2008 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s groundbreaking novel Things Fall Apart, a work that is widely acknowledged as the founding text of African Anglophone literature. Set in an Ibo village in Nigeria, the novel follows the life of the memorable character Okonkwo. Achebe uses the English language in an entirely new way and tells the story of the impact of colonialism from the indigenous homeland perspective. Simon Gikandi talks about the importance of Achebe’s influential novel, Francis Abiola Irele shares an overview of the African novel, and Adeleke Adeeko discusses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2000 novel, Purple Hibiscus.
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Piece Description
2008 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s groundbreaking novel Things Fall Apart, a work that is widely acknowledged as the founding text of African Anglophone literature. Set in an Ibo village in Nigeria, the novel follows the life of the memorable character Okonkwo. Achebe uses the English language in an entirely new way and tells the story of the impact of colonialism from the indigenous homeland perspective. Simon Gikandi talks about the importance of Achebe’s influential novel, Francis Abiola Irele shares an overview of the African novel, and Adeleke Adeeko discusses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2000 novel, Purple Hibiscus.
