generation. He was born in 1930 in Eastern Nigeria to religious Christian parents. He enrolled in the first class of the University College at Ibadan in 1948. He initially intended to study medicine, but switched to literature. His first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958) has received wide acclaim. It deals with the colonial impact on Igbo culture. Igbo society, as well as the book's main character, Okonkwo, are unable to adapt to the arrival of the British, who impose a cash economy and Christianity on them. Eventually, this vibrant, functioning society collapses and disintegrates under these new pressures, as does Okonkwo. A later novel, A Man Of the People (1966) describes an unnamed post-colonial African country. It deals with the problems of political representation in a corrupt nation. It also deals with the problems of finding a collective will in an ethnically diverse, economically stratified nation. The main part of the story centers around the political battles between the main character, Odili, and his former teacher, Chief Nanga, the corrupt and charismatic "man of the people". His most recent novel, Anthills of the Savannah (1987), deals with the problem of military regimes in contemporary Africa, and is a continuation of the story laid out in A Man of the People. It centers on a dictator, Sam, the ruler of this fictional African country. As Sam becomes more megalomaniacal, his limited ability to rule diminishes even further. He eventually destroys even his boyhood friends, and is finally overthrown. Much of Achebe's work is politicized. His novels are not "art for its own sake". In addition to his famous novels, he has written numerous essays, as well as several children's stories. (KJ) Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1958. |
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