Spotlight on... Chinua Achebe
This is the year of Chinua Achebe, the year he was announced the winner of the Man Booker International Prize, a prize that acknowledges a writer's body of work. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded once every two years to a living author...
This is the year of Chinua Achebe, the year he was announced the winner of the Man Booker International Prize, a prize that acknowledges a writer's body of work. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded once every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The prize was first awarded in 2005 to Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.
Elaine Showalter, chair of the panel of judges, said of the prize: "We were rewarding an entire body of work bearing the indelible stamp of a particular writer's personality, intellect, style and world view. We needed to acknowledge that such a body of work is accompanied by its own history of reception, controversy, imitation, descent and influence". Nadine Gordimer, also a judge, said that the quality of the writing was their chief concern and that they were looking for a writer whose fiction provided for illumination.
Mr Achebe's breakthrough came in 1958 with the publication of his first novel Things Fall Apart. Published first by Heinemann, only a few copies were originally printed. This was a novel project for them; they had not seen something like it before. Through this first novel Mr Achebe explores adapting an already existing tradition of the form to a cultural expression new to it. He makes the form serve the culture and the psyche. With it, Mr Achebe began to be recognised as one of the fathers of African literature with many younger writers, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, citing him as an inspiration.
Mr Achebe's writing began as a response to European claims of writing literature from Africa. One of his most famous essays, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, is a critique of Conrad's dehumanisation of the African figures present in the novella which he claims is a reflection of a broader contemporary European mentality. He writes of the injustice that is done by including racist literature in a literary canon.
Things Fall Apart is an account of the experience of the moment of colonisation.
The novel looks at two epistemologies at the beginning of their intersection and at the momentous changes taking place in a psyche.
Where African writers have criticised his use of the English language for his works, he has responded through a discussion of his use of language, as he does in The African Writer And The English Language In Morning Yet On Creation Day: Essays. With Nigeria's profusion of over 200 languages, Mr Achebe claims that the one language that is common to all is English. This is an effect of colonisation, but not an effect that should be consequently rejected. With it, he writes, comes the possibility for an African unity previously unthought-of.
Mr Achebe's literature explores the writing of a Nigerian expression of English: The structure shifts from a standard; in it he gives form to Igbo proverbs; where words do not translate in their full extent of connotations and cultural specificity, the Igbo word is preferred. Through the progression of his novels, one can trace an increased use of pidgin in the dialogue of the characters. The written language resonates of an oral tradition which carries cultural identity and values.
The narratives of his novels and short stories follow the progression of Nigeria's history at various moments of its recent history. A Man Of The People, which portrays and analyses post-independence Africa, was prophetically published in 1966 just two days before Nigeria's first attempted coup. His portrayal mirrored so accurately that which was to happen so immediately after, that he was suspected of complicity in the coup. Girls At War And Other Stories is a sharp rendition of experiences during the civil war. Nigeria under dictatorship is subsequently fictionalised as Kangan in his last novel Anthills Of The Savannah, which in 1987 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and declared by Ms Showalter, during her awarding speech, as his masterpiece.
In this novel Mr Achebe develops, for the first time extensively, a female protagonist. The philosophy underpinning this characterisation is one which is traceable as an undercurrent in his earlier novels. In Things Fall Apart, the female figure is represented as a concept of mother that society, and sometimes its individuals, turns to when its pillars begin to disintegrate. In Anthills Of The Savannah, Beatrice is thus the figure of hope that remains to the end of the narrative both painfully and joyously talking of truth. Through the metaphor of the title, the novel comes to reflect the possibility for hope in a context surrounded by corruption and disillusionment; it gains its strength through the developing voice of the woman.
Mr Achebe believes in the interdependence that lies between cultural and literary study, and socio-political activity, thus his early shift from an education in science to one in literature. Through his writings he immerses himself in social dialogue and criticism. During the Biafran war he worked for the diplomatic service. In 2004, Mr Achebe refused to accept the award of Commander of the Federal Republic in protest against the dangerous state of governance in the country. Throughout his career he has been awarded numerous honorary degrees and prizes.
Ms Showalter concluded her awarding speech by saying: "In his 1998 lectures at Harvard, titled Home and Exile, Achebe declared that 'My hope for the 21st (century) is that it will see the first fruits of the balance of stories among the world's people.' The balance of stories among the world's people - not the censorship or silencing of some, and the hyping or monopoly of others - this phrase could be the motto of the Man Booker International Prize. We are proud this evening to celebrate the 'great storyteller who has so brightly illuminated our future', Chinua Achebe."
• Ms Ghirlando holds a Masters degree in critical and cultural theory from Cardiff University. She is currently a teacher, writer and visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.
Elaine Showalter, chair of the panel of judges, said of the prize: "We were rewarding an entire body of work bearing the indelible stamp of a particular writer's personality, intellect, style and world view. We needed to acknowledge that such a body of work is accompanied by its own history of reception, controversy, imitation, descent and influence". Nadine Gordimer, also a judge, said that the quality of the writing was their chief concern and that they were looking for a writer whose fiction provided for illumination.
Mr Achebe's breakthrough came in 1958 with the publication of his first novel Things Fall Apart. Published first by Heinemann, only a few copies were originally printed. This was a novel project for them; they had not seen something like it before. Through this first novel Mr Achebe explores adapting an already existing tradition of the form to a cultural expression new to it. He makes the form serve the culture and the psyche. With it, Mr Achebe began to be recognised as one of the fathers of African literature with many younger writers, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, citing him as an inspiration.
Mr Achebe's writing began as a response to European claims of writing literature from Africa. One of his most famous essays, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, is a critique of Conrad's dehumanisation of the African figures present in the novella which he claims is a reflection of a broader contemporary European mentality. He writes of the injustice that is done by including racist literature in a literary canon.
Things Fall Apart is an account of the experience of the moment of colonisation.
The novel looks at two epistemologies at the beginning of their intersection and at the momentous changes taking place in a psyche.
Where African writers have criticised his use of the English language for his works, he has responded through a discussion of his use of language, as he does in The African Writer And The English Language In Morning Yet On Creation Day: Essays. With Nigeria's profusion of over 200 languages, Mr Achebe claims that the one language that is common to all is English. This is an effect of colonisation, but not an effect that should be consequently rejected. With it, he writes, comes the possibility for an African unity previously unthought-of.
Mr Achebe's literature explores the writing of a Nigerian expression of English: The structure shifts from a standard; in it he gives form to Igbo proverbs; where words do not translate in their full extent of connotations and cultural specificity, the Igbo word is preferred. Through the progression of his novels, one can trace an increased use of pidgin in the dialogue of the characters. The written language resonates of an oral tradition which carries cultural identity and values.
The narratives of his novels and short stories follow the progression of Nigeria's history at various moments of its recent history. A Man Of The People, which portrays and analyses post-independence Africa, was prophetically published in 1966 just two days before Nigeria's first attempted coup. His portrayal mirrored so accurately that which was to happen so immediately after, that he was suspected of complicity in the coup. Girls At War And Other Stories is a sharp rendition of experiences during the civil war. Nigeria under dictatorship is subsequently fictionalised as Kangan in his last novel Anthills Of The Savannah, which in 1987 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and declared by Ms Showalter, during her awarding speech, as his masterpiece.
In this novel Mr Achebe develops, for the first time extensively, a female protagonist. The philosophy underpinning this characterisation is one which is traceable as an undercurrent in his earlier novels. In Things Fall Apart, the female figure is represented as a concept of mother that society, and sometimes its individuals, turns to when its pillars begin to disintegrate. In Anthills Of The Savannah, Beatrice is thus the figure of hope that remains to the end of the narrative both painfully and joyously talking of truth. Through the metaphor of the title, the novel comes to reflect the possibility for hope in a context surrounded by corruption and disillusionment; it gains its strength through the developing voice of the woman.
Mr Achebe believes in the interdependence that lies between cultural and literary study, and socio-political activity, thus his early shift from an education in science to one in literature. Through his writings he immerses himself in social dialogue and criticism. During the Biafran war he worked for the diplomatic service. In 2004, Mr Achebe refused to accept the award of Commander of the Federal Republic in protest against the dangerous state of governance in the country. Throughout his career he has been awarded numerous honorary degrees and prizes.
Ms Showalter concluded her awarding speech by saying: "In his 1998 lectures at Harvard, titled Home and Exile, Achebe declared that 'My hope for the 21st (century) is that it will see the first fruits of the balance of stories among the world's people.' The balance of stories among the world's people - not the censorship or silencing of some, and the hyping or monopoly of others - this phrase could be the motto of the Man Booker International Prize. We are proud this evening to celebrate the 'great storyteller who has so brightly illuminated our future', Chinua Achebe."
• Ms Ghirlando holds a Masters degree in critical and cultural theory from Cardiff University. She is currently a teacher, writer and visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.