Things Fall Apart: An introduction

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Things Fall ApartAn introduction

• A novel by Chinua Achebe

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Nigeria British Colony
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• Area been occupied since at least 9000 BCE
• Portuguese established port Lagos used to
  trade slaves
• After Napoleonic Wars, British began trade, took
  over as colonial power in 1885
• British divided the area into two sections and
  set up colonial government
• Several wars fought between British and Nigerians
  in 1897 and 1901-1902
• Nigeria was not independent until Oct., 1960

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Chinua Achebe1930-present
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Achebe

• Born in southeastern Nigeria, Igbo village
• Raised by Christian parents
• Won a scholarship to attend Government College,
  set up by British colonial government began to
  discover literature
• Attended new University College in Nigeria, again
  set up by British

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• After graduation Achebe began teaching but left
  after a few months to take a job with the
  Nigerian Broadcasting Service where he wrote
  scripts
• Also began working on his own novel, in English
• 1956 he was selected to go to London for training
  at the BBC first trip outside Nigeria
• Brought manuscript with him, received feedback
  and offer for publishing, which he declined,
  saying manuscript needed more work

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The birth of Things Fall Apart

• 1958 had final copy of manuscript, which he sent
  to London Things Fall Apart
• Name comes from poem by Yeats
• Initially rejected by several publishers who felt
  African fiction had no market base
• Finally printed in June, 1958 received very good
  reviews from British press
• In Nigeria, could not believe one of their
  students had written a meaningful novel

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Nigerian Independence

• Achebe went on to write another novel, No Longer
  at Ease, which follows the grandson of Okonkwo,
  the protagonist of Things Fall Apart, set as
  Nigeria becomes independent
• Was director of NBS as Nigeria became independent

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Achebe Voice of African writers

• Achebe began to play a role in advancing other
  African literature
• Became General Editor for African Writers Series
  at Heinemann
• Achebe published two more novels, both touching
  on the effect of colonization on traditional
  African culture
• Arrow of God, 1964
• A Man of the People, 1966

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Civil War

• 1967, southeast region of Nigeria broke away
  where Achebe was born
• Set up Republic of Biafra

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Achebe and Biafra

• Relations between Nigeria and Biafra strained
• Achebes house was bombed, family forced to flee
  violence
• Achebe served as an ambassador
• Criticized Britain for backing Nigeria during
  conflict, stating Nigerian government was the
  same as the colonial, only now black
• Still oppressing the people and enabling white
  forces to be in power
• Biafran bid for independence ended in 1970 when
  the Biafran military surrendered

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Life as a scholar

• Achebe returned to writing
• Wrote controversial An Image of Africa Racism in
  Conrads Heart of Darkness
• Began teaching at the University of Nigeria in
  1976
• 1987, his fifth book, Anthills of the Savannah
  published
• 1990, began teaching literature and writing at
  Bard College in New York
• In Fall 2009, took a position at Brown
  University, where he is today
• More than 8 million copies of TFA sold to date