Distinguished scholars gathered at the Library recently to discuss the impact and significance of one of the most important books in African literature, “Things Fall Apart.”
The day-long symposium on Nov. 3 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, which he wrote in 1958 when he was 28 years old. It is one of the first African books written in English to receive worldwide acclaim, and is considered to be the book that launched the modern canon of African literature.
“Things Fall Apart” tells the story of Okonkwo, a leader in an Igbo village in Nigeria in the 1890s, as he deals with his own personal struggles as well as the impact of British colonialism. The book describes the rich culture and complexities of Igbo society, articulating an insider’s sense of the African experience.
“’Things Fall Apart’ is the greatest work of literature to come out of Africa,” said Nigerian Deputy Ambassador Baba Gana Wakil, in his opening remarks at the symposium. “The fact that this literary work remains fresh and exciting and generates interest 50 years later is a great tribute to Achebe.”
The book has sold more than 8 million copies and has been translated into 50 languages. It is a widely read and studied book in schools around the world. The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division sponsored the symposium titled “Fifty Years of Chinua Achebe’s Celebrated Novel ‘Things Fall Apart.’” The program consisted of opening remarks by several experts; readings from the novel by students from The School Without Walls in Washington, D.C.; two 90-minute panels; and a keynote address by distinguished writer and academic Ali Mazrui.
The scholars discussed the book’s effect on a wide range of topics, including literature, anthropology and history.
According to R. Victoria Arana, a professor of English at Howard University, “Things Fall Apart” was a transformational novel. “It had a profound re-ordering of the imaginative consciousness for people in Africa,” she said. “The book was a part of the re-storying of people who had been knocked silent.”
The book’s penetrating account of tribal life from the inside ignited a generation of copycat village novels, evoking traditional cultural values and folk wisdom. The current, third generation of African writers, however, has abandoned the rural settings for urban environments. Nonetheless, the growth and popularity of the African novel continues today.
Ama Ata Aidoo, a visiting professor in the African Studies Department of Brown University, described how she had grown up studying “English literature and not literature in English,” mostly Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Keats and, if lucky, T.S. Eliot and John Osborne.
“You can imagine what a revelation and inspiration “Things Fall Apart” was for me,” said Aidoo. “I became aware not only of other literatures, but that I, too, could write it.”
Mbye B. Cham, chairman of the Department of African Studies at Howard University, examined Achebe’s use of English and his relationship to language. “Language in post-colonial Africa is a hot potato,” Cham said.
“Africa is either cursed or blessed in languages,” said Cham. “There are 1,000 languages and dialects in Africa, and all these languages co-exist side by side. The absence of one common language is a major factor of disunity and conflict. It’s a burden that weighs down national, regional and continental integration.”
Although many African writers feel that African literature should be written in an African language, Achebe contends otherwise. According to Cham, Achebe thinks English is a viable tool and writers must consider the expediency and competence of the language. Cham quoted Achebe as once saying, “I have been given this language that is English and I intend to use it.”
Simon Gikandi, professor of English at Princeton University, said Achebe’s use of the English language in “Things Fall Apart” is unique. The author introduces words from the Igbo language and uses Nigerian proverbs, metaphors and speech rhythms.
“The English is vernacularized,” said Gikandi. “We think we are hearing him speaking in Igbo.”
The novel also had an impact on anthropology, according to Gwendolyn Mikell, professor of anthropology and foreign service at Georgetown University. “’Things Fall Apart’” is a dramatic and startling story of Africa in crisis,” she said. The novel got anthropologists thinking on how best to capture the data that described African societies. Interviewing techniques were added and information-gathering became more creative, resulting in more qualitative and holistic data.
African historians were affected by the novel too. Jeanne M. Toungara, a professor of history at Howard University, explained, “In the ‘60s (after the book came out), African scholars began to repossess and take sovereignty over their own history.”
From left, Library staff members Eve Ferguson, Mary-Jane Deeb, Marieta Harper, Charles Stanhope, Abdulahi Ahmed and Angel Batiste (seated) join in honoring Chinua Achebe, center. - Lili Iravani
It became apparent that Europeans who had a jump on writing African history had been misinformed about African people and cultures. “Achebe’s work initiated an entire generation of scholars who fought to understand the complexities of African societies,” Toungara said.
The novel led scholars to the process of “deconstructing and analyzing the dynamics of African history.” Toungara said, “We set out to seek trends in the past and categorize and explain events in a way that made sense.”
Despite the novel’s critical acclaim and global recognition, the book was ignored by Random House when it developed a list in 1998 of “100 Best Novels.” According to Ali Mazrui, the symposium’s keynote speaker, the Random House list was far too “Anglo-Saxony.” Not one African author made the list.
That prompted Mazrui to take action. He advised African publishers to create their own list of 100 great African books of the last 100 years. “They took the idea seriously and before long the whole operation was underway,” said Mazrui, who is the Albert Schweitzer Professor in Humanities and director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He is also a professor-at-large at the University of Jos in Nigeria. “Africa’s 100 Best Books” list was released in 2002.
Other panelists at the symposium included Philip Uko Eflong, professor of English at the University of Maryland, and Eleanor Traylor, chairwoman of the Department of English at Howard University. Moderators included Renée Poussaint, a former award-winning network journalist and president of Poussaint Communications, and LaNisa S. Kitchinier, associate director for programs at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University.
“I know we’ve been making extravagant claims about the book,” said Simon Gikandi, professor of English from Princeton. “But ‘Things Fall Apart’ was an awakening. It created new parameters of thinking about African literature.”
