Post by diane9247 on Mar 31, 2015 6:30:12 GMT
Chinua Achebe was born November 16, 1930, in the village of Ogidi, Nigeria. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, was published in 1958 when he was 28 years old and gained international critical praise. Things Fall Apart became a classic of world literature, selling over 10 million copies in 45 languages and was required reading for students in high schools and universities around the world. The story was based on the history of his family, members of the Igbo (or, Ibo) people of southeastern Nigeria. The Igbo were victimized by British colonialism and, after independence in 1960, by brutal military dictators from other Nigerian ethnic groups. Achebe taught in American Universities for many years, most recently at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. His interest in the destructive power of colonialism became the basis of his writing and in addition, he became disillusioned by the violence and corruption of Nigerian governments after independence in 1960.
From New York Times after his death:
Mr. Achebe taught in American universities for many years, and before his death at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He was not without controversy, most notably for his strong criticism of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, calling Conrad a "thoroughgoing racist."
First edition, 1958 
Chinua Achebe and his wife, Christie, had four children and six grandchildren. Read more about the life and other works of Chinua Achebe HERE. Youtube has a fascinating 7 minute video of the author discussing slavery, colonialism, Africa and the African diaspora:
Birthplace of Chinua Achebe.kmz (993 B)
From New York Times after his death:
Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author and towering man of letters whose internationally acclaimed fiction helped to revive African literature and to rewrite the story of a continent that had long been told by Western voices, died on Thursday [March 21, 1013] in Boston. He was 82.
...
As a student, Mr. Achebe immersed himself in Western literature. At the University College of Ibadan, whose professors were Europeans, he read Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe, Swift, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Tennyson.
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As a student, Mr. Achebe immersed himself in Western literature. At the University College of Ibadan, whose professors were Europeans, he read Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe, Swift, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Tennyson.
Conrad relegated “Africa to the role of props for the breakup of one petty European mind,” Mr. Achebe argued in his essay “An Image of Africa.”
“I grew up among very eloquent elders,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2008. “In the village, or even in the church, which my father made sure we attended, there were eloquent speakers.” That eloquence was not reflected in Western books about Africa, he said, but he understood the challenge in trying to rectify the portrayal.
“I grew up among very eloquent elders,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2008. “In the village, or even in the church, which my father made sure we attended, there were eloquent speakers.” That eloquence was not reflected in Western books about Africa, he said, but he understood the challenge in trying to rectify the portrayal.
Chinua Achebe and his wife, Christie, had four children and six grandchildren. Read more about the life and other works of Chinua Achebe HERE. Youtube has a fascinating 7 minute video of the author discussing slavery, colonialism, Africa and the African diaspora:
Birthplace of Chinua Achebe.kmz (993 B)
