Book 6: 5 February 2009
Okonowo is the greatest warrior alive. His fame has spread like a bushfire in West Africa and he is one of the most powerful men of his clan. But he also has a fiery temper. Determined not to be like his father, he refuses to show weakness to anyone – even if the only way he can master his feelings is with his fists. When outsiders threaten the traditions of his clan, Okonowo takes violent action. Will the great man’s dangerous pride eventually destroy him?
One of the most widely read novels from Nigeria’s most famous novelist, Things Fall Apart is a gripping study of the problem of European colonialism in Africa. The story relates the cultural collision that occurs when Christian English missionaries arrive among the Ibos of Nigeria, bringing along their European ways of life and religion. In the novel, the Nigerian Okonkwo recognizes the cultural imperialism of the white men and tries to show his own people how their own society will fall apart if they exchange their own cultural core for that of the English.
Described as ‘The first novel in English which spoke from the interior of an African character, rather than portraying the African as exotic, as the white man would see him’ by Wole Soyinka “The Founding Father of the African novel in English” Chinua Achebe’s first novel, THINGS FALL APART, appeared in 1958, and it has been translated into some 50 languages. It was followed two year later by NO LONGER AT EASE, and ARROW OF GOD (1964). Among his later works is ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH (1987). In 1990 Achebe was paralyzed from the waist down in a serious car accident.
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