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In the Beginning: Christianity and Cultural Colonialism in Chinua Achebe's

"Dead Men's Path

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In the Beginning: Christianity and Cultural Colonialism in Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's
Path."
Purcell, William F.
Studies in Literature and Christianity. Vol. 22; 2005. ISSN 0913 - 0047

STUDIES IN
LITERATURE AND CHRISTIANITY

VOLUME XXll 2005

[Featured Article] I Evil in Literature
Lecture
Image of Evil in Liter ature············· ..····························"· . . ···· ..········· ..··· ................... Yu Endo
Symposium
Evil in Milton ............................................................................................. Osamu Yagawa
Evil in Lord of the Flies ..................................· ....................................· ......· ..· . . Satoshi Ando
Therese's Cognition of Evil: From Abssence to Sympathy ........................... Yasuaki Kawanabe
[Featured Article] II Rereading Toson's New Life
Shimazaki Toson's New Life: In World Literature ......................................· Takehiko Kenmochi
Rereading New Life: A Study on the Publication of
"Penitence " in It······ ..····· ..·· ..·· ..·· ..· ..·· ..· ..·· ..·· ..· ..··············· ..·· ..· ..···· ..···· ..··· Joko Shimoyama
To Live in the Sinfulness of Writing: Rereading Toson's New Life .................. Masako Takahashi
[Articles]
"The Seventh Night" of Soseki's "Ten Nights of Dreams":
Mainly about the Relationship between Dream and God ....................................... Nozomi Ida
Uchimura Kanzo as a Romantic P oet ..............· .......· ........................................... Koji Tanaka
Akutagawa Ryu nosuke's "Smiles of Gods":
The Confrontation of Christianity and Japan's Climate .................................... Naoko Adachi
Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Dante's Divine Comedy:
Human Soul That Has Turned into a Tree in "Cogwheel" .................................... Ryuichi Hori
Christianity for Mishima Yukio:
Through the Works about the Bible in His Boyhood ....................................... Fusako Suzuki
Jonah and a Middle English Poem, Patience:
The Story of Jonah in Medieval Preaching ............................................. Shunichi Takayanag i
Celtic Myth and Christian Spirit in Later Yeats
About the Image of a Tree in Flames ....· ......................................................· Makoto Kihara
In the Beginning: Christianity and Cultural Colonialism
in Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path" ................................................... William F . Purcell
[Reviews]
Gunichi Antoku, Horizontal Integration of Comparative Literature and
Comparative Cu/lure: Imagination's Cosmology .......................................... Shinichi Morimoto
Masaki Ota, Essay in Modern Literature II: Christian Ethics and Grace ............ Masamoto Okuno
Yasuyoshi Sekiguchi, One Flower: A Critical Biography of Imanishi Sukeyuki ......... Etsuko Tani
Tsuneo Kagey"!ma, Tachihara Michizo and Yamazaki Eiji:
Honeycomb in Hard Times ...................................................... ..................... Susumu Morita
Masaya Iwasaki, Mitsumasa Obata and Yoko Abe, Inquiry into the Time and Space of
the Original Scenery in Graham Greene's Literary World ....................................... Kasei Ono
Kazumi Yamagata, ed ., Graham Greene: A Companion and Guide .................. Hiroshi Takubo
Joko Shimoyama, JOO Japanese Writers, Men and Works: [Link] Toson ... Masako Takahashi
Hidekazu Kawashima, Expression as Physical Activity:
Toson, Hakucho, Soseki and Kenji .............................. .............................. Satoru Miyasaka
[Notices]
Endo Shusaku Literary Institute, Reproduction of Endo Shusaku's Draft for Silence
(Comment by Naoko Fujita) ..................................................................... Masamoto Okuno
Satoshi Shibazaki, Joy and Sorrow of Poetry ................................................ Tsuneo Kageyama
Susumu Morita, Series of Christmas Poems: At this Holy Night ..................... Satoshi Shibazaki

The Japan Society for Literature and Christianity

 ISSN 0913- 0047

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 consequences for traditional society stemming from the arrival of West-
In the Beginning: Christianity and ern mission education that at times bred in the young a contempt for tra-
Cultural Colonialism in ditional beliefs and practices as well as for traditional structures of
authority. Finally, it points candidly to the sort of European paternalism
Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's P ath"
towards Africans that often hindered the development of truly African

William F. Purcell churches and African forms of Christianity.

In a 1983 interview Achebe described the real tragedy of colonialism
for the African peoples as "a loss of initiative" in matters of their history,
Chinua Achebe literally burst onto the world lit erary stage with pub- their culture, their political and economic institutions, and their relig-
lication in 1958 of Things Fall Apart, his first novel. Critical readers ious life ("Literature" 116). Having been dominated militarily and politi-
were quick to note the Yeatsian echo of its title and to recognize Achebe's cally by Europe, Africans gradually lost control over one aspect after
masterful manipulation of the conventions of novelistic form, which con- another of their history and culture until, as he noted elsewhere, the his-
n ected the work squarely to the canon of the western literary tradit10n. tory of Africa had become the history of an alien race on the continent;
Its subject matter, as well, offered a refreshingly a uthentic 'insider's' Africa's indigenous peoples and their indigenous institutions had merely
view of a traditional African culture and of that culture's colonial encoun- become a "footnote" ("Bruised Heart" 157). One area in which this loss of
ter with Europe. In the novels and stories that h ave followed Achebe has initiative was perhaps most obvious , an area personally touching closer
clearly established himself as one of the most t alented contemporary to home for Achebe than all others , was in their religious life. The con-
novelists writing in English, with or without the qualifying adJective quering Europeans generally dismissed Africans as savages who had no
'African.' They have also provided continued evidence of Achebe's endur- history, whose culture and institutions were primitive, and who were in
ing interest in the (often unidirectional) cultural exchange between overall need of enlightenment and civilization by a superior European
Europe and Africa that has grown out of the colonial incursion, particu- culture. Their religious beliefs in particular, along with their accompany-
larly in the (positive and negative) impact mission Christianity has had ing rituals and celebrations, were frequently dismissed as superstitious
in reshaping contemporary African cultures. This interest in the cultural and barbaric. Stirred by stereotypical images of a primitive and savage
consequences for Africa of Christianity's arrival with the colonizing pow- continent, European missionaries by the hundreds rushed to Africa to
ers is not something which had slowly evolved in Achebe\; writmg: 1 t is bring light to ignorant heathens living in darkness, to liberate African
already evident in the stories he wrote and published as a univusity stu- minds from the bonds of superstition, to rescue African women from sex-
dent in the early 1950s. "Dead Men's Path," one of his earliest stories, is ual slavery, and to fill the moral void created by licentious and hedonistic
a particularly important piece in Achebe's literary development, for in paganism. Many of these missionaries were quick to recognize the neces-
this simple five-page story many of the cultural issues and thematic con- sity, in the name of expedience, to quickly establish an indigenous corps
cerns tha t would receive greater treatment in h is later and more cele- of catechists and clergy who would carry the Gospel message to the vil-
brated n ovels are already present in nascent form. For one, it alludes to lages, and of even accommodating certain indigenous festivals, customs,
Christian (and European) naming practices that at times seem to deny and ceremonies to give the new religion at least a semblance of
Africans their own identity and to a similar supplanting of African aes- indigenization. Despite this African face lent to the new religion, how-
thetic values with European values, bo th of which are often symptomatic ever, control over the content of the Gospel message, over its interpreta-
of cultural and psychological colonization. It also dramatizes the tion and contextualization, remained clearly in the hands of the

165 ( 1 ) 164 ( 2)
r
gradually came to understand that Christianity and traditional practices
Europeans. And it is this aspect of the failure of the missions that is at
were not necessarily mutually exclusive, that it is possible to "be a Chris-
the heart of Achebe's critique of missionaries and missionary Christian-
tian and yet be able to worship your ancestors" (qtd. in Wren, "Magical
ity in his novels.
Years" 104). This eventually led him to the conclusion that European cul-
Achebe is more than a disinterested observer of the religious situa-
ture and religion were guilty of grave "irreverence [and] arrogance," as
tion in both contemporary and colonial Africa. For him it is very per-
well as stupidity, for presuming that Africa was devoid of history, civili-
sonal. He was born in 1930 in Eastern Nigeria. His father was an early
zation, culture and religion prior to colonization by Europe ("Interview"
convert to Anglican Christianity and made a career as a catechist for the
by Lindfors et. al. 29). Rather, the experiences of the African peoples in
Church Missionary Society. Chinua and his siblings were conscientiously
their particular African environments down through the millennia had
raised as devout Christians. This familiarity with Christianity both from
provided them with unique insights into life that are the basis for the
the inside and the outside adds greatly to the claims of authenticity for
values and attitudes which shape contemporary African life.
his representations.
This is not to imply that Achebe gradually descended into open hos-
Ogidi in 1930, where Achebe grew up, like most towns and most ex-
tility toward Christianity, particularly in its European variety. Unlike
tended families throughout lgboland was divided between Christian con-
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, whose youthful enthusiasm for Christianity gradu-
verts and followers of the traditional beliefs. While the two groups lived
ally dissipated as he came more under the influence of Marxist ideology,
in generally peaceful co-existence, Achebe has said that the Christians
along with his continued criticism of mission Christianity's role in both
were often smug in their relationship with the 'pagans', referring to
the colonizing process and the disruption of traditional African life
themselves as "the people of the church" or "the association of God" and
Achebe has continually acknowledged and even highlighted the contribu-
to the pagans as "the heathen" or "the people of nothing" ("Named for
tion made by missionaries and Christianity to both the material and the
Victoria" 30). In matters of the religious life of the community - the ritu-
moral development of African societies. In his writing he casts "a cold eye
als and festivals - the Christians generally stood apart. Some adopted
on things," acknowledging that traditional society was not utopian, that
the extreme position that "everything in the traditional society was bad
it was not some sort of Rousseauesque world of noble savages blissfully
or should be suppressed," while others were more tolerant in their views.
living in a state of natural harmony, that some traditional practices were
Achebe has said that his parents were "strong and even sometimes un-
in fact brutal and inhumane ("Interview" trans. by McDowell 8). In many
compromising in their Christian beliefs, but they were not fanatical"
instances, he said, Christianity "stood firmly on the side of humane be-
(Home 10). His father, in particular "retained a respect" for the tradi-
havior" against the worst of these atrocities, teaching, for example,
tions, which deepened with age (Ezenwa-Ohaeto 6). Despite occasional
"twins were not evil and must no longer be abandoned in the forest to
tensions the two groups lived side by side, interacting on a regular bdsis
die" ("Named for Victoria" 31). Rather, while acknowledging the positive
in the market and in the daily life of the community.
contributions European Christianity has made to African life, Achebe
As he matured Achebe's fascination with traditional life grew gradu-
has continually criticized the Church and its representatives for their pa-
ally, first into toleration and then into sympathy and open-minded re-
tronizing and often condescending attitude towards African cultures and
spect for the traditional beliefs and practices. It also led to serious
African people which enabled even the best-intentioned, such as the
questioning, not so much about the truths of the Gospel message, but
saintly Albert Schweitzer, to regard Africans the "junior brother" in the
about the claims to exclusive possession of the truth made by European
Christian family of man (qtd. in Achebe, "An Image" 11; also in Achebe,
Christianity. Through university teachers such as Geoffrey Parrinder
and James Welch, both renowned missionaries and religious scholars, he "Colonialist" 69).
162 ( 4 )
163 ( 3 J
 World 15). Rather, he shows a great deal of restraint in characterization.
That the conflict between European Christianity and traditional re- His sympathies are in fact with the old priest who declines to get into an
ligious beliefs and practices has long been important to Achebe is evi- argument with Obi, yet each character is drawn with sympathetic re-
denced in his earliest stories. Three of the four stories he published spect for their position. Are the villagers primitive savages blinded by su-
during his student days, in fact, touch on this interest. His second pub-
perstition for connecting the death of the young woman with the closing
lished story, "In a Village Church," which appeared in the Ibadan's Uni-
of the path? Is Obi both an unreasonable zealot and an arrogant modern
versity Herald in 1950, is a humorous sketch about how Western
sophisticate for dismissing the traditionalist beliefs as something to "la
conventions of liturgical worship are comically twisted by an indigenous
ugh at" (Girls 73)? Achebe does not really take sides. Rather, all the char-
community to suit their own cultural priorities. In a more serious vein acters are allowed to appear reasonable, acting out their choices in accor-
the 1952 story, "Marriage is a Private Affair," dramatizes the familial dance with their beliefs, which makes them realistic types in the sense of
tensions resulting from the collision of western, urbanized, European-
George Lukacs (see Lukacs 6).
Christian notions of marriage with the attitudes and practices of a re- If the story shows signs of artistic maturity, as Lyn Innes hinted it
cently evangelized culture still in the process of inculturating the Gospel
also foreshadows the thematic concerns and dramatic interests of
and reconciling these conflicting values.
Achebe's later work (10). It marks his initial engagement with the issues
More significant is "Dead Men's Path," which was published in 1953.
underlying the religio-cultural conflicts precipitated by Christian mis-
Briefly, the story relates an incident early in the career of Michael Obi,
sionary activity among the Africans. Here Achebe skillfully alludes to the
a "young and energetic man" who had been sent by the Mission authori- many ways in which missionaries, perhaps unwittingly, helped trans-
ties to run a provincial school. He has a passion for "modern methods" form Africans into what Frantz Fanon described as "colonized people"
(Girls 71) and is eager to show the older members of the staff and com-
who, instead of treasuring and celebrating their own culture, reject it as
munity "how a school should be run" (Girls 72). Shortly into his tenure
primitive and inferior, and instead seek to become more like the colonizer
Obi discovers the existence of a seldom-used footpath cutting directly
across the school grounds, right through his carefully cultivated hedges (18).
One issue alluded to immediately is European (and Christian) nam-
and flower garden. The path connects the village shrine with the tradi-
ing practices, which is raised through Michael Obi's name and that of his
tional burial ground and is believed by the local people to be used by
wife Nancy. Both are obviously European names and point to the prac-
their departing relatives as well as by the ancestors returning to visit.
tice of giving and receiving so-called Christian names at baptism. While
Despite the reasonableness of the plea put forward by the traditional
it may seem an innocent custom on the surface, Ngugi argues that this
priest to allow continued access to the path, Obi fences it off with barbed
practice essentially "denies that the African has a right to his name"
wire. When a young woman dies in childbirth two days later the local
(Barrel 94). Ngugi equates it with the slave dealer who branded the slave
people then raze not only the fence and gardens but one of the school
with his own mark and gave him his name so that he would forever be
buildings as well, leaving Obi's European superiors to view him as a mis-
known as that master's property. It is, he said, another aspect of cultural
guided zealot whose enthusiasm is flaming a "tribal-war situation" be-
imperialism, of attempts to extend colonial authority by undermining a
tween the village and school (Girls 74).
people's confidence in their own traditions and identity through a "a sys-
Robert Wren suggests that in this story Achebe gives his first hints
tematic assault on peoples' language, literature, dances, names, history,
of"maturity" (Achebe's World 15). While Wren maintains that the story
skin colours, religions, indeed their very tool of self definition" (Mouing
"is not fully realized because the characterizations are too weak," it nev-
ertheless succeeds because Achebe refuses to "editorialize" (Achebe's 51).
160 ( 6 )
161 ( 5 )
 themselves in their new environment. The houses they constructed, the
While I think Ngugi at times goes to extremes, his point neverthe- church buildings, even their flower and vegetable gardens, were fre-
less needs be given some credence. Names have great significance. Not quently modeled on those of their European homes. Often they would re-
only do they identify us individually, they can also mark our affiliations. produce something like traditional English gardens on the African
They can identify us ethnically, culturally, and religiously. When parents savannah. For their young converts, mostly schoolchildren, these 'tastes'
name a child, they are not simply assigning to it a random identity to dis- would often become affectations associated with a supposedly superior
tinguish it from other individuals. Rather, they are signifying through culture to be mimicked as an indication of one's own assimilation into
that name the child's familial and communal affiliations. They are also
that superior culture.
often expressing their hopes and desires for that child. Changing one's If naming and aesthetics are issues alluded to this story, Obi's mis-
name, therefore, is not simply a matter of switching appellation. Rather, sionary education is an issue more central to the thematic concerns that
it simultaneously involves a total rejection of one's previous identity and dominate Achebe's later fiction. Education throughout Africa was gener-
all that is associated with that identity, and the assumption of a new ally in the hands of the missions. And for the missionaries their first pri-
identity along with its accompanying new affiliations and loyalties. Thus ority was often literacy education, especially for children, so as to enable
the taking of a Christian name, on one level, is a symbolic act of rejecting converts and potential converts to read the scriptures. Parents willingly
not only one's individual past, but also the religio-cultural heritage that sent their children to the missions, hoping that their children would
accompanies it, while simultaneously assuming a new, 'foreign' identity. come away with this bit of the white man's magic, the white man's
Achebe has not been as vitriolic as Ngugi in condemning Christian power. One of the consequences of this, however, was often an undermin-
(and European) naming practices. Nevertheless he too is aware of its im- ing of the traditional structures of authority in the indigenous communi-
plications and in his own fashion has resisted the practice. For instance, ties. Literacy opened the doors to other forms of knowledge not available
Achebe was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe and has continued to be to the parents or elders and often bred in the youth a sense of superiority
known among his family members as Albert. At the university, however, and arrogance. Access to European forms of knowledge, European ways
he began to see his first name as a mark of colonial subjectivity and of thinking and viewing the world led frequently to the youth viewing the
chose to drop it. He often joked afterwards that he and Queen Victoria illiterate elders and their traditional wisdom as backwards. Like Michael
had something in common: they both lost their Alberts ("Named for Vic Obi, they delighted in the "modern" (Girls 71) and grin with a conde-
toria" 33). scending self-satisfaction at the beliefs and reasoning of the elders such
Achebe further alludes to the sort of cultural colonization that was as the priest of Ani: they are too sophisticated for such "fantastic" beliefs
often produced by-missionary influence through the details he provides
regarding Michael's aesthetic taste in gardening and landscaping, which (Girls 73).
The story notes that Obi had a "sound secondary school education
reveal a distinctly European influence. The story describes his garden as which designated him a 'pivotal teacher' in the official records and set
containing "beautiful hibiscus and allamanda hedges in brilliant red and him apart from the other headmasters in the mission field" (70) . In the
yellow that marked out the carefully tended school compound from the next sentence we find the narrator commenting on the superior arro-
rank neighbourhood bushes" (72). Hibiscus and allamanda are tropical gance this bred in the character, making him "outspoken in his condem-
plants that would be found growing wildly in Nigeria. Their juxtaposition nation of the narrow views of [his] older and often less-educated"
with the "rank neighbourhood bushes," however, set them off as dis- colleagues (70). In his arrogance he anticipates John Jaja Goodcountry,
tinctly out of place (or foreign) here. When missionaries settled in a new the westernized African catechist of Arrow of God. Just as Goodcountry
place quite naturally they often tried to recreate something of home for
158 ( 8 )
159 ( 7 )
 dismisses Moses Unachukwu, the barely literate elder of the local com- 126-128). The elderly priest of this story likewise attempts to carry on a
munity as a "half-educated and half-converted" Christian whose "know- dialogue with the smug Obi. However, Obi only turns a deaf ear to the
all airs" could hinder progress in bringing light to this darkness (Arrow appeal for harmonious co-existence expressed in his reference to the Igbo
267), Obi also dismisses many of his older colleagues as "superannuate proverb which says to "let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch" (Girls
d people ... who would be better off employed as traders in the Onitsha 74).
market" (Girls 71). Finally, the brief glimpse of the 'white Supervisor' and his percep-
Obi's arrogance also gives rise to intolerance, particularly for tradi- tion of Obi as an incompetent zealot in need of moderating supervision
tional religious beliefs and practices, which spurs him to seek direct con- anticipate the European characters in Achebe's longer fiction. Most di-
flict by closing off the path between the shrine and burial place. In rectly he foreshadows Goodcountry's bishop in Arrow of God, who simi-
traditional belief this path is the route for the souls of the departing an- larly chastises the catechist with a "firm letter" for rashly provoking the
cestors and also for the spirits of the children coming to be born. Like local religious leaders (Arrow 268).
Reverend Smith in Things Fall Apart, Obi pursues an unnecessary con- Although the deeper implications of these two incidents are left un-
flict in order to demonstrate his contempt for traditional beliefs and prac- spoken in both works, each alludes to the sort of European paternalism
tices. Unlike Mr. Brown, Smith's predecessor in the novel who chooses to that has often refused to allow the African church to take responsibility
tread "softly" on the faith of the clan, cultivating friendships with its for itself. From the earliest stages of missionary penetration into West
"great men," (Things 126), Obi refuses to engage in any sort of compro- Africa the churches had adopted the strategy of training indigenous
mise or dialogue. Instead he belittles the priest, telling the old man that catechists and native clergy, and even ordained an African bishop as
1 1)
as a Christian and a teacher his "duty is to teach your children to laugh early as 1864. However, real authority remained firmly in the hands of
at" traditional beliefs (Girls 73). In this manner he anticipates several the Europeans, who often looked down on their African colleagues as lit-
later characters. For one, he again anticipates Goodcountry, who simi- tle more than adolescents in need of careful supervision. Even after the
larly encourages converts to give witness to their conversion by desecrat- dismantling throughout Africa of most of the formal structures of politi-
ing the sacred python (Arrow 57, 267). He also anticipates Enoch, the cal colonialism in the 1960s and 1970s, the European churches continued
favored convert of Reverend Smith in Things Fall Apart. In that novel to resist the call of African church leaders for a moratorium on foreign
Enoch touches off a major crisis by unmasking an egwugwu spirit during missionaries that would allow these churches the sort of breathing room
an important festival, an act of desecration tantamount to killing the an- they needed in order to figure out what the Gospel demands of Africans
cestral spirit, which results in the destruction of both Enoch's compound in their own cultural situation (see Luzbetak 106-107).
and the church (Things 131-135). Obi's refusal to accommodate local be- As he matured and turned his attention from short stories to novels
lief results in similar consequences for the school compound (Girls 73). Achebe began to explore more deeply the implications of European and
The unnamed priest of Ani, as well, in his level-headed reasoning Christian intervention into the African continent. In part his novels
and attempts to attain compromise and mutual respect for the two relig- would more closely examine the consequences of acculturation and mis-
ions living side-by-side prefigures Akunna, one of the respected village sionary education for traditional cultural institutions as well as for the
leaders in Things Fall Apart. Akunna engages in profound and thought- emerging social and political structure of postcolonial Nigerian society.
ful religious dialogue with the open-minded and flexible Mr. Brown, ex- The nation's shifting fortunes have provided him with new subject mat-
changing views regarding the nature of God and educating Brown on the ter and different story lines. Still, at the core of each is a consciousness
similarities and divergences of their respective systems of belief (Things of the impact (positive and negative) that European and Christian

157 ( 9 ) 156 ( 10 )
I'
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Educational Publishers, 1996.
intervention have had in forming the contemporary Nigerian scene. Far Ajayi, J. F. A. Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891: The Making of a N ew
from being something that developed only in his maturity, that con- Elite. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969.
sciousness is already nascent in these short sketches by a young univer- Ayandele, E. A. The Missionary Impact on Modern Nigeria 1842-1914: A Political
sity student who was keenly aware of both the benefits and the dangers and Social Analysis. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1966.
for traditional society posed by mission Christianity. Ezenwa-Ohaeto. Chinua Achebe: A Biography. Oxford: James Currey, 1997.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. 1952. Trans. Charles Lam Markmann.
Notes
London: Pluto Press, 1986.
(1 ) Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a freed African captive, was ordained the first Angli-
Innes, C. L. Chinua Achebe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
can bishop for Nigeria in 1864. For a discussion of mission history in Nigeria Lukacs, George. Studies in European Realism: A Sociological Survey of the Writ-
and of Bishop Crowther's episcopacy see Ajayi and also Ayandele. ings of Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, Tolstoy, Gorki and Others. Trans. Edith Bone.

London: Hillway, 1950.

Works Cited Luzbetak, Louis J. The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological
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Anthropology. 1988. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1995.
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1987. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Ed. Bernth Lindfors. Jackson: Uni-
Kenya. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1983.
versity of Mississippi Press, 1997. 155-164. - . Mouing the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms. Oxford: James Currey,
- . "Colonialist Criticism." In Hope and Impediments: Selected Essays, 68-90. New
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York: Anchor-Doubleday Books, 1990. Wren, Robert M. Achebe's World: The Historical and Cultural Context of the Nov-
- . "Dead Men's Path." 1952. Rpt. in Girls at War and Other Stories, 70-74. New els of Chinua Achebe. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1980.
York: Anchor-Doubleday, 1973. - . "Those Magical Years." 1983. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Ed. Bernth
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sippi Press, 1997. 7-10.
- • "Interview with Chinua Achebe." By Bernth Lindfors, Ian Munro, Richard
Priebe, and Reinhard Sander. 1969. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Ed.
Bernth Lindfors. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1997. 27-34.
- . "Literatu re and Conscientization: Interview with Chinua Achebe." By Biodun
Jeyifo. 1983. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Ed. Bernth Lindfors. Jack-
son: University of Mississippi Press, 1997. 110-123.

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- . "Named for Victoria, Queen of England." In Hope and Impediments: Selected
Essays, 30-39. New York: Anchor-Doubleday Books, 1990.
- · Things Fall Apart. 1958. Classics in Context Ser. Oxford: Heinemann
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