ANOVERVI

EW OFCHI
NUAACHEBEANDHI
SBOOK,
AMANOFTHEPEOPLE

ChinuaAchebe, i
nf ullAlber tChinualumoguAchebe, aWestAf ri
canwr i
terofNigeriandescent
wasbor nont he16t hofNov emberi n1930.Hedi edinBost on,Massachusetts,
UnitedStat
eson
the21stofMar chin2013.Achebegr ewupi nt heIgbo(i
bo)t ownofOgi di,
Nigeri
a.Afterst
udying
Engli
shandLi teratur
eatt heUni versit
yCollege( nowUniversityofIbadan),hetaughtforashort
ti
mebef orejoiningthest af foftheNi geri
anBr oadcasti
ngCor por
at i
oninLagoswher eheser ved
asadi rectorofext ernalbr oadcast i
ngi n1961-66.Hecof oundedapubl i
shingcompanywi t
hthe
poetChr ist
opher Okigbo.In1969, het ouredt heUnitedStateswi t
hf el
lowwr i
tersli
ke
GabrielOkaraandCy prianEkwensi ,
lectur
ingatuni ver
sit
ies.Hewasr esearchfell
owatt he
Universit
yofNi ger
ia,

NsukkaandPr ofessorofEngl i
shfrom 1976-1981af t
erwhi chhebecamePr ofessorEmer it
usin
1985.Fr om 1985,hewasdi rectoroftwoNi geri
anpubl i
shersHeinemanEducat ionalBooksLtd
andNwankoI f
eji
kaLtd.Her elocat
edt otheUnitedStatesin1990afterbecomi ngpartial
ly
paralyzedinanaut omobileaccident.HetaughtatBr adCol l
egeinNewYor kwher ehehada
ni
net eeny eart
enureasPr ofessorofLanguagesandLi t
eratureandlat
erjoi
nedFacul tyofBrown
Universit
yi nProvi
dence,RhodeI sl
andwher ehewasPr ofessorofAfri
canStudiesunt i
lhisdeat
h.
Hewont heManBookerI nternati
onalPri
ze( 2007).Hislegacyiscel
ebrat
edannual lyatthe
ChinuaAchebeLi t
erar
yFest i
val.

Hi
swor
ks:

Hebeganhi swr i
tingcar eerasay oungwr it
erwi t
hhi sfi
rstnov el,ThingsFal lApar t
,
publi
shedi n1958.AchebewasaNi ger
iannov eli
stacclaimedf orhissent iment aldepicti
onsof
thepsychol ogical disor i
entationaccompany ingtheimposi t
ionofWest erncust omsandv al
ues
upont r
aditi
onal Afr i
cansoci et y.Hisparti
cularconcernwaswi tht heemer gentAfricaati ts
moment sofcr isis;hisnov elsr angeinsubjectmat terfr
om t hefirstcont actwithofanAf rican
vil
l
agewi tht hewhi temant ot heeducat edAf ri
can'sattemptt ocr eateaf ir
m mor al orderoutof
thechangingv aluesi nal argeci t
y.Achebe'swor khasbeenext ensi v
elyanal yzedandav ast
bodyofschol arlywor kdiscussi ngithasar i
sen.Inadditiontohi ssemi nal novels,Achebe' s
oeuvreincludesnumer ousshor tstori
es,poetry,essaysandchi ldrenbooks.Hi snot ablewor ks
i
nclude:ThingsFal lApar t
(1958) ,
NoLongeratEase( 1960) ,
Ar r
owofGod( 1964) ,AManoft he
People(1966) ,Ant hil
lsoft heSav annah(1987) .

Achebepubl ishedsev er
alcollecti
onsofshor tstor
iesandchi l
dr en'sbooks, amongstwhich
i
ncludesHowt heLeopar dGotHi sCl aws( 1973;
withJohnI roaganachi ),col
lect
ionofpoetr
y
i
ncludi
ng" Bewar e,SoulBrother"
(1971)and" Chr
istmasinBi afr
a"(1973) .Acombi nati
onofessay
andpoem pl usphot ographsbyRober tLyonsistit
ledAnot herAfrica( 1998).Hisbookofessay s
i
ncludeMor ningYetCr eationDay(1975) ,HopesandI mpedi ment s(1988) ,HomeandExi le
(2000),
TheEducat i
onofaBr iti
sh-ProtectedChil
d(2009),theaut obi ographicalThereWasa
Country:APer sonalHistoryofBiafra(2012).Achebe'sworkgr appl edwi ththereali
tyofBri
ti
sh
i
mper ial
i
sm'seffectonNigeri
antradit
ionsandcustoms.Hedi scussedinfr
ankt er
mst he
destruct
iveandoftenvi
olenteff
ectthatext
ernali
mpositi
onhav eoni ndi
genouspeople,
chall
engingtheprevai
l
ingnarrat
iveofhisti
met hatWester
nizati
onwasaposi t
ive,
necessar
y
process.

Hi
sst
yleandLanguage:

Achebe'
sst yl
er el
iesheav i
lyont heI gboor altradit
ionandcombi nesst r
aightfor
ward
narrationwithrepr esentati
onsoff ol
kst ories,proverbsandor atory.Hi sstyleoff i
cti
onwr i
ti
ngi s
mai nlyoralt
radi ti
on.Achebei ncor poratesf ol
kt al
esi ntohisstori
es, exposingcommuni tyvalues
i
nbot hthecont entandt heform oft hest oryt
elli
ng.Achebeusespr ov erbstodescr i
bethe
val
uesoft herur alIgbot r
aditi
on.Hei ncl
udest hem t hroughoutthenar rati
ves,repeati
ngpoints
madei nconver sations.Hisshor tstoriesalthoughnotwi delystudi
edashi snov el
sareheav i
ly
i
nfluencedbyt heor al
tradit
ion.Theyof t
enhav emor alsemphasi zi
ngt heimpor tanceofcultural
tr
adi ti
onsasi nfluencedbyf ol
ktales.

OntheissueofLanguageuse, Achebeinhisessay" Englishandt heAf r

icanWriter
",
di
scusseshowcol onial
i
sm -foral
lit
sill
s-provi
dedcol onizedpeoplef rom varyi
ngli
nguist
ic
backgrounds"alanguagewi t
hwhi chtotalktooneanot her."AchebeuseEngl i
shLanguage- t
he
onecentrall
anguageenj oyi
ngnationwidecurrency-inhiswor ksashi spurposei st
o
communi cat
ewit hreadersacrossNigeri
a.Inanotheressay ,hereferst oJamesBal dwin'
s
str
uggletouseEngl ishLanguagetoaccuratelyrepresenthisexperience.Inanotheressay,he
notes:

"
ForanAf
ri
can,
wri
ti
ngi
nEngl
i
shi
snotwi
thoutser
ious

set
backs.Heof
tenf
indshi
msel
fdescr
ibi
ngsi
tuat
ions

ormodesoft
houghtwhi
chhav
enodi
rectequi
val
enti
n

t
heEngl
i
shwayofl
i
fe.
Caughti
nthatsi
tuat
ion,
hecando

oneoft
wot
hings.Hecant
ryandcont
ainwhathewant
sto

saywi
thi
nthel
i
mit
sofconv
ent
ional
Engl
i
shorhecant
ryt
opush

backt
hosel
i
mit
stocont
ainhi
sideas[
..
.]Isubmi
tthatt
hosewho

candot
hewor
kofex
tendi
ngt
hef
ront
ier
sofEngl
i
shsoast
o

accommodat
eAf
ri
cant
hought
-pat
ter
nsmustdoi
tthr
ought
he

t
hemast
eryofEngl
i
shandnotoutofi
nnocence.
"

Achebet
akest
heEngl
i
shLanguageaf
terhi
sreal
i
zat
ion,
heexpandsi
t.Achebesnov
els
wereafoundati
onforthi
sprocess;byalt
eri
ngsyntax,usage,andidi
om ,hetr
ansformsthe
l
anguageintoadist
inct
lyAfri
canstyl
e.I
nsomespot s,thistakest
hef or
m ofr
epetit
ionofan
i
gboideainstandar
dEnglishParl
ance;el
seewhereitappearsasnarrati
veasi
deintegr
atedi
nto
descr
ipt
ive.