TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: November 16
Celebrating Chinua Achebe (1930–2013),
Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic.
Celebrating Chinua Achebe (1930–2013),
Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic.
Born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, he was given the name Albert after Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert—a mark of British colonial convention. In time, Achebe shed that name, reclaiming his Igbo heritage by adopting Chinua, derived from a traditional prayer meaning “May God fight on my behalf.”
His debut novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), drew its title from W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming.” The book revolutionized African literature, presenting the collision between traditional Igbo society and European colonialism through the tragic story of Okonkwo. It remains the most widely read modern African novel, translated into more than fifty languages.
Achebe was also an outspoken critic of imperialist depictions of Africa in Western literature. His famous essay “An Image of Africa” condemned Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as the work of a “bloody racist”—a challenge that reshaped global literary criticism.
Did You Know? Achebe once declined Nigeria’s highest national honors twice, citing the country’s ongoing political corruption as incompatible with integrity—echoing his own words: “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”
His debut novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), drew its title from W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming.” The book revolutionized African literature, presenting the collision between traditional Igbo society and European colonialism through the tragic story of Okonkwo. It remains the most widely read modern African novel, translated into more than fifty languages.
Achebe was also an outspoken critic of imperialist depictions of Africa in Western literature. His famous essay “An Image of Africa” condemned Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as the work of a “bloody racist”—a challenge that reshaped global literary criticism.
Did You Know? Achebe once declined Nigeria’s highest national honors twice, citing the country’s ongoing political corruption as incompatible with integrity—echoing his own words: “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”
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