A Brief History & Background of African Literature with special

reference to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia.

Colonialism and Imperialism

• Refer to control over a piece of land and its people by a more dominant power

• Colonialism – establishment of a colony by sending a group of people from a dominant power to live in and control a weaker one (e.g. the U.S. was once a British colony, India was once a British colony, the Philippines was once a U.S. colony)

• Imperialism – broader term that implies domination of a group of people and their land, which may include colonization (see above) but does not require it (e.g. the U.S. controlling Afghanistan, U.S. using foreign aid in return for countries protecting their interests, U.S. attempt to control Cuba by forcing an embargo)

England and other colonial powers like Franceand Germany divided Africa into 50 countries.

Colonialism in Nigeria

• Began around 1800 when England began controlling West African ports to stop the Transatlantic Slave Trade

• By 1885, England had complete political, financial, and social control over what is now Nigeria

• Nigerians fought against the control from England from the very beginning, but England had better weapons and more resources

Nigerian Independence

• Nigerians continued fighting for freedom during the 19th century and into the 20th century.

• They wanted to form an independent country that was not controlled by England but by Nigerians

• In 1960, Nigeria gained independence from England. 1960 is called the “Year of Africa,” because many African countries gained independence that year.

The End of Colonialism

• Between 1885 and 1914 Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under its control, compared to 15% for France, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and 1% for Italy.

• Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of French West Africa or the entire German colonial empire.

• After WWII, England’s sway and power over its colonies around the world was weakened.

• England’s empire in Africa ended quickly, often leaving the newly-independent states ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of governing themselves.

• Nigeria won independence in 1960, and many other African nations followed shortly thereafter.

AFRICAN LITERATURE

*African literature consists of a bodyof work in different languages andvarious genres, ranging from oralliterature to literature written incolonial languages

(French, Portuguese, and English).

*Oral literature, including stories, dramas,

riddles, histories, myths, songs, proverbs,

and other expressions, is frequently

employed to educate and entertain

children. Oral histories, myths, and

proverbs additionally serve to remind whole

communities of their ancestors' heroic

deeds, their past, and the precedents for

their customs and traditions.

• literature is a reflection of the society is a factthat has been widely acknowledged.Literature indeed reflects the society, its goodvalues and its ills.

AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS

SOYINKA, Wole

• Born in Nigeria, July 13, 1934. The foremost English-Language poet and certainly the most celebrated playwright of black America. His work earned him the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature.

CLARK, John Pepper

• Nigerian Poet, dramatist, and Literacy critic. Born April 6, 1935, contributed significantly to the Nigerian renaissance of the late 50s and early ’60s.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• was born on September 15, 1977 in Nigeria. She writes poems, short stories, and novels. One of her stories, called That HarmattanMorning, was chosen as joint winner of the BCC Short Story Awards. She also won the O. Henry prize for a story called The American Embassy.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o• Kenyan writer who was born

on January 5, 1938. His works include plays, novels, short stories, and essays. He has written everything from children's literature to social criticism. Most of his work is in English, but some of it is in Gikuyu

Buchi Emecheta• is a Nigerian novelist

who was born on July 21, 1944. She has published over 20 books. Her most well-known novels are: "Second-Class Citizen," "The Bride Price," "The Slave Girl," and "The Joys of Motherhood."

Ayi Kwei Armah• is a notable Ghanaian

writer who was born in 1939. He mainly writes novels. He has written six novels, all of which have been fairly well received. His most well known work is called "Fragments."

Chinua AchebeHe was born on November 15,1930 in Nigeria. He died on March 12, 2013. He was a novelist, a poet, a critic, and a professor. He was best known for his first novel which is called Things Fall Apart. It was written in 1958

Chinua Achebe

• famous for his novels describing the effects ofWestern customs and values on traditionalAfrican society.

• Achebe's satire and his keen ear for spokenlanguage have made him one of the mosthighly esteemed African writers in English.

• Many of his poems written during the warwere collected in BEWARE, SOUL BROTHER(1971), which won the Commonwealth PoetryPrize.

• Achebe wrote his first novel, THINGS FALLAPART (1958),Achebe took the title of thebook from William Butler Yates's The SecondComing- "Things fall apart; the centre cannothold.“

Achebe’s works• THINGS FALL APART, 1958• NO LONGER AT EASE, 1960 • THE SACRIFICAL EGG, AND OTHER STORIES, 1962• ARROW OF GOD, 1964• A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, 1966 - Kansan mies (suom. Eila Pennanen,

1969) • CHIKE AND THE RIVER, 1966 (with drawings by Prue Theobalds) • BEWARE, SOUL BROTHER, 1971 (US title: Christmas in Biafra and

Other Poems, 1973) • THE INSIDER: STORIES OF WAR AND PEACE FROM NIGERIA, 1971

(editor) • GIRLS AT WAR, 1972• HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS CLAWS, 1973 (with John Iroaganachi)• MORNING YET ON CREATION DAY, 1975• THE DRUM: A CHILDREN'S STORY, 1977 (ill. by John Roper; also

illustrated by Anne Nwoloye)

• THE FLUTE, 1977 (ill. by Tayo Adenaike) • DON'T LET HIM DIE, 1978 (ed. with Dubem Okafor) • LITERATURE AND SOCIETY, 1980• AKA WETA, 1982 (ed. with Obiora Udechukwu) • THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA, 1983• AFRICAN SHORT STORIES, 1985 (ed. with C.L. Innes) • THE WORLD OF OGBANJE, 1986• ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNA, 1987 (short listed for the Booker Prize) • THE UNIVERSITY AND THE LEADERSHIP FACTOR IN NIGERIAN POLITICS,

1988 • HOPES AND IMPEDIMENTS: SELECTED ESSAYS, 1965-1987, 1989• NIGERIAN TOPICS, 1989• BEYOND HUNGER IN AFRICA: CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND AN AFRICAN

VISION, 1990 (editor) • THE HEINEMANN BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SHORT STORIES,

1992 (ed. with C.L. Innes) • ANOTHER AFRICA, 1997 (with photographs by Robert Lyons) • HOME AND EXILE, 2000 • COLLECTED POEMS, 2004 • THE EDUCATION OF A BRITISH-PROTECTED CHILD, 2009

• As a youth, Achebe read many Western

novels but was often disdainful of the

African characters...until, that is, he

realized the racist biases of the

authors..Achebe’s education in English

and exposure to European customs have

allowed him to capture both the European

and the African perspectives on colonialexpansion, religion, race, and culture.

ThemesCulture and Colonialism - A prevalent theme in Achebe's

novels is the intersection of African tradition (particularly

Igbo varieties) and modernity, especially as embodied by

European colonialism. E.g. The Village of Umuofia in

Things Fall Apart, is violently shaken with internal

division when the white Christian missionaries arrive.

Masculinity and femininity - gender roles of men and

women, as well as societies conception of the

associated concepts, are frequent themes in Achebe's

writing.

– This is Achebe's criticism of

• “He criticizes Christianity not as something that is

wrong, but as something that divides communities

with its individual conversions”.

• “We do not pray to have more money but to have

more kinsmen”.

• “We are better than animals because we have

kinsmen. An animal rubs its aching flank against a

tree, a man asks his kinsman to scratch him . . . “

According to Achebe's greatest example of this binary logic is

“He saw things as black and white. And black was evil.

Things Fall Apart

WHAT DOES THE PHRASE“FALL APART” MEANS

• “Collapse, break down, either physically or mentally and emotionally”

• “come apart at the seams; go to pieces.”

Things Fall Apart• Okankwo, the main character in this story was

the superior man of his village who had a majordownfall.

• He was powerful and he knew this as he was theleader of his community. Everything is perfect inOkankwo’s life until he kills a man and is banishedfor seven years.

• The time period is set in the 1890s whenmissionaries came into Igbo society and tookover. With this real life fact, Achebe incorporatedhistory into his fictional story.

• This invasion was Okankwo’s biggest downfall asthe missionaries took over leadership.

• Story is about Igbo tribe/culture

Story is about

• Story is about vanishing customs

• Setting is Nigeria

• Story is about Okonkwo

• Story is about Realization of culture/tribe/values (the tribe stands for) at risk

Story is about

• Story is about Africa losing her culture

• Story is about a father, a mother and her children

• Story is about losing faith and gaining again

• Story is about a tragic flaw

"Things Fall Apart," Achebe presents a different idea of

Africans. They have families, religion, honors and titles, music,

economy, laws and a court system, complicated farming

techniques, a tradition of wise sayings and the art of

conversation; on top of this, they successfully practice an un-

autocratic style of communal living that Western societies long

for.

• The Europeans in Things Fall Apart aredepicted as intolerant of Igbo culture andreligion, telling villagers that their gods arenot real (pp. 135, 162) the Igbo are seen astolerant of other cultures as some of themaccepted Christian as their new religion.

• Oral traditions and storytelling are importantinfluences on Achebe’s work. He loved to hear theIgbo stories that his mother and sister told whenhe was a small boy. So, this novel is mainly writtenbased on the stories that Achebe has heard since

he was a little child.

• In Igbo society as stated in the, decisions

were not made by a chief or by any

individual but rather by a council of male

elders. Religious leaders were also called

upon to settle debates reflecting the

cultural focus of the Igbo people. . Prior to

British colonization, the Igbo people as

depicted in Things Fall Apart lived in a

patriarchal collective political system.

“If you look carefully, the women were never

really dealing alone with issues pertaining to

women, they were dealing with issues pertaining

to society”.

Achebe characterizes Umuofia’s women in the joys and

tribulations of their motherhood and selects specific moments

of their lives to represent some of the most meaningful cultural

and historical aspects of existence in Igbo communities .