Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Description

Offering an insight into African culture that had not been portrayed before, Things Fall Apart is both a tragic and moving story of an individual set in the wider context of the coming of colonialism, as well as a powerful and complex political statement of cross-cultural encounters.This guide to Chinua Achebe's compelling novel offers:an accessible introduction to the text and contexts of Things Fall Aparta critical history, surveying the many interpretations of the text from publication to the present a selection of critical writing on Things Fall Apart, by Abiola Irele, Abdul JanMohamed, Biodun Jeyifo, Florence Stratton and Ato Quayson, providing a variety of perspectives on the novel and extending the coverage of key critical approaches identified in the survey sectioncross-references between sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticismsuggestions for further reading. Part of the Routledge Guides to Literature series, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of Things Fall Apart and seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Achebe's text.

Description

"Since its publication in 1958, Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart has won global critical and popular acclaim. Offering a hitherto unlimned picture of a traditional culture, it is both a moving story of the coming of colonialism and a powerful and complex political statement on the nature of cross-cultural encounter. The novel has been immensely influential as the progenitor of a whole movement in fiction, drama, and poetry focusing on the re-evaluation of traditional cultures and postcolonial tensions. It enjoys a pre-eminent position as a foundational text of postcolonial studies. This collection, originating in a conference held in London to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the novel's first publication, opens with a fascinating, insightful, and wide-ranging interview with Achebe. The essays that following explore contemporary critical responses and the novel's historical and cultural contexts. Achebe's influence on the latest generation of Nigerian writers is discussed in essays devoted to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Another essay examines the radical feminist response to the novel in the work of the francophone Algerian writer Assia Djebar, another the illustrations accompanying early editions. Teaching strategies and reader responses to the novel cover Texas, Scotland, and Australia. One measure of the phenomenal worldwide success of Things fall apart is the fact that it has been rendered into some forty-five languages; accordingly, further contributions offer sharp analyses of the German and Polish translations of the novel. Contributors: Mick Jardine, Dorota Goluch, Waltraud Kolb, Bernth Lindfors, Russell McDougall, Malika Rebai Maamri, Michel Naumann, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Christopher E.W. Ouma, Rashna Batliwala Singh, Andrew Smith, David Whittaker"--Page 4 of cover.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: 1958-2008Rodopi2011-01-01
• Chinua Achebe's - Things Fall ApartTaylor & Francis Group2006-01-01
• Chinua Achebe's Things Fall ApartTaylor & Francis Group2007-01-01
• Chinua Achebe's Things Fall ApartTaylor & Francis Group2007-01-01
• Chinua Achebe's Things Fall ApartElectronic resourceTaylor & Francis Inc2007-01-01
• Chinua Achebe's Things Fall ApartTaylor & Francis Group2007-01-01